Why does staying up late cause hair loss?

When I wake up in the morning, there are always some messy hairs on my pillowcase; when I comb my hair, I can sometimes pick up a small bunch of hairs...

Unconsciously, “the first batch of post-90s generation has gone bald” and “anti-hair loss and hair strengthening” have become the new favorite social topics among young people.

It is said that staying up late will cause hair loss, so what is the reason?

The human body loses 50 to 100 hairs every day. This kind of hair loss is caused by the hair reaching the resting period in the normal growth cycle, which is called physiological hair loss. At the same time, a corresponding number of hairs will enter the growth period to replenish the hair volume. The two maintain a dynamic balance and the hair will not decrease.

When the number of hair loss exceeds 100 per day, there is the influence of non-physiological hair loss, which is the source of hair loss we are mainly discussing. There are five main reasons: androgenic alopecia (also known as seborrheic alopecia), immunodeficiency alopecia (alopecia areata), injury alopecia, nutritional abnormalities alopecia and drug-induced alopecia.

The impact of staying up late on hair loss is mainly related to the first two reasons.

On the one hand, staying up late for a long time will lead to an imbalance of hormone levels in the body, an increase in the content of the androgen metabolite dihydrotestosterone (DHT), and the scalp hair follicles will shrink prematurely under the stimulation of DHT, leading to hair loss. Of course, the human body will also produce a certain amount of androgen under normal circumstances, so even if you have a regular work and rest schedule, some people will gradually start to lose their hair after sexual maturity.

On the other hand, staying up late is often not a choice you make. The essence behind it is mental, emotional, and stress issues, which can cause alopecia areata. Studies have shown that stress can cause telogen effluvium, which means that hair enters the telogen phase prematurely from the growth phase, causing hair loss.

Therefore, if you cannot avoid staying up late, please maintain a positive and optimistic attitude. Even if other aspects are not satisfactory, at least you can still keep your hair.