Night after night, you lie awake in bed, waiting for the elusive Zs to come. Morning after morning, you notice more hair on your pillow and less on your head. There seems to be a correlation.
But does lack of sleep cause hair loss?
First things first, there’s no need to lose sleep (or hair) over a single restless night. Pulling an all-nighter won’t cause hair loss.
However, scientists have discovered some intriguing links between prolonged sleep deprivation and hair loss.
But it’s not as simple as you think because there’s no single path that leads straight from insomnia to hair loss. Instead, as we’ll show you, there are multiple factors at play.
The good news is that regardless of what’s causing your hair loss, there are ways to reverse it. We’ll also take a look at hair loss treatment options, depending on the type of hair loss you have.
Does Lack of Sleep Cause Hair Loss: The Short Answer
The link between sleep and hair loss is complex. Both things are driven by a range of factors that make it almost impossible to say with certainty that lack of sleep = hair loss.
What we can say is this:
Not a single study has proven that one standout restless night will trigger hair loss.
It’s also unlikely that insomnia alone leads to hair loss.
So, lack of sleep does not, on its own, cause hair loss.
But as we’ll show you below, scientists have found a connection between sleep deprivation and hair loss with three types of hair loss.
But there’s usually one extra factor at play: Stress.
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Take the quizThe Types of Alopecia Linked to Lack of Sleep
Let’s take a peek into the tangled world of sleep and hair loss, where things aren’t always as straightforward as they seem.
Androgenetic Alopecia
To start, we have androgenetic alopecia, also called male pattern baldness and female pattern hair loss. This is the most common type of hair loss — the one we’re all familiar with. It’s inherited and becomes more pronounced with age.
Research linking lack of sleep with androgenetic alopecia is vague, to say the least. But a 2022 study has found a significant association between sleep disturbances and severe male pattern baldness.
Meanwhile, a 2020 survey found a link between poor sleep quality and more severe female pattern hair loss. But it wasn’t an isolated connection. You also had to be aged between 30 and 40 years, drink alcohol, have an oily scalp, and wear your hair in a ponytail.
Why does insomnia cause sleep deprivation?
Nobody has figured out why this link exists. One possibility is that chronic sleep deprivation elevates stress hormones like cortisol, which disrupt our hair growth cycle.
Some studies also explore a possible link between our circadian rhythm and hair loss, leaning on research that shows that our ‘circadian clock genes’ also have an important regulatory role in the hair growth cycle.
Finasteride and minoxidil are the most common medications to treat androgenetic alopecia.
Finasteride helps block DHT, a hormone that has a role in androgenetic alopecia. Minoxidil is a topical treatment that may increase blood flow to your hair follicles to stimulate hair growth.
The Hairy Pill® is another treatment option with proven results. It uses underlying technology invented by a world-renowned dermatologist to provide personalised hair loss treatments for men and hair loss treatments for women.
Alopecia Areata (AA)
Some of the most comprehensive research on sleep and hair loss is related to the autoimmune condition called alopecia areata (AA).
This is where your immune system attacks your hair follicles and disrupts the hair growth cycle. Symptoms include small, round bald patches on the scalp.
Several studies have confirmed that there’s a link between alopecia areata and sleep disorders and that it goes both ways.
Research has consistently found that people with AA are more likely to have impaired sleep quality and more daytime fatigue.
A big Taiwanese study found that patients with alopecia areata had a significantly higher risk of developing obstructive sleep apnea and non-apnea insomnia.
Meanwhile, that same study — along with a huge Korean retrospective study — found that if you have a sleep disorder, you’ve got a significantly higher risk of developing alopecia areata (particularly for those under 45 years old).
So people with a sleep disorder may develop alopecia areata. But why?
We’re still figuring it out but one theory is that prolonged sleep deprivation triggers immune dysregulation (where the immune system malfunctions) and causes chronic inflammation. This can exacerbate autoimmune conditions like AA.
Your emotional wellbeing also can’t be ignored when it comes to sleep deprivation and alopecia areata. After all, in one cross-sectional study, sleep quality was found to be worse among those who had both AA and anxiety or depression.
