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Can Stress Cause Hair Loss?

Are you worried about the higher prevalence and more frequent occurrence of hair loss? But did you know that you tend to lose more hair the more you stress about it? Ironically enough, worrying about hair loss seems to worsen it, perpetuating the vicious cycle. Stress has ingrained itself into our modern lifestyles, equally affecting people of all ages and genders. It is not a myth, as scientific evidence links psychological and emotional stress to poor health impacts, including hair loss.

The Science Behind Hair Growth and Loss

Understanding the lifespan of scalp hair is crucial before delving into the specifics of how stress is related to hair loss.

The hair cycle starts with anagen, the growth phase, during which the hair emerges from the scalp’s hair follicle and is nourished by the vascular system at the follicle’s base. It is followed by the transitional phase of catagen, during which hair stops growing and separates from the source of sustenance at the follicle’s base. The resting phase or telogen comes next, which causes hair to fall out. The hair development cycle restarts at the anagen stage if the follicle is healthy.

How Does Stress Affect the Hair Cycle?

Researchers at Harvard University studied the effects of prolonged stress on mice to ascertain the relationship between stress and hair loss. It was determined that greater psychosocial stress causes the anagen, or growth phase, to terminate sooner and causes the telogen, or resting phase, to last longer in the hair follicles. Additionally, it was discovered that eliminating the glands that produce the stress hormone accelerated hair growth. These results demonstrated that stress impairs hair growth and accelerates hair loss.

Stress has a similar effect on the human hair cycle, causing a halt to hair growth and regeneration while escalating hair loss.

What Type of Hair Loss Is Caused by Stress?

Since it is a normal part of the natural cycle of hair regeneration, losing 50 to 100 hair strands every day is not a major concern and is not seen as hair loss. But, there’s a good probability that it’s something serious and worrisome if your hair loss accelerates suddenly. There are a few types of hair loss that stress can cause, including:

Telogen Effluvium

Telogen effluvium is among the most frequently encountered signs of stress. Normal hair follicle activity alternates between the telogen (or resting phase) and the anagen (or growth phase) phases.

Telogen effluvium is a transient condition that prevents the hair from entering the anagen phase and keeps them in an extended telogen phase, which results in an increase in hair loss even while no hair is growing back. As a result, your hair seems thinner, and your head is covered in numerous patchy bald areas. The condition is typically not very serious; within six to ten months, the hair returns to its normal growth stage.

Alopecia Areata

Contrary to telogen effluvium, alopecia areata is a severe disorder in which stress triggers an autoimmune reaction in which the body’s defence cells assault healthy hair follicles, resulting in dramatic hair loss. Additionally, the condition is not limited to the scalp and can impact all of the body’s hair follicles. On the scalp and other parts of the body, many pronounced bald patches are apparent and huge.

The hair follicle is not permanently destroyed, unlike in androgenic alopecia, and the surviving hair follicle may spontaneously regenerate hair without any supportive therapy. The hair follicle can sustain permanent harm in some extreme circumstances.

Trichotillomania

You might find it difficult to believe, but for many people, hair follicle extraction is the cause of hair loss and hair thinning. Trichotillomania, commonly known as the hair pulling disorder, is a psychological condition in which a person pulls their hair out of their scalp unintentionally or purposely in response to stressful situations or unpleasant emotions. Until the bald patches are apparent, the person is frequently unaware of their behaviours.

The hair loss normally stops when the affected person stops pulling hair out, and it usually requires psychological support.

How To Know If Your Hair Loss Is Related To Stress?

One of the many causes of hair loss is stress, but how can you tell if that’s the only thing to blame for your thinning hair?

The fact that stress-related hair loss typically occurs after a physically or emotionally taxing period of your life is one of the primary signs of the condition. It might come after a protracted sickness, a tragic life event like a loved one’s death, or intense financial or work-related stress. Additionally, it should be emphasized that stress-related hair loss is typically transient and goes away between three to nine months. A dermatologist frequently examines your scalp to evaluate and make a diagnosis.

How To Reverse Stress Hair Loss?

