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We outline four lifestyle errors that lead to hair fall and what you can do about them.
Except in the case of genetic hair fall, which may need more drastic or cosmetic help from an expert, in lifestyle-induced hair fall it is common sense to assume that once you have removed the cause of hair fall, you can breathe a sigh of relief and be assured that you have arrested damage to the scalp.
Surprisingly, most people address hair fall with external aids. But the cause is often from inside – hormones, diet, life-style habits, including excessive styling, and irregular food habits, amongst other things.
You wouldn’t think that having too much caffeine with your food could cause hair loss. It could -- simply by blocking iron absorption, a key ingredient for healthy hair.
Shameem Akthar, yogacharya trained with the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre, outlines four lifestyle errors that lead to hair fall and suggests remedies.
1. Stress
Stress is one of the biggest culprits. If you are under stress, your body’s emergency systems will need more nutrients.
They will cannibalise the nutrients and reserves, denying it to the extremities or parts of the body that are dead or seem not so crucial to survival just then.
Nails and hair suffer from stress. The hair loss can happen when the stress is sudden or chronic. Hair is likely to fall in clumps as the body shifts gears to tackle the presumed threat.
What to do: Stress cannot be wished away (a new born baby is stress for the mother, for instance!) so, much depends on how one copes with it.
You must have systems in place to help you cope with stress, such as a daily work-out (that helps to wring stress out of the body).
A me-too time to rejuvenate, and meditation or any habit that helps you work the stress out of your body every day will help.
2. Nutrient deficiency
Hair fall is also caused by deficiency in key nutrients needed for hair lustre, growth and overall health.
A whole clutch of nutrients is needed for health – some nutrients like vitamin E and the good fats help give it the sheen, while others in the Vitamin B group help it cope with external stressors and repair.
Zinc, iron, and anti-oxidants are very important. Drinking caffeine based drinks with meals will block iron absorption.
If you have too much fibre, it is likely that you are pushing the food out of the digestive tract faster than is good for it, not allowing for adequate nutrient absorption.
What to do: Just eating healthy is not enough; eat wisely and with awareness to help absorption. It is said that unless food is eaten in a calm fashion, the body’s absorption capacity will become dull.
Sitting calmly after food, not eating on the run, all ensure that your nutrients will be absorbed well enough to fight hair fall.
You may ask your medical expert to prescribe you supplements to tide over a bad hair phase.
3. Excessive styling
Everybody is guilty of this - slathering on hair products. Dyeing your hair to hide the grey is common now. But for the colour to actually penetrate through the hair, the dye contains bleaching agents.
This strips the hair of its original colour, even if grey, and then penetrates the colour through.
It is obviously an aggression against the hair strand, and the hair suffers by becoming dry, brittle, and losing texture. This makes the person use more of the dye to cover up, causing a vicious cycle of destruction for the hair.
Dryers, especially used in the hot mode, are bad, as well as hot water.
Chemicals used to treat the hair, especially to change the texture (as from curly to straight or vice versa) have a similar impact and may make the hair break at stress points along the strand.
What to do: Chose products without ammonia. Even hair stylists warn against certain treatments, so listen to them!
Leave a healthy gap between any aggressive treatments, allowing the hair to repair and rejuvenate.
Most treatments also have counter spa treatments to help protect the hair. If you cannot afford to take the repairing treatments, is it really wise to ruin it by styling it?
Styled hair needs special after care -- including different shampoos etc. So factor these in before choosing to go with a mode of styling that is going to ruin your hair in the long term.
4. Insomnia
Recent research has established beyond doubt that insomnia and sleep deprivation cause hair loss. This is because the body interprets sleep deprivation as high stress.
It is also because shut-eye is when the body actually repairs itself. Hair health and repair need sleep time to rejuvenate. Chronic insomnia is a serious factor in hair loss for this reason.
What you can do: Ensure that you deal with insomnia. Try to sleep at the same time every night.
Avoid excessively stimulating activity as you near bed-time – including reading racy books, watching thrillers, or working out or facing a deadline.
Avoid working in your bedroom -- this will give confusing cues to the mind.
Dim the lights and pull the curtains to avoid even city glow that might wake up the pineal gland (involved in releasing sleep hormones).
Eat soothing foods containing tryptophan that induce sleep.
Photograph: Womens health.org