But when it comes to cause-and-effect, we find endless feedback loops, unable to detect how it all started and which part in the chain is triggering the rest.
Here’s how that cross-sectional study explains it:
People with alopecia areata are more prone to develop anxiety, depression, and psychiatric disorders.
These psychological conditions are known to impair sleep quality.
Sleep deprivation can worsen the psychological condition.
Meanwhile, psychological conditions may trigger and exacerbate autoimmune conditions like AA. But AA may likewise trigger the onset of a psychological condition.
Around and around we go.
At the end of the day, all we can say with any certainty is that sleep quality and alopecia areata are linked. However, that link still isn’t entirely clear and we need more studies to be able to dive deeper.
While there’s no known cure for alopecia areata, there are prescription medications that may help. It’s best to speak to a doctor if you have AA or are concerned that you may have it.
Trichotillomania (TTM)
Trichotillomania is a behavioural disorder, where people have a deep compulsion to pull out their hair. If left unchecked, the condition could leave you with bald patches on the scalp and body.
Research has found that people with TTM reported significantly worse sleep quality than those without the condition — and at the same time, it found that poor sleep quality meant more severe hair pulling.
The trouble is that, like the chicken and the egg, it’s hard to know what came first: poor sleep or hair pulling.
This 2021 study explains the predicament. To begin with, hair-pulling is often triggered by a stressful situation:
- Your stress could result in poor sleep.
- Poor sleep could increase stress while inhibiting your ability to control impulsive behaviour.
- The combination of stress and impulsive behaviour could lead to hair-pulling all night.
- Hair-pulling could lead to poor sleep.
However, at least one study has found that people with TTM slept badly even when they didn’t have anxiety or depression.
Because of its psychological aspect, trichotillomania is most often treated with cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).
Telogen Effluvium (TE)
This is a type of stress-related hair loss caused by a sudden or severe shock to the body. So given the links between stress and hair loss that we’ve already established, we’d be remiss not to mention it.
Telogen effluvium can be triggered by a physical shock, in the form of a major surgery, high fever, or excessive weight loss. Or it could be emotional, brought about by a traumatic event, such as a job loss, divorce, or death in the family.
The hair loss symptoms start to show 6–12 weeks after the triggering event but they’re usually temporary; symptoms tend to resolve within 6–12 months, once the stressful trigger is removed.
Read our complete guide to telogen effluvium.
Why might sleep trigger telogen effluvium?
A 2021 study inspired by the coronavirus pandemic argued that something called a neuropeptide may link sleep disruptions and TE together.
The researchers suggested that neuropeptides (chemical messengers that modulate neural activity and other tissues) have a role in both neuroinflammation and sleep regulation — and that they may have a role in creating scalp tingling that can lead to TE.
Once again, it’s tricky to know whether the stress is disrupting the sleep cycle, or whether insomnia is causing stress.
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Can You Reverse Hair Loss from Lack of Sleep?
So you think lack of sleep is triggering or exacerbating your hair loss?
The first step is to address your lack of sleep. Most health professionals recommend getting 7–8 hours a night. But if you’re struggling with insomnia or sleep disruptions, it’s easier said than done.
Your GP or a healthcare professional may be able to help set you on the right path to treat your sleep disturbances or insomnia but recommendations often include:
- Eating a healthy, balanced diet
- Limiting the use of electronic screens before sleeping
- Darkening your room in the lead-up to bedtime
- Avoiding drinks with caffeine in the evening
- Practising meditation to reduce stress
You may start to notice an improvement in your hair once you’ve resumed a healthy sleep routine. However, if your hair loss is more complex, you may need to take further action to treat it.
To find the right treatment for your hair loss, it’s best to speak to a doctor who can diagnose the cause of your alopecia. Treatment may depend on the type of alopecia:
- Androgenetic alopecia: Finasteride and minoxidil are the most common treatments.
- Alopecia areata: Several prescription medications are available; it’s best to speak to a specialist.
- Trichotillomania: Cognitive behavioural therapy is the best course of treatment.
- Telogen effluvium: This is usually temporary, with symptoms reversed when the stressful trigger is removed.
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