hair fall due to stress | Does Anger Cause Hair Fall

What are stress and anxiety, and is it related to hair loss?

Well, we hope all of your doubts will be cleared in this article. At some point in time, we have been under stressful situations and somehow managed to cope with them.

What is stress?

Stress is when someone is feeling emotional or physical tension in scientific terms. Now you may ask what causes stress. Extreme stress can be caused due to any event that disturbs your mental peace or any thought that makes you feel anxious, frustrated, or angry. Stress can be your body's default reaction to a challenge or situation.

Anxiety is one of the most significant reactions to stress or unfamiliar situations. Stress may also positively impact you as it will help you meet a deadline or avoid dangerous situations. However, it is normal to feel stressed or anxious sometimes.

But if the stress is harming you, it might be an alarming situation. If you are frequently under stress, it might affect you and may come up in your way of leading an everyday life.

There can be many side effects of stress and anxiety; physical symptoms may include nausea, headaches, weakness, sweating, and rashes. Another biggest and often ignored sign of stress is balding or hair loss.

Who would have thought that stress or anxiety could cause hair to fall, right? It is not necessary that anxiety could lead to balding in every person. But if it does, it can be very upsetting to deal with the sudden hair loss. Therefore, having high-stress levels could lead to lesser hair on their head.

Now let us find out more about how stress causes balding and the scientific reason.

Anger and its relationship with Hair Cycle

According to various studies, there are approximately 100,000 hair follicles present on an adult's scalp. The constant phase shift from growth to rest phase is going on in each strand. And at any particular time, a significant number of these hair follicles are in the growth phase (anagen). So now, when the hair follicle transitions to the resting phase (telogen), it results in hair shedding.

In some cases, it is seen that there is a sudden, abnormal shift of hair from anagen to telogen phase all at once. What caused this sudden shift? The answer to this question is emotional stress which triggered this sudden shift.

Now another question may arise: what is emotional stress? Well, in simple words, it can be due to any adverse event that impacted you profoundly or any severe and prolonged thing.

Experiment to verify that stress/anger affects Hair Fall

For a very long time, stress was discussed controversially as a cause of hair loss. However, there was no solid proof that stress was the reason that inhibited hair growth. So if psycho-emotional stress is the reason that affects hair growth, there must be definable neuroendocrine signalling pathways mediating it. To confirm this relationship between stress and hair loss, scientists experimented on mice.
The mice were artificially exposed to sound stress by the researchers, which is a form of psychosocial stress.
It was found that this caused early termination of the anagen or growing phase of the hair cycle.

So they concluded that stress indeed disrupts the hair follicle cycle resulting in hair loss or balding.

How anger and stress are linked to Hair Loss?

People under a lot of stress can quickly become irritated and angry. Anger and anxiety are caused because of stress. Anxiety and stress can be similar conditions, and the only difference is that anxiety can be life-long.
So the hair fall is not caused by anxiety but because of stress and anger caused by everyday activities.
According to some studies, it is shown that stress can be a significant contributor to hair loss conditions.
If a person is under a lot of stress, then it can increase muscle tension, hormone production, and skin sebum production in the human body. So when the body prepares itself to fight these issues, the supply of nutrients needed for hair growth can be diminished. When there is a reduction of the nutrients required for hair growth, it results in hair loss.
Sebum production can also hinder hair growth as it clogs the pores present in the scalp.
Now we are somewhat clear that anger and hair fall are linked together. People may get angry about the way they look, which will increase heart rates, stress, or even pull their hair resulting in hair loss.
Now scientists came up with two theories anger and stress associated with it increase dihydrotestosterone levels (DHT) and cause hair fall. Now let us look into these two theories.

According to the first theory, increased stress causes hair to fall, but this hair loss is not permanent. After a person's stress levels have decreased, the hair will grow back. This type of hair fall is temporary. So this is why permanent hair fall cannot be explained by being angry.
The second theory states that the presence of DHT in a person's body does not cause them to lose hair. The androgen receptors are susceptible and can be blocked by DHT, preventing hair growth of hair naturally. When DHT levels are high, it may avoid natural hair growth.

Stress-related conditions that can cause you to lose hair

1) Telogen Effluvium

Telogen Effluvium (TE) is the second most common form of hair fall. When a person is under too much stress, it can cause hair follicles into a resting phase to produce no new strands. Over time, hair quality becomes weak, and hair falls out quickly even if you are touching, combing, or washing it. Poor nutrition and changes in hormonal levels can also cause this disorder.

2) Trichotillomania

This problem is mostly seen in teenage girls. In this disorder, that person has this weird urge to pull his/her hair out when stressed. It is a psychological condition, and the people suffering from it deal with their negative emotions like anger and stress by pulling hair from the face, scalp, and other parts.

Tips on how to control anger

Since unchecked anger can often cause aggressive behaviour, anger management tips uses several techniques to help a person cope with their thoughts, feelings, and behaviours in a healthy and more productive way.

Evaluate Your Anger
Recognize Warning Signs
Identify Triggers
Talk to a Friend
Get Moving
Change the Channel
Focus on Relaxation
Explore Your Feelings
Manage Your Thoughts

Takeaway

We hope that you have now understood the link between anger, stress, and hair fall very well.

If you want to purchase Hair products to control your Hair Fall then you can visit our website at Mars by GHC where you can get Minoxidil, Fin, Anti-Hair Fall Shampoo and many more.

Frequently Asked Question

Will hair grow back after depression?

If your hair loss is caused by tension, it's quite possible for your hair to grow back in time. The rate of regrowth will be completely different for everyone. Human hair growth occurs in a four phases cycle. The human scalp has an average of around 100,000 hair follicles.

How long does hair loss from stress last?

The hair loss is temporary and should come to its pre-effluvium density, although this process is usually slow. It can take around 5-6 months before the shedding stops, and then months to years for lost hair to grow back at the sluggish rate of ~½ inch every month.

Can burnout cause hair loss?

Physical and psychological fatigue, closely associated with stress and burnout, can have an effect on hair loss. Fatigue linked to an emotional shock can lead to reactional hair loss, known as “acute telogen effluvium”. It usually appears 3-4 months after a triggering factor.

References

1. Hair Loss: Common Causes and Treatment

T Grant Phillips, W Paul Slomiany, Robert Allison