You hear so much about how bad stress is for you. Do you know why that is though? Do you know what it is about stress that can cause you so many issues? More specifically do you know why stress can cause hair loss? When you are under stress your body doesn’t know what is happening and it reacts.
The result is typically some very physical symptoms such as hair loss. Understanding how stress can impact this is important, and so too is working to find a way of coping. Understand why stress is bad for you, how it can impact hair loss, and why finding a way to cope with stress will be a healthy way of moving forward.
The body reacts to stress through physical symptoms such as hair loss
Stress can cause emotional, mental, and physical symptoms as it works its way through your system. This is an outside factor that your body is unfamiliar with and the brain sends signals to the rest of the body that something is wrong. It tries to protect you but it also goes into overdrive when it is trying to cope with this.
You may not think much of it, but the body is going to react in a big way. Take note of hair loss that just comes out of nowhere and continues on for a long period of time. You may be internalizing stress or not coping with it in a healthy manner. Either of which will catch up with you soon enough and hair loss is a very physical and undesirable symptom of that.
Stress can cause hormonal imbalance which can lead to hair loss
This is more of an indirect cause for hair loss, but it is quite possible. The thing is that when you feel stress, your body goes into a “fight or flight” mode. That may mean that you end up gaining or losing weight. It may mean that you experience physical symptoms such as acne or hair loss.
Ultimately what may be happening internally is that your hormones are completely out of whack. When there is hormonal imbalance the physical symptoms are a result of this—so look to sudden or recurring hair loss as your body’s way of telling you something.
You may be pulling out the hair slowly but surely without even realizing it
Though this may not be the most common way that stress impacts hair loss, it is possible. Sometimes when we feel stress and anxiety we have a tendency to pull out our hair little by little. We may do it without even realizing it, but those little bits of hair can end up becoming bigger and bigger clumps.
Be aware of what you do when you are stressed out because it could be everything from biting your nails to pulling on your hair. If you are noticing big clumps of hair missing or bald spots, then take a look at how you handle stress and anxiety in your life. This could be a telltale sign that something is off and it may be easier to pinpoint than you think.
