Modern life can be a real test of strength and stamina. We live in an unrelenting, non-stop environment, a world of planes, trains and fast-streaming broadband. Juggling the competing demands of work, leisure, friends and family isn’t easy. Finding time to keep your hair looking healthy is understandably difficult, therefore. And it’s not just about the time constraints, either. Sometimes it’s the daily grind of life itself that seems to make your hair unhealthy.
This article will look at three of the major aspects of life that are messing with your tresses. Read on to find out the things you need to watch out for and pick up some tips on how to improve the situation.
Diet
A famous military leader, who knew the importance of food to his troops, once said that ‘an army marches on its stomach’. A good diet is just as important to the overall health of every individual. It’s certainly essential if you want to keep your hair in good condition. Often, our hectic lifestyles result in us snatching meals when we can and eating fast foods or too many processed, oven-ready meals. The outcome is that we don’t get the vitamins and proteins our hair follicles need to grow. A lack of thiamine or Vitamin B1, for example, can cause hair loss.
Make sure you have a diet that contains plenty of proteins and omega-3 fatty acids. These are found in fruits, seeds, cereals, salmon, nuts and eggs. This sort of diet will do your health and hair a power of good!
Stress
While early humans probably had a lot to be stressed about (have you seen the teeth on a sabre-tooth tiger??), acute stress is undoubtedly a modern illness. We live in a world that doesn’t have an ‘off’ switch and in which pressure is constant. Ask any clinician and they’ll tell you that stress can be a killer. It affects the body’s immune system in ways we are still discovering, compromising our ability to fight off illness and disease. It may be responsible for alopecia areata, an autoimmune disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks the hair follicles and causes hair loss.
Stress is also responsible for telogen effluvium, which is thought to occur when chronic stress causes hair follicles to move into the resting phase. This can result in significant hair fall. Finally, severe stress is also a factor in the disorder trichotillomania, which is characterised by the sufferer’s urge to pull out hair from the scalp, eyebrows or other areas of the body.
Self-care is vital if you are to avoid stress. Ensure you maintain a healthy work-life balance. Find activities that help you unwind and relax. That can be anything from meditation, mindfulness and yoga, to reading a book or watching a film. Build some exercise into your daily routine. That doesn’t have to mean going to the gym; a brisk walk to the shop or work also counts as exercise.
Sleep
The number of people suffering from chronic insomnia seems to be on the rise. Indeed, some estimates put the number of people in the developed world reporting poor sleep patterns as high as 30%. Lack of sleep will soon show in the condition of your hair. A good night’s sleep is when our bodies absorb nutrients and repair damaged cells. It’s also the time when protein synthesis of the hair takes place and enzymes and growth hormones like melatonin are released. These are essential for the growth of healthy hair. Poor sleep also feeds into an increased risk of being stressed or anxious, and we’ve seen what that can do to hair.
If you don’t feel that you’re getting proper sleep, try and identify where the problems might be. Avoid drinking cups of coffee in the evening and late afternoon. Get the television out of your bedroom and switch your smartphone off before you climb under the duvet. Check with your doctor if you suspect you may have a sleep-related disorder such as sleep apnoea.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, this article has given you a few reliable bits of information that you can take away and apply to your lifestyle. Diet, stress and sleep are three aspects of our lives that have a major impact on our general health and the condition of our hair. Making changes to any or all of the three takes effort, and it takes time for the benefits to show. Once they do show, however, they are long-lasting and life changing.
If you have concerns about any aspect of your haircare routine, or if you are worried about hair loss, Vinci Hair Clinic is here to help. We are one of the world’s leading providers of hair restoration treatments. We offer a free, no-obligation consultation to all our new clients. All you have to do is get in touch and book your appointment!
