Reasons behind how does stress cause hair loss

Are you stressed or depressed and wondering how to cope with the situation? Long-term chronic stress usually puts people at risk for various health problems, and loss of hair is one of them. When we speak of stress, we put out on the anxieties, depression, and other problems that may cause you to have sleepless nights. The question that everyone asks themselves is, how does stress cause hair loss? At some point in life, anyone can undergo stressful encounters in life. It is the stress that brings forth physical reactions and other physical reactions to your body. Some of the physical reactions include eczema, dandruff, acne, and more. 

Under the normal circumstance, a human head loses around 50 to 100 hair each day which is not a huge number since human beings have more than 100,000 hair follicles in their scalp. That is the average loss of hair under a normal situation, unlike you have other factors among them stress which leads to a noticeable loss.

 The stress-related lost hairs take place any time your body undergoes high levels of stress that makes your hair fall off and faster than the usual times. In some instances, you get stressed out such that you begin self-harm, where you pull out your hair. It is a condition known as trichotillomania or just a hair-pulling condition.

How stress causes hair loss

Perhaps you have heard about how stress cause hair loss, and this is a true thing. While there are hereditary causes of lost hair that results from the stressful environment may also cause it and many more which may be as a result of stressful encounters. Both physical and emotional stress hits hard when associated with illness, surgery, injury can lead to either one of the two types of hair loss. 

Alopecia aerate 

It is a type of hair loss whereby the stress is induced entails white blood cells attack around the follicles of your hair. Having this type of loss of hair, you will begin realizing that your hair falls off within weeks and in patches. This will include the entire scalp falling out and even the body hairs. Usually, the hair grows back, but it is important to undergo the treatment that is needed for good results.

Telogen effluvium

This is yet another common way in which you will lose hair due to a stressful situation that is way less severe compared to alopecia. In this one, it is the hair that stops growing and completely becomes dormant only to later fall out when it is around 2 to 3 months old. From there then it will grow back within nine months.

Relationship between stress and the cycle of the hair

 The approximate number of hair follicles is over 100,000 on the scalp of an adult though this varies depending on many factors like hair color or even race. Each of the said follicles has its constant cycles that lie between growth and the rest. Many of these hair follicles are in the anagen hair growth phase during any given time. Once the hair transition to telogen or the phase of resting, the hair gets shed off. It is during this episode of telogen effluvium that will trigger and lead your hair into the abnormal shift of hairs into the telogen phase at the same time. The major trigger leads to the sudden shift of the hair at the same time. The possible trigger for this shift may lead to significant emotional stress in one’s life.

Perhaps you are wondering about the emotional stress that would lead to loss of hair. This must be a serious stage of emotional pain and stress that has major negative life events. It could be the loss of a loved one, divorcee, or other harsh events that may happen in one’s life. A bad day at work should not meet this threshold of emotional stress cause hair loss since there is lesser severity and not prolonged stress like the ones cause by the Covid-19 pandemic. Perhaps this covid 19 issue can take one into an emotional turmoil, unlike stresses that we encounter at work.

You can never be able to relieve stress from happening in your life, but you can minimize it, but you can reduce the ways and all the things which bring about stress in some areas of your body. You need the energy to manage your stress in different ways so that you can avoid damaging issues like hair falling out.

Conclusion

If the loss of your hair is caused by stress, then it means the hair follicles have not been damaged permanently. You need to manage your stress and take good care of your health as this may lead you to return your hair to the normal rate of growth as it were before. If you check on your doctor, you can tell whether you are losing hair as a result of stress, and from there, you can decide to follow the right way when it comes to treating the problem. If the growth is possible to take place, it can help you in determining the best plan to treat the stress-related hair loss problem.