There are many things that are common in our lives but one thing that many of us have in common is that we go through life with stress as a companion. Another thing that children, men and women can have in common is hair loss. Have you ever thought that perhaps there may be a connection?
Have you noticed thinning hair or areas of your scalp that are more scalp than hair? If you suffer from hair loss there may be many reasons for it including poor diet, a side effect of a medication, heredity, a symptom of a condition or illness and stress. Yes, stress can cause hair loss.
We experience stress in a physical manner such as when our bodies are traumatized in an accident or we can experience emotional stress such as when a family member dies. Another stress is mental stress such as when we become stressed out over an out of balance checkbook.
The stress we encounter in our lives can result in two types of hair loss. One is classified as telogen effluvium and the other alopecia areata.
Of the two types of hair loss we can encounter as a result of stress, telogen effluvium is the less severe form of hair loss. Telogen effluvium presents as hair that stops growing and remains in the resting stage for 2 to 3 months. This “dormant” hair will then fall out and be replaced by new hair growth within 6 to 9 months. The length of time it takes to have new hair growth will depend upon the condition of your scalp, and what has caused your hair to fall out in the first place.
Alopecia areata occurs when white blood cells attack the hair follicles. Several weeks after the attack of white cells, hair will fall out in patches. Individuals who have alopecia areata can also have hair loss over the entire scalp hair. Alopecia is not limited to the hair on your scalp it can happen with any of your body hair.
You can experience more than one hair loss factor at the same time along with the stress factor.
If you are wondering how to know if your hair loss is caused by stress or not, have a talk with your doctor. In order to determine if your hair loss is caused by stress, your doctor will give you a physical examination and will take a current medical history.
If you are not sure what can cause stress in your life take a look at this list and see if any of these things have happened to you over the last 6 months:
You have experienced one or more major life changes such as a job change, moving, a marriage or a divorce, the birth of a child or the death of a child, the loss of any family member or long-time friend.