A bad night’s sleep, or several of them, can be very stressful. Sometimes, it is enough to make you feel like ripping your hair out. But is it enough to make your hair fall out?
It actually can be! You may have heard that science says we replace every cell in our bodies every seven years and that’s basically true. Our bodies replace many of their nearly 30 trillion human cells regularly. About 330 billion of those cells are replaced every day — that’s about 1 percent of all our body’s cells. Other cells, like the tiny ones in our guts, renew within a week.
The most important part of those years — from the cellular regeneration standpoint – is your sleep. When we are in our deepest sleep of the night, our bodies are working hard to refresh and rebuild our cells.
Can Lack of Sleep Cause Hair Loss?
Yes, though it is complicated. The Independent Pharmacy explains it like this, “ Not getting enough sleep can mess with your body’s hormones and your ability to handle stress, both of which are important for keeping your hair growing as it should.”
Specifically, hormones like estrogen and melatonin are disrupted when we do not get enough sleep. Glucose tolerance, insulin secretion, and cortisol are all disrupted or produced differently when our sleep schedules are interrupted. Does that mean the lack of a healthy night’s sleep will lead to hair loss?
Not always, but it could be a contributing factor. Stress hormones like cortisol can keep you from sleeping well and can be overproduced when you are not sleeping well, making it a seemingly endless cycle. When your body has too much stress, you may not need to literally be pulling your hair out to see more hair loss.
In fact, there’s a good chance that the hair loss related to stress is what led to the saying in the first place
Is Hair Loss From Lack of Sleep Permanent?
Probably not, depending on the exact cause of your sleep loss.
Many new parents lose hair when they are first dealing with the stress and sleeplessness of having a new infant (and, in the case of women, postpartum hormones are also a factor). But, as they become more accustomed to their new role (and the child gets older), the sleepless nights become less frequent – at least for a while. When your body is finally able to rest thoroughly, your natural hair cycle will likely reset.
Can Sleep Apnea Cause Hair Loss?
By itself, sleep apnea does not cause hair loss. Because of the stress it creates for the body, combined with the stress of not sleeping well, hair loss is often associated with sleep apnea.
Worse yet, sleep apnea can induce stress that makes genetic hair loss trigger earlier. The most common form of hair loss is androgenic alopecia, the so-called pattern baldness that is age-related and genetic. When a person does not get enough sleep, it can have almost the same effect on the body as aging, leading those genetic factors to come into play much earlier.
The Sleep Centers of Middle Tennessee explain it this way, “The prolonged disruption in tested animals’ sleep-wake cycles influenced hair follicles. The findings prompt more concern regarding the link between sleep deprivation and human hair loss.” Essentially, when your sleep is consistently disrupted, it damages your hair follicles and leads to hair loss.
Precision Hair Restoration Experts Can Help Prevent Sleep-Related Hair Loss
If your bad sleeping nights are causing you to lose your hair, it might be time to call the staff at Precision Hair Restoration. Our doctors can help you determine if your bad sleep is impacting your hair loss and what to do about it. Contact us today!