Stress-related hair loss typically resolves on its own within three to six months without the need for therapy, but small lifestyle adjustments can accelerate the recovery period. The good news is that you can make a few modifications to your way of life to preserve your health while also learning how to successfully manage your stress to keep these uncomfortable situations from happening again.

A healthy, balanced diet that includes the necessary macro- and micronutrients in addition to the multivitamins prescribed by your doctor is crucial. Regular exercise also supports improved bodily and mental wellness. In addition, it’s critical to exercise self-care, mindfulness, and meditation to reduce the likelihood of chronic stress.

Can Stress-Induced Hair Loss Be Permanent?

The loss of hair brought on by stress is typically reversible, but what if it is permanent? Dihydrotestosterone (DHT), which is known to be a precursor for male and female pattern hair loss, which are both irreversible disorders, is frequently increased by stress hormones. The ensuing disorder, known as androgenetic alopecia, is irreversible, meaning that the hair that has been lost cannot be regrown. Additionally, some with severe forms of alopecia areata also lose their hair permanently. Does that imply that you will always have to cope with baldness? Certainly not. Numerous procedures, including hair restoration and transplantation, are available to help you regrow hair on your head.

WeCure has professionals that have received international accreditation on board who can assist you in overcoming permanent hair loss that results from stress or any other reason so that you continue to look young. Schedule your appointment immediately to take advantage of our free hair consultation and the opportunity to travel for fun and profit.

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Photo by Anthony Tran on Unsplash

Running Towards Mental Health Benefits

We first spoke about this topic in conversation with Stylist. So let’s go over exactly how physical activity and mental health goes together.

The first thing to note is that the links between mental health and physical activity have been proven over and over again to be effective, however, it isn’t as simple as some might think.

For example, doing a physical activity that we enjoy, even for 15 minutes can cause a release of endorphins that make us feel positive, happy, content, and can help boost our metabolism and improve our sleep, productivity and memory.

When we see improvements through regular exercise, including weight loss, or increased muscle tone and strength, it can also boost our confidence and make us feel good about ourselves, and our bodies.

However, there can be a darker side to the link between exercise and mental health, and a fine line between feeling great, and becoming obsessive. As humans, we naturally put pressure on ourselves, and in the age of Instagram, if we aren’t doing or looking what we consider our best, it can be crushing for our self belief. There is nothing wrong with motivation and determination, in fact I advocate that, but working out for fun, can very quickly turn into self body shaming, body dysmorphia, or steroid abuse if we lose sight and control of what we are looking to achieve.

However, these are the extremes, and setting goals and targets are important in managing our mental health, but it’s important to always be realistic, and keep them reachable, and I will also recommend exercise as a natural boost of positive and vibrant energy, especially during lockdown.

In your experience, is there a correlation between self-confidence and physical activity?

Absolutely! Even though I mentioned body dysmorphia and body shaming, which can be negative consequences of society’s standard of working out, as I said, these are extremes (though always worth mentioning), and exercise has the power to make you feel great both mentally and physically.

Working out improves our body image, and gives us focus, and something to work towards, and gets us excited when we see results. But beyond this, exercise has an overflowing impact on our lifestyle. When we work out, we instantly want to feel better on the inside as well as the outside, and also maintain the results, so we instinctively make better choices when it comes to food and hydration. It also creates better sleeping patterns, and makes us less likely to have nightmares – something that is common during lockdown, as well as makes our bodies operate more smoothly. It also helps build natural immunity, and can help manage chronic illnesses and body related issues. And in some cases, we can also start to think more about our appearance, with some people claiming regular exercise leads to better skin care routines, or change of style as they start to lose weight or get fitter. Put these all together, and they will have a positive effect on your mental health and how you approach things.

And it comes full circle – when you have an increased positive outlook, you feel better about yourself, and have better self esteem.

For women in particular, how do societal pressures, such as around exercising, affect individual mental health?

We live in an age of Instagram where women in particular can feel under pressure to look perfect, and have the ‘perfect body’, Filters and good lighting are our worst enemies, which simply don’t reflect real life. And though body positivity is becoming more mainstream, women are still forbidden to admit that they have cellulite, stretch marks, scars or flab. And the irony is that, if we spoke about it, we would realise it was perfectly normal.

