If You’re Shedding A Lot Of Hair, This Is Probably Why
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Dr. Andrea Suarez explains what causes it and what to do about it:
Telogen effluvium
Losing up to about 100 hairs a day is normal because hair cycles through growth (anagen), rest, and shedding (telogen), and shedding often looks worse on wash or brush days.
Chances are, however, you’re not counting them one by one. So, how to tell the difference? A shed telogen hair has a small white bulb at the end, while breakage looks blunt and has no white tip, and both can happen at the same time.
Increased shedding doesn’t automatically mean balding, and shedding and hair loss are related but not the same process.
However! A major stressor can push many follicles into rest at once, with noticeable shedding starting about three months later.
Common triggers include: rapid weight loss, medications (including GLP-1 drugs), fever or illness, surgery or hospitalization, pregnancy and postpartum changes, untreated menopause, emotional stress, endurance events, accidents, thyroid disease, low iron, and chronic inflammation.
Shedding often lasts three to six months and usually resolves within nine to twelve months once the trigger is controlled. Regrowth takes that amount of time time because hair grows roughly one centimeter per month, and your hair will look thin if half of it is shoulder-length and the other half is just regrowing from scratch.
Some things you can do about it:
- At-home hair care basics: be gentle, avoid tight styles and heat, don’t aggressively brush wet hair, and use a wide-tooth comb to limit breakage.
- Scalp health matters: regularly shampoo your scalp to reduce oil, residue, dandruff, and inflammation, which supports healthier follicle function and regrowth. Medicated shampoo ingredients such as selenium sulfide, salicylic acid, zinc pyrithione, ketoconazole, and piroctone olamine can reduce inflammation and yeast overgrowth that can/would otherwise impair scalp health.
- Nutrition and lifestyle: adequate protein, sufficient calories, reasonable weight maintenance (i.e., if you must lose weight, don’t do it too quickly), good sleep, and stress management all support hair recovery. Get good vitamin/mineral coverage, but don’t overdo it, as overdosing can cause hair loss.
- RLT / low-level laser therapy: red and near-infrared light can improve cellular energy, blood flow, and inflammation, supporting reduced shedding and improved density with consistent use over months. Peer-reviewed studies, including recent work, show gradual increases in hair count, density, and thickness with ongoing use.
- Medical options: treatments like topical or oral minoxidil can help, sometimes combined with device-based therapy, depending on the diagnosis.
For more on all of this, enjoy:
Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!
Want to learn more?
You might also like:
What Different Kinds of Hair Loss/Thinning Say About Your Health ← Dr. Siobhan Deshauer discusses (and shows) 15 specific diagnosable things
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Guava vs Pear – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing guava to pear, we picked the guava.
Why?
It wasn’t close:
In terms of macros, guava has nearly 2x the fiber and 7x the protein, while pears have slightly more carbs, so this is an easy win for guava, mostly because of the fiber (since the protein numbers are small on both sides).
In the category of vitamins, guava has a lot more of vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9, C, and E, while pears have slightly more vitamin K; another easy win for guavas.
Looking at minerals, guavas have more calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, and zinc, while pears are not higher in any mineral—a one-sided victory for guava here!
In other considerations, guavas have a lot more polyphenols, so that’s another strong point in their favor.
Adding up the sections is not difficult mathematics today; it’s a very clear overall win for guava. Still, do enjoy either or both, as diversity is best!
Want to learn more?
You might like:
What’s Your Plant Diversity Score?
Enjoy!
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The Liver Cure – by Dr. Russell Blaylock
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We’ve written before about How To Unfatty A Fatty Liver, but there’s a lot more that can be said in a book that we couldn’t fit into our article.
In this book, Dr. Blaylock looks at the causes and symptoms of liver disease, the mechanisms behind such, and how we can adjust our dietary habits (and other things) to do better for ourselves.
While the book’s primary focus is on diet, he does also look at medications (especially: those that hinder liver health, which are many, including simple/common stuff like Tylenol and similar), and the effects of different lifestyle choices, including ones that aren’t diet-related.
Because most people’s knowledge of liver disease starts and ends at “don’t drink yourself to death”, this book is an important tome of knowledge for actually keeping this critical organ in good order—especially since symptoms of liver disease can initially be subtle, and slow to show, often escaping notice until it’s already far, far worse than it could have been.
Many people find out by experiencing liver failure.
The writing style is… A little repetitive for this reviewer’s preference, but it does make sure that you won’t miss things. Also, when it comes to supplements, he repeatedly recommends a particular company, and it’s not clear whether he has a financial interest there. But the actual medical information is good and important and comprehensive.
Bottom line: if you’d like to keep your liver in good health, this is a book that will help you to do just that.
Click here to check out The Liver Cure, and keep yours working well!
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Staying Sane In A Hyper-Connected World
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Staying Sane In A Hyper-Connected World
There’s a war over there, a genocide in progress somewhere else, and another disease is ravaging the population of somewhere most Americans would struggle to point out on the map. Not only that, but that one politician is at it again, and sweeping wildfires are not doing climate change any favors.
To borrow an expression from Gen-Z…
“Oof”.
A Very Modern Mental Health Menace
For thousands of years, we have had wars and genocides and plagues and corrupt politicians and assorted major disasters. Dire circumstances are not new to us as a species. So what is new?
As some reactionary said during the dot-com boom, “the Internet doesn’t make people stupid; it just makes their stupidity more accessible”.
