Stress and Hair Loss
When you hear the phrase ‘losing hair over it’, is it just an adage or does it have any basis in actual fact? Does stress actually cause people to lose hair? Well it does! It has been found that stress does indeed cause temporary hair loss, as demonstrated by soldiers who lose hair shortly after joining the military and encountering the stresses of the military and war like situations.
The commonest form of stress-related hair loss is telogen effluvium. It has in fact been found that a stressful event precedes hair loss by three months. However this is a temporary kind of hair loss and should be differentiated from male pattern baldness, alopecia etc. This kind of temporary hair loss is usually corrected when the stress that triggered it in the first place has been removed.
So next time you have been under stress and you notice patchy or more than normal hair loss don’t dismiss it as a mere coincidence, and don’t ignore it. This may even be the manifestation of a medical condition that requires treatment.