The sad thing about societal pressure, is that it causes women to compare themselves to others, which can cause mental health issues, and feelings of worthlessness. It can also cause resentment, and jealousy, which lead to us discounting our own selves, and the great things that are unique to us, meaning we rarely truly embrace them, as we are constantly longing for things that society tells us we need or want.

We also live in an instant society, and societal pressures around exercise have taught us that we want results, and we want them now. We are constantly advertised the next fad diet, the next big exercise class, supplements, proteins, model promoted workout wear and quick fixes – but aren’t told that exercise can be enjoyable, and fun, but rather hard work and only for the most resilient, meaning most women give up before they start as the bar is already unreachable. And this leads back feelings of worthlessness, and failure.

It all comes down to breaking stigma and starting healthy conversations about health and fitness. Everyone of us is different, it’s not one size fits all. It’s about changing perspective and celebrating the do’s, rather than punishing ourselves for the don’ts. Imagine the impact on our mental health if we celebrated 10 minutes of exercise, instead of feeling bad because we didn’t do 20!

How do you think having a global health crisis / lockdowns have put increased pressure on us in terms of fitness? How might this affect mental health?

I think, as lockdown has continued, the pressure we put on ourselves has actually improved. When lockdown first started in March 2020, hoards of people, especially women started setting fitness goals to get a six pack, or to run a marathon, which sounds like great goals, but are unachievable if they didn’t already have good workout routines, or a particular level of fitness. And when we don’t achieve our goals, we give up quickly, which affects our mental health and sense of achievement. It’s the too much, too soon approach.

However, as lockdown continued, I could see people setting more realistic goals, including 30 minutes a day, or running 1-3k per day, making things more manageable and realistic. This way, individuals are sticking to their goals and creating good workout routines, and actually seeing results.

This third lockdown has definitely changed the way people think about fitness, and goal setting. This time round, it’s more about survival, and people are working out as a way to manage their mental health, or actually accepting that exercise isn’t on their agenda, and getting through the day is more important, which can be healthy, and releases the pressure. People are going through their own experiences, and seem to be less worried about what other people are doing, and focusing on their own situations.

Social media still has a role to play, and is still damaging to mental health but it’s also being used as a conversation and connection tool, with people sharing their shared experiences, and forming a bond over not pressuring themselves. People are exhausted from this lockdown, with more losses of jobs and loved ones, disturbed sleep patterns and huge uncertainties, so it’s ok if exercise isn’t on this lockdown agenda.

Conclusion:

There are plenty of long-term mental benefits for exercise – The mental benefits do not stop once you’re done with your run. Regular cardiovascular activity can spark growth of new blood vessels to nourish the brain which also helps to produce new brain cells in certain locations. What’s more the “hippocampus” (the part of your brain associated with memory and learning) has been found to increase in volume in the brains of regular exercisers.

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Photo by Oliver Sjöström on Unsplash

Getting Mental Health Therapy Abroad

Let’s face it—a change of scenery could really do wonders for your mental health. It’s pretty hard to take a break from everyday life when you’re in the same surroundings, after all. Completely detaching yourself and rebooting your brain in a brand new setting is the best way to restart.

Besides — who wouldn’t want to go to a new country to get that much-needed rest and relaxation? People are in dire need of a getaway for their mental health lately that they’ve even been flocking to Turkey, which is quickly turning into a hotspot for health tourism!

Need more convincing? Here are five reasons you should go abroad for mental health treatment:

 

Get a Fresh Start 

Going abroad means a new environment, a new routine and new people, meaning you get to escape from the visages of your regular life! This allows you to completely disconnect from your “normal” everyday life, allowing you to have a fresh and clean slate as you recover.

Completely changing your surroundings also means eliminating any triggers that could be worsening your mental health. These could be enablers that encourage you to indulge in excessive and indulgent habits or people that just don’t contribute to the betterment of your mental health and wellbeing.

In a new setting, you have more control over your choices and of your recovery. You won’t have to worry about what other people might think of you — after all, you’re a stranger in a new country with all the exciting options for a new beginning.

 

Learn New Perspectives

Removing yourself from your regular life means seeing the world through different lenses. Gaining a new perspective is often what’s needed to really kick your recovery into full gear. Without anyone in your life back home to influence the way you think, you’ll be able to look at your situation in a new light.

