Is it true that stress can contribute to hair loss?

[Ryukil]

I have suffered from chronic anxiety for many years, and was wondering if I had not had anxiety, I would have not been balding at 20, and maybe it would have held off for a few years.

 

[abcdefg]

I doubt it. If your going bald its going to happen no matter what you really do.

 

[Ryukil]

Yeah, I'm just wondering if I could have come on earlier for me because of my many years of struggling with anxiety. I have GAD, SAD, and OCD. I am literally always tense, and have been trying to figure out how to stop it for so long. With no luck. Anyway...I guess it doesn't really matter at this point, but I just want to know if my anxiety disorders could be to blame.

 

[meravion]

Hey man... Ive got one question : did you notcie at some point that you are losing more hair than you used to?

 

[HairGuru22]

I think that chronic anxiety can contribute to hair loss, but I don't have any idea how. It has been researched that when you have anxiety, adrenaline increases which elevates the hormone cortisol and elevated cortisol levels is found in many diseases,including infectious, aging-related (hair loss?), depression and depression -associated conditions; even in some with no known origin.

 

[Ryukil]

Anyone else?

 

[Jacob]

FWIW..some things I posted about elsewhere:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/stress-and-hair-loss/AN01442

http://www.womentowomen.com/adrenalhealth/effectsofhighcortisollevels.aspx

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/02/04/stress-linked-to-cancer.aspx

http://connecticut.cbslocal.com/2012/11/30/study-stress-causes-brain-to-shrink/

http://blog.designsforhealth.com/blog/bid/153519/stress-the-unseen-killer

 

[pawandindia]

anxiety is the not main reason of hair fall or hair fall is not a natural diseases. A lot of reasons are there to hair fall like as reactions, shampoo.

 

[abcdefg]

Eh I think its all androgen driven almost 100 percent at least initially before all the other events fire off like immune system, downstream DHT effects like igf factors and so on.

 

[Ryukil]

So you guys don't think that a receding hairline could have been caused by anxiety?
I actually would prefer that it was not caused by anxiety, because then I would have to live with the guilt of not doing enough about my anxiety in my teen years and that having caused my premature hair loss.
So I'm not hoping it will grow back. I mean, it would be great if I figured out how to stop my anxiety and then it grew back, but I'm not any closer to stopping it really...

 

[XXXXXXX]

You're going to make me hang myself. :firing:

 

[Ryukil]

You're going to make me hang myself. :firing:

Lol. Dude, it's just true. I have suffered from very chronic anxiety for years. I have generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. I am basically anxious every waking moment. I'm not trying to complain, I'm just telling the truth. Then I have read that stress can cause hair loss. So I think to myself, "****, what if my chronic, inhuman levels of stress caused my hair loss?" But you say that stress wouldn't cause a receding hairline, just diffusion? I would actually feel better if my hair loss were not caused by anxiety, because then I wouldn't be kicking myself for not curing it earlier. It already ****ed up my life to some extent, and now it's making me lose my hair?