Links Between Work Stress and Over-Eating Could Help Deter Hair Loss

Sleep more, eat less junk food and avoid hair loss seems an unlikely equation, but it’s a theory that holds water according to new research from the Michigan State University and the University of Illinois.

Researchers found that when people have a bad day at work, they tend bring their moods home with them, and their inclination towards eating junk food and/or too much food increases. Conversely, if they had a good sleep the night before, this desire to leap for the burgers and the biscuits diminishes.

So how does this relate to hair loss? The answer is that a good night’s sleep seems to reduce stress levels that would otherwise occur the next day. And stress is known to contribute to, or even be the actual cause of thinning hair.

Thinning hair caused by biological response

can happen in one of two ways, and is basically a biological response to the body feeling under attack. When people present to a specialist clinic with a condition named Telogen Effluvium, part of the ensuing conversation involves questions about a client’s lifestyle and what happened three months prior to the initial signs of hair loss. This is because Telogen Effluvium is triggered by some kind of event or imbalance that causes a strain on the system, whether physical or emotional. Often this is a dramatic change in diet or a brutal new exercise regime, but it can also be new medication, child-birth and commonly stress.