Tips on coping : Stress and Hairloss

Posted by Garonne Decossard on

Almost everyone I meet dealing with hairloss, talk about stress being a factor.

If your hairloss is caused by a specific hairstyle, you can change it

If chemicals or heat, you can take a break from it

If  you have vitamin deficiencies , there are countless brands of hair vitamins to choose from.

But, what do you do when the cause of your problem is stress?

 it can be especially frustrating when you hear  "well don't stress out so much"! it's like when someone tells you to calm down while you are highly upset, as if you can press a button to turn off your fustration. Careers, families, and just general management of life can cause stress. Unless we intend to leave it all and escape to some parts of the world where we live in a hut and live of the land, we need tools to manage our stress here and now.  

When we are in stressful situations, our bodies produce cortisol, as a flight or fight response.  A rise in cortisol is supposed to be followed by physical movement, i.e running away from a bear or fighting an attacker. Now we release cortisol while sitting in a meeting with a boss and walk back to sit at our desk. All that cortisol is building and damaging our bodies on all levels. We no longer have the physical activitiy that requires this level of cortisol rising in our bodies. This contributes to hairloss and scalp conditions. 

 So let's break down to the 2 things we can do now, today to manage stress.

1.BE YOUR OWN ADVOCATE. I know it's hard but you have to set the rules of engagement on how people can be in your life. The most stressed people I have met are really really nice people, who value harmony above all. These are people who actually go out of their way to make everyone comfortable at their expense.  I will tell you "If you are silent about your pain, they'll kill you and say you enjoyed it" Zora Neale Hurston.

Find the areas of your life where you can be your own advocate and have the courage to ask for what you want. If you find yourself constantly being the go to person in your family to take care of things, specifically asks for others to contribute their time and effort as well. I have found that most things that fester, only thrive because of the silence. Sometimes we are complicit in our own demise by staying quiet.

I am a fan of "calling out" unfair and selfish behaviors and I have have had good results by doing so. Don't worry about the how, if you are stressed, don't worry about your "delivery", it's another tool used by people to keep you from speaking up, ask for what you want. Try to be diplomatic, but as I stated above don't give anyone the power to opress you and dictate how your react to that oppression. Free yourself!

At work, remember if you are a productive and contributing member of a team, no one's going to fire you just because you are saying no to some projects. People go to the path of least resistance,  if you are that person who always says YES, they will keep coming. If you think that by taking more and more work, that is what's going to get you that promotion, don't do it. As you can see, most of what happens in those spaces is not about meritocracy. If you are constantly being given a new "target" to meet in order to get a promotion or a new position, it's a carrot on a stick that you might never catch. In that setting you might have to be diplomatic but remember you are doing this for your health. 

And here's the rub, there are many cases where people genuinely do not know you were overloaded and are happy to help. So yes, speak up!

 

2. MOVE! Getting rid of the cortisol buildup on a regular basis. Movement is so necessary. Rise in Cortisol in your body should be followed by fighting or flight! We have to simulate this as much as possible in our lives. I don't want to bring up the dreaded "exercise" word at the beginning of the new year when you are already being bombarded by New Year Resolutions fatigue, but I want to present this to you in a way to show you what's possible. I actually went to cancel my gym membership at a time when most people are signing up. The time it took to pack gym clothes, drive to the gym, park , work out,  come back home, shower,  would sometimes be 3 hours, and it would eat away at my most productive hours of the day. I had to do this in addition to trying to run my business before it was time to pick up Grace. So here's my solution for moving. Anytime throughout the day that I have 30 minutes to spare, I put on a youtube exercise video or pick one of my bookmarked yoga classes on doyogawithme.com. It's quick, I pull out a mat, right here in my apartment. Half the time I do it in shorts, t-shirt and sneakers. Usually I will have a meal cooking on the stove while I do it, so I am multitasking and it fits in my current lifestyle. Exercises is not an "added stress" into my life, it actually fits. 

3. HERBAL SUPPLEMENT. I specifically did not  first go into what natural supplements you can take to reduce stress, because I would like for you to do the work that will have the most impact managing your stress. There are many herbs that can help. Ashwagandha is one of those supplements that can help the body cope with stress. Vitanica Cortisol Relief is a good blend containing Ashwagandha.

As a parting word today, remember if it comes in it has to come out, find an outlet to relieve your stress, and most of all don't be complicit in your own demise. Free Yourself! and your health will thank you for it.

 

In Love, Health and Presence of Mind

Ronnie_Deco


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