How does stress affect hair loss in women?

Stress may be having a bigger impact on your hair loss than you think

If you begin to lose large amounts of hair,you may want to think about the level of stress you are under.Recent studies have shown that stress is one of the largest causes of hair loss.

The dictionary has defined stress as "a demand upon physical or mental energy." With that in mind, most people see stress as a higher than normal demand on our energy. Typically, this demand can be very difficult to deal with. Stress forces people to function at a level well above their normal capacity. This increased demand on performance is often extremely difficult to keep going without some kind of relief. For most of us, stress occurs everyday and certainly affects everyone at some point or another in their life.

Telogen effluvium is the most common type of stress-induced hair loss. This condition occurs when either emotional or physical stress — most commonly related to a pregnancy, weight loss, surgery or a death in the family — and sends a large number of hair that is in the growing phase into the resting phase. Inside of a few months, the hairs that are affected might fall out when you comb or wash your hair. These hairs will typically grow back once the physical or emotional stress has been resolved, however this will usually take months.

For a smaller number of people, high levels of stress can cause a type of hair loss known as alopecia areata. Alopecia areata causes the white blood cells to attack the hair follicle - which in turn stops hair growth. In just a few weeks, the affected hair will fall out. The loss of hair will typically start out as a small round patch but can eventually spread to encompass the entire scalp. Generally, the lost hairs will grow back, however the cycle may repeat itself.