FIVE --- EMOTIONAL/PHYSICAL STRESS

It's often said that it isn't stress that kills but it is how one deals with stress that matters.  Recent data shows that stress can  contribute to hair loss, particularly in early middle age and beyond. Our bodies react differently and at times, surprisingly. The dictionary defines stress as a "demand upon physical or mental energy".  Stress puts demands on us to perform well above our capacity. Stress happens to all of us, and typically each day. Stress can also be related to change.  Loss of a job or divorce, death in the family, or even something as seemingly benign as a residential move can trigger hair loss causing stress.  Most times, its temporary.  Sometimes though, it isn't.  

In our most recent segment we briefly described several viable treatment options for the most common hair loss disorders affecting patients of either gender.  In this installment, let’s narrow our focus to hair loss experienced by women.  

As a man, I know how debilitating hair loss can be.  However, I cannot begin to imagine what it must be like to be a woman losing her hair.  The emotional torment and sense of helplessness must be profoundly wrenching.  Society is also less tolerant of female hair loss.  A woman’s hair is described as her glory.  It is a mark of pride, and also a source of attraction.  Many, if not most, women invest a share of their identity in their hair.  Thus, when hair loss strikes it can be devastating indeed.

As disruptive as pattern hair loss is to a man, when it happens to a woman it is far more disruptive.  Here's why. Research shows that scalp hair in a woman constitutes one of the primary visual signals of health and fertility.  Therefore, when a woman's hair thins so may her potential to find a long term mate.  Fortunately, hair loss in females is actually quite rare prior to age 35 - 40.  Nonetheless, statistically speaking, the most common reason why a 39 year old healthy woman begins to lose her hair is due to the same genetic and biochemical processes that cause common pattern baldness in men.  This is not to say that women lose hair just the way men do.  Obviously this is not the case.