By meeting different people, seeing new places, and immersing yourself in a new culture, you’ll find new ways to healthily manage your emotions and responses to difficult situations. You’ll also discover the different ways people from other countries approach the same situations — giving you new ideas to help you out along the way!

 

Receive Specialised Treatment from Experts

Sometimes, the best treatment for you can be found outside of your home country. There are plenty of mental health therapy, recovery and rehabilitation experts all across the globe, each of which has its own style of treatment to address different issues — ranging from addiction and even to depression. Many of these institutions specialise in particular fields as well, meaning that taking a trip to a different country can be your best shot at getting the treatment you need.

 

Save Some Money

While you might think that going abroad for treatment means spending a little more money, that might not always be the case! Some rehabilitation centres are actually less expensive than the ones found near you. You’re not just paying for treatment abroad, after all—you’ll get to visit a new place and explore too. Think of it as a vacation for your mental health!

 

Get a Little Privacy

Seeking treatment abroad means recovering without the prying eyes of loved ones or other people you know. Mental health is still stigmatised across many social groups, so admitting that you need some help is something to be proud of! It takes a lot of courage and guts.

Being in a different country allows the privacy that’s integral to your healing and recovery. If you keep running into familiar people and things, you’ll run the risk of triggering yourself, which can fling you back to square one.

 

Final thoughts

Going abroad for your mental health treatment can do wonders for you, especially if you decide to go to countries with completely different customs and cultures than your own. Sometimes, all you need is a new experience to give you that fresh start you desperately needed.

WeCure is a leading medical facilitation company known for promoting high-quality health tourism in Turkey. We connect patients with trusted healthcare practitioners and facilities via internationally accredited medical institutions in Antalya, Turkey. From mental health care to aesthetics and dental treatment to hair transplant,we have a variety of specialists to help you treat your needs.

Are you looking for the best treatment at an affordable price? Get in touch with us and we’ll see how we can help!

 

About WeCure

When away from home, it can be difficult to receive medical help. If you’re travelling to Turkey and are in need of dental treatments, hair transplants, therapy, and more, WeCure can connect you to trusted doctors and clinics!

If you happen to be looking for a cosmetic clinic in Antalya, we can provide you with timely and cost-effective treatment plans that won’t put a dent on your wallet – Send us a message for more information.

Book your complimentary consultation

Photo by Oliver Sjöström on Unsplash

How EMDR Psychotherapy is Effective in Treating Trauma

If you’ve experienced a traumatic event resulting in injury to your vision, EMDR, or Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing, is an effective, therapy-based solution to standard cognitive techniques. It marries regular side-to-side eye movements and psychological therapy techniques in order to reinforce stronger coping mechanisms and neural networks.

It can be especially traumatising to experience any sort of accident or related trauma, which is why here at WeCure, we work to connect you with specialist therapists, doctors and solutions such as EMDR, no matter where in the world you are. Health tourism is a growing industry that has allowed patients all over the world to receive treatment like EMDR. Here’s everything you need to know about it!

 

What Does EMDR Treat?

EMDR is used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by working to heal deep-seated cognitive wounds while retaining a patient’s current mental narrative. It maximises the use of your body’s own abilities in order to influence your thoughts as opposed to creating new perspectives and rationalisations.

 

How Does EMDR Work?

EMDR is a collection of traditional psychological conversation therapy methods and techniques to connect eyes and memory. A therapist will first ask a patient to focus on the source of their trauma, then use a pattern of finger movements for the patient to follow with their eyes. This will help allow the patient to re-focus their consciousness away from the incident and give their natural defences time to create a safe and sufficient mental distance from the traumatic memory.

Over a series of sessions, the body, through repetitions, can learn to cope with the trauma. Learning through muscle memory can separate the negative thoughts associated with the event by following the thought up with a neutral or positive outcome. On the whole, the procedure relies on harnessing the body’s physical, mental, and physiological resources in order to desensitise them from traumatic details.

