Stress is ubiquitous in adults. Between the requirements of everyday life, the demands of work and family, and the pressure to have a full fulfilled personal life, emotional and physical stress can take its toll on your body—including the locks adorning your scalp.
How Stress Affects Your Body
Stress has a powerful effect on your body. Even a few moments of stress have an impact and can spur increased blood pressure, heart palpitations, and difficulty breathing. Prolonged stress can, in turn, lead to chronic high blood pressure, depression, trouble gaining or losing weight, increased impulsivity, chronic fatigue, and digestive issues.
Emotionally, stress can be the source of intense anxiety attacks, the onset of depression or chronic mood swings, and feelings of restlessness, which can all lead to impulsive behavior.
Stress and Hair Loss
Mental and physical stress can both be catalysts for hair loss. Physical stress taxes your body significantly, which can lead to a breakdown in your body’s organs and organ functions, some of which are responsible for monitoring and controlling hair loss. Stress can lead to hormone fluctuations, which can then cause thinning of the hair—either gradually or, in more extreme circumstances, rapidly.
Mental stress can lead to episodes of mania or restlessness. These can then cause periods during which you feel an impulse to tear at your hair, forego eating or engage in bouts of intense and strenuous exercise, all of which can lead to your hair thinning slightly or falling out altogether.
Improving Stress-Related Hair Loss
Understandably, the most effective form of treatment for this particular type of hair loss is to manage or eliminate sources of stress. This is often impossible, as stress can be caused by familial obligations or occupational requirements, so the best course of action is to learn to manage stress effectively.
Managing stress can be as simple as adding a yoga or meditation practice to your morning routine, or taking the time to sip a warm cup of tea every evening before bed. To reduce stress and the likelihood of your hair thinning and falling out, eliminate stress slowly and carefully by implementing greater self-care routines and nourishing your body from the inside out.
[expand title=”References”]
Mayo Clinic. Accessed 10/2/17.
Calm Clinic. Accessed 10/2/17.
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