As a follow up from my May 2, 2022 blog post, I wanted to mention some important facts on how stress and anxiety can cause hair loss as well as include some other delicious smoothie recipes that are included in a separate post. There are many symptoms of anxiety and stress that can interfere with healthy hair. A common example is hair loss. It often seems that those that live in constant fear about losing their hair may actually contribute to their own hair loss, by giving themselves so much stress and anxiety that their hair may fall out. Anxiety and hair loss have a complex relationship, and it's probably not what you think. But anxiety can, in some cases, cause hair loss to occur, and in other cases it can make hair loss itself more difficult to control.
Causes of Anxiety Hair Loss
Hair loss is never the only symptom of anxiety. The key issue between anxiety and hair loss is stress. Anxiety can create long term and persistent stress. While exactly these are two separate conditions and long-term stress on its own can lead to many of the same symptoms, the reality is that anyone dealing with anxiety is putting themselves under severe mental and physical stress all the time.
Stress can cause many conditions that lead to hair loss. These include:
• Alopecia Areata - Sudden loss of large clumps of hair in areas around your scalp or gradual hair loss that builds over time.
• Telogen Effluvium - This is a condition where more hairs than normal prepare to fall out.
• Trichotillomania - This is a habitual condition caused by stress and anxiety where the person pulls out hairs - sometimes without realizing it.
o It's highly likely that those with mild hair loss caused by anxiety are suffering from either telogen effluvium, or simply stress weakened hair. But the other two are also a concern and affect a smaller percentage of the anxiety population.
Additional Information:
• Many individuals with anxiety conditions suffer from nutritional deficiencies. Lack of vitamins (particularly if they are prone to not eating during periods of anxiety) will develop problems with growing back hair that naturally falls out daily
• Hairs have a growth cycle of two years before stopping and falling out two months later. If your body "tells" more hairs than normal to stop growing, two months later more hairs will fall out
• All of these may be caused by anxiety
• Hair loss may also be genetic
• A symptom of hormonal imbalance or a side effect of certain medications. But anxiety could also be to blame
Source of Information: Various Google Searches and Personal Experiences
Until Next Week, Stay Safe and Well!