Can Stress Lead To Hair Loss

By Author: Steven Johnson
Total Articles: 494
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Millions of people deal with balding and hair loss problems, experiencing very unpleasant emotions due to their hair going thin. However, there are just as many people who are cool with the fact that they are loosing hair, taking it as a part of natural processes in their bodies.

For those, who wish to overcome balding there are many new developments in the field of medical treatments. And if you start the treatment early, you have better chances of dealing with the problem effectively than if you try to fight hair loss when you're already bald. However, you should first define the actual cause behind the problem before you start treating it.

Which leads us to the question of this article: can excessive stress lead to hair loss and baldness? Stress has become the scapegoat for the medicine, as too many conditions get linked with it these days. Of course, it's a really negative factor that strongly impacts the health in general. But don't haste with blaming your job or workload for being the cause of hair loss. Because there are more factors than just stress that all contribute to hair loss problems.

Balding ...
... is usually caused by a combination of factors that affect the condition of the hair follicle. Even the pattern of the balding process is different in each case, especially between men and women. Men usually start losing hair in the middle age, with patches of hair getting lost while others being perfectly healthy. In women, hair loss usually progresses towards the age of 60 and is characterized by even thinning of the hair throughout the scalp.

One of the most common factors leading to hair loss in men is the conversion of testosterone into dihydrotestosterone (aka DHT). This androgen is usually accumulated in large amounts towards the middle age, and one of its main effects on hair is that it shrinks the hair follicle and impedes the growth of normal strong hair. So while you lose hair as a natural process, you simply don't grow new hair back on because of the DHT action. In women, hair loss occurs due to hormonal imbalances and gradual increase in male hormone content after the menopause towards the senior age. Besides these common hormonal factors, there are other problems that may trigger hair thinning such as diseases, infections, medication side effects, certain types of treatments (chemotherapy and radiation therapy for cancer), drug abuse and so on.

So when you decide that something has to be done about your balding or you want to start using drugs like Propecia, you should first define the actual cause of the problem. Go to your doctor and provide all the information needed to outline the general picture. Maybe you don't need any Propecia at all and simply have to stop taking a particular drug.

So, as you see, it's hard to say that stress can lead directly to hair loss in men and women. It's just a minor factor that contributes to the picture in general, and is always supported by other more serious health problems that have to be addressed. Still, if you want to blame your job for your problems, you are free to do so anytime.