Stress and Hair Loss: Can Stress Cause Hair Loss?

Almost all of us have the genetic instructions for hair loss. Some people escape the fate, while some suffer from it, as they grow older. However, there are certain 'stimulants' that may accelerate the onset of balding. These 'stimulants' include, of all things, stress.

Stress and Hair Loss

Before we can fruitfully discuss hair loss and stress, we must first establish upon formal grounds what it is. Medical science defines stress as any undue pressure arising from a person's mind as a result of its reaction to environmental stressors.

Environmental stressors may include a stressful family life and a job that demands that you perform more than is actually required. The reason why executives tend to have receding hairlines is that they literally go through whole carnivals of stress on a daily basis.

Some people develop a whole set of stress-related symptoms that activate in the presence of external stressors. Among these symptoms is hair loss. There's no other cure for this particular set of symptoms, except perhaps the removal of the subject from stressful situations.

Women are More at Risk

It appears that in the end, women are still more prone to bouts of hair loss or hair thinning when they are exposed to prolonged, repetitive stressful situations. What happens is that upon examination of the scalp, women would have more stunted hair than men.

However, this does not place men in a better position. While it is true that women are more prone to balding when they are exposed to extreme stress, the hair loss that manifests is not usually permanent. That means women can easily bounce back from their hair predicament.

Men on the other hand, continue to lose hair even if the stressors are gone. It seems that when the genetic code has been switched on in men, even prematurely, the balding will continue its natural life cycle until the genetic code or predisposition has been biologically satisfied.

Telogen Effluvium

When genetics is no longer the dominant player in hair loss, we can look at other possible biological reasons why hair loss is occurring. There's another hair loss pattern that occurs when the human body diverts its biological attention on hair production unto something else. Like an administrator, that cuts its support to one department abruptly, and without notice, telogen effluvium is the condition wherein the body's focus is elsewhere.

If telogen effluvium occurs when a person is subjected to extreme stress, then there's a chance that the body is preparing itself for the worst. You see, the body knows when high levels of lactic acid and potassium are being pumped out through the blood during moments of stress.

It can also calculate whether these negative instances will occur in repeating cycles. When you're stressed out often enough, the body takes the liberty in abandoning all 'extraneous' body processes to fortify other, more vital organs and systems like the heart.

The good news is, telogen effluvium is often a temporary condition of the scalp and the hair. That means you're going to get your hair back, if you're able to remove the stressors plaguing your hair on a daily basis.