 

An Overview of the Treatment Process

EMDR therapy normally consists of eight sessions, each over the course of 90 minutes. EMDR therapists will first conduct a standard psychological evaluation by gathering the patient’s thoughts regarding the traumatic incident. The treatment will then explore how these emotions might be impacting the patient’s mental state.

As the EMDR session begins, the client will be seated in front of the therapist, who will use side-to-side finger movements to encourage repeated bilateral eye movements. The therapist will take advantage of the reassuring environment of the clinic to move the patient’s traumatic thoughts to the edge of consciousness. In place of previous cognitive patterns, patients can then form newer and more productive mental associations. Over time, continued EMDR therapy can create positive mental pathways and replace harmful negative memories. Patients will then be better equipped to use internal resources to move away from disruptive thoughts and habits and achieve a freer, happier self-identity.

 

Conclusion

EMDR Therapy has been proven to help people overcome anxiety associated with trauma. Early traumatic experiences can affect an individual throughout their life. Managing anxiety, depression and other linked conditions can help in living a happier, more fulfilling life.

Take the first step with WeCure today by getting in touch.

About WeCure

When away from home, it can be difficult to receive medical help. If you’re travelling to Turkey and are in need of dental treatments, hair transplants, therapy, and more, WeCure can connect you to trusted doctors and clinics!

If you happen to be looking for a cosmetic clinic in Antalya, we can provide you with timely and cost-effective treatment plans that won’t put a dent on your wallet – Send us a message for more information.

Book your complimentary consultation

 

How EMDR Therapy can Help

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) therapy,  is a method primarily used to treat a host of mental health-related conditions and disorders,  including, but not limited to, trauma, addiction, anxiety and OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) as well as other emotional conditions.

How Does EMDR Work?

Following a preliminary assessment and consultation, providing our licensed therapists feel it is appropriate for the individual’s needs, EMDR therapy involves the bilateral stimulation (right/left eye movement), tactile stimulation (touch) as well as sound, to repeatedly activate and stimulate opposite sides of the brain. This process assists in releasing the emotional experiences ‘trapped‘ within the nervous system, which in turn, helps the neurophysiological system (which connects both mind and body), to free itself of the disconnection, allowing it to once again re-connect. It is a very effective method in treating PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) and similar mental health-related conditions and is backed-up by countless scientific studies and research.

What Should You Expect Following EMDR Therapy?

EMDR Therapy, through the above-mentioned process, allows an individual to re-process a previous emotional experience they may have mentally blocked due to it being associated with a type of trauma. The person usually has difficulty in talking about these emotional experiences freely. Using EMDR Therapy, it helps the individual to re-connect with the traumatic experience, freeing them to be able to speak about their trauma more freely without the previously experienced difficulty. More significantly, EMDR Therapy can help eliminate the associated stress factor around the linked traumatic event, facilitating the healing process, which in time, aids to repair the effects of the emotionally difficult memory.

How EMDR Can Help Addictions

In recent times, substance abuse as well as other types of mental addictions, including OCD, are being treated using EMDR Therapy. These addictions can be caused by a variety of factors and are more than often rooted in the repression of traumatic experiences and memories and the associated feelings around these events. Using Addiction Protocol Treatment as part of the EMDR treatment plan, it’s been proven to be highly effective in helping individuals to not only tolerate and accept but to better manage their feelings of distress in relation to the traumatic memories. This, in turn, facilitates the person’s ability to potentially ignore the ‘cravings‘ and ‘urges’ associated with addicted behaviour and OCD by effectively numbing the linked negative emotions which then allows for the reprocessing of negative memories into something more positive.

Negative Emotions and their Effects

It’s been proven time and time over that traumatic events and the associated negative memories from our past can have long-lasting psychological and physiological repercussions. In fact, both the physical and mental effects of these negative, repressed memories can be quite extreme, leading to longer-term feelings of depression, eating disorders, as well as self-destructive behaviours.

Our past experiences and negative memories, as a result of trauma caused by past events, can include feelings of underlying guilt, shame and resentment, having a profound effect on an individual’s life and how they function on a day-to-day basis.

Getting Help

The first step is always the most difficult but the most crucial. WeCure, through our links with fully-licensed specialist EMDR therapists, can help you get the help you need. Get in touch with us today for a confidential and friendly chat.

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