Stress Can Definitely Cause Baldness And In Some Cases It Can Be Chronic

Millions of people suffer from baldness, and this condition can be very degrading for some people, leading to a feeling of self worthlessness. But, at the same time, millions of other men and women just learn to live with baldness, thinking of it as yet another one of life's natural aging effects. 

Baldness treatments are becoming more effective, owing to recent scientific discoveries. And like so many other medical and personal health dispositions, if you act on the problem immediately, you've got a better chance of slowing the affects, or in some cases, even reversing the condition.

Now it should be said that there is not a magic pill for curing hair loss (yet) and there is no one single treatment that works for one and all. As a fact, in most cases a combination of a few anti- balding products will derive better results than any one specific product or technique. The baldness treatment that suits each of will need to be tailored to our individual characteristics and traits.

That moves us to the impending question, whether or not stress can cause baldness? You see, stress is so habitually referred to as the major cause of hair loss, that many people believe this to be genuine. The fact is that stress is a cause of hair loss, so you can blame your job or your sporting team if it makes you feel better, but it is not the major cause. Often stress can be contributing factor, but there is one major cause of baldness that precedes all others.

Baldness can be caused by many factors, with more than 50% of males encountering some form of hair loss or thinning by middle age. Women also suffer from hair loss, and around 35-40% of women will suffer some type of hair loss or thinning by age 60. Pattern Baldness is the most common cause of hair loss. Pattern balding alone affects more than 40% of the male population. Pattern hair loss is easy to explain - it is a genetic disposition - it happens naturally.

A genetic predisposition will mean that most men and women will experience Pattern Baldness. The cause of Pattern baldness is very intricate, but in a nutshell, it occurs when testosterone interacts with a specific enzyme and is converted into what is know as dihydrotestosterone (aka DHT). DHT has a detrimental affect on the hair follicles - it is the originator for slowing down hair production and produces weaker, shorter hair - and finally stops hair from growth altogether.

The way men and women experience Pattern Baldness is very different. Men tend to endure thinning hair in certain sections or patches of the scalp and that's why many cases in men result in the 'monk' effect, i.e. hair loss on top, with hair still growing at the sides and back. Women tend to lose hair uniformly across the scalp, so instead of having a visibly bald patch, a woman can actually lose more hair than a man, but still appear to have a full head of hair.

Pattern Baldness is by far the most likely cause f hair loss, but there are a number of other known causes. The other causes of balding are assignable for such small percentages of occurrences, and in most cases are the easiest to prevent, detect or even reverse. Other known causes of balding are hormonal imbalances (especially in women) illnesses, modest diet, paltry hygiene, drug abuse and last but not least, stress. Again, stress is an indisputable known cause of baldness. Not a major cause, but it ranks in the top few causes.

The scientific name for stress-related baldness is Telogen Effluvium. This type of balding can also be caused by experiences such as trauma, childbirth, puberty, major surgery and even severe chronic illness. Telogen Effluvium is characterized by abrupt hair loss caused by an interruption in the normal hair growth cycle. Stress and trauma cause large numbers of hair follicles to simultaneously enter a stage of rest. After some time, the hair follicles will enter a stage of growth, and the old hair will be forced out of the follicle by a new hair that is formed beneath it. The result is a period of hair shedding, and is usually self correcting, but if the stress is ongoing, then this type of hair loss can become chronic and eventually lead to more prevalent baldness.

Stress-related baldness does really exist, so you can blame your football team, or your job or anything else that stresses you out. But in reality, although stress can lead to hair loss, it is one of the lesser causes of balding. And it is only really related to more dramatic experiences that have bought on stress. Fact is, Pattern Baldness is the most prevalent cause of hair loss, and acting on it quickly can help the minimize the effect it has.