The same is true now of The Horrors™.
The Internet doesn’t, by and large, make the world worse. But what it does do is make the bad things much, much more accessible.
Understanding and empathy are not bad things, but watch out…
- When soldiers came home from the First World War, those who hadn’t been there had no conception of the horrors that had been endured. That made it harder for the survivors to get support. That was bad.
- Nowadays, while mass media covering horrors certainly doesn’t convey the half of it, even the half it does convey can be overwhelming. This is also bad.
The insidious part is: while people are subjectively reporting good physical/mental health, the reports of the symptoms of poor physical/mental health from the same population do not agree:
Stress in America 2023: A nation grappling with psychological impacts of collective trauma
Should we just not watch the news?
In principle that’s an option, but it’s difficult to avoid, unless you truly live under a rock, and also do not frequent any social media at all. And besides, isn’t it our duty as citizens of this world to stay informed? How else can we make informed choices?
Staying informed, mindfully
There are steps that can be taken to keep ourselves informed, while protecting our mental health:
- Choose your sources wisely. Primary sources (e.g. tweets and videos from people who are there) will usually be most authentic, but also most traumatizing. Dispassionate broadsheets may gloss over or misrepresent things more (something that can be countered a bit by reading an opposing view from a publication you hate on principle), but will offer more of an emotional buffer.
- Boundary your consumption of the news. Set a timer and avoid doomscrolling. Your phone (or other device) may help with this if you set a screentime limit per app where you consume that kind of media.
- Take (again, boundaried) time to reflect. If you don’t, your brain will keep grinding at it “like a fork in the garbage disposal”. Talking about your feelings on the topic with a trusted person is great; journaling is also a top-tier more private option.
- If you feel helpless, help. Taking even small actions to help in the face of suffering somewhere else (e.g. donating to relief funds, engaging in advocacy / hounding your government about it), can help alleviate feelings of anguish and helplessness. And of course, as a bonus, it actually helps in the real world too.
- When you relax, relax fully. Even critical care doctors need downtime, nobody can be “always on” without burning out. So whatever distracts and relaxes you completely, make sure to make time for that too.
Want to know more?
That’s all we have room for today, but you might like to check out:
- Distressing images and videos can take a toll on our mental health. How can we stay informed without being traumatised?
- PTSD expert on how to protect yourself and your kids from overexposure to war images from the Mideast
You also might like our previous main features:
- C-PTSD, And What To Do When Life Genuinely Sucks
- A Surprisingly Powerful Tool: Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing
Take care!
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Longans vs Lychees – Which is Healthier?
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
Our Verdict
When comparing longans to lychees, we picked the lychees.
Why?
These two fruits are more closely related than they look from the outside, both being members of the soapberry family. However, there are some differences:
In terms of macros, longans have more protein while lychees have more carbs, and they are equal on fiber, giving longans the lower glycemic index. They’re both good, but longans nominally take the win on this one.
When it comes to vitamins, longans have more of vitamins B1, B2, and C, while lychees have more of vitamins B3, B6, B9, E, K, and choline, making for a respectable win for lychees in this category.
In the category of minerals, longans have more copper and potassium, while lychees have more calcium, iron, manganese phosphorus, and zinc. Thus, a win for lychees here too.
It’s worth looking at polyphenols too—lychees have around 10x more, which is notable.
Adding up the categories makes for an overall win for lychees, but by all means enjoy either or both! Diversity is good.
Want to learn more?
You might like to read:
Replacing Sugar: Top 10 Anti-Inflammatory Sweet Foods ← longans and lychees both make the list
Take care!
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Why do I get headaches when I exercise, even when I drink lots of water?
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Getting a headache during or after exercise can be seriously frustrating – especially if you have kept hydrated to try and stop them from happening.
But why do these headaches occur? And does keeping hydrated make any difference?
Jacob Lund/Shutterstock What are exercise headaches?
Exercise headaches (also known as “exertional headaches”) are exactly what they sound like: headaches that occur either during, or after, exercise.
French doctor Jules Tinel first reported these headaches in the medical literature in 1932 and they’ve been a regular point of discussion since.
Exercise headaches commonly present as a throbbing pain on both sides of the head. They most often occur after strenuous exercise – although what is considered “strenuous” can differ between people, depending on their fitness levels. They can last anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of days.
Exercise headaches are thought to impact about 12% of adults, although this number varies from 1% all the way up to 26% across individual studies.
In most circumstances, these headaches are harmless and will resolve on their own, over time. Some research suggests you will stop getting them after a few months of starting a new type of workout.
But while they are usually harmless, they can sometimes signal an underlying condition that requires medical attention.
What causes exercise headaches?
Despite a good amount of research looking at exertional headaches, we don’t know their exact cause, but we do think we know why they occur.
The leading theory suggests they are caused by changes in blood flow to the brain. During intense exercise, blood vessels in the brain dilate, increasing blood flow and pressure, leading to pain.
Because long-term exercise improves our cardiovascular health, including our ability to dilate and constrict our blood vessels, this theory makes sense when we consider that exercise headaches tend to resolve themselves over time. This might explain why research suggests fitter people are less likely to get exercise headaches.
People with migraines appear more likely to experience exercise headaches, which are thought to be caused by this same mechanism.
Does heat and dehydration cause exercise headaches?
There is evidence suggesting that exercise headaches are more likely to occur in the heat.
Your brain cannot dissipate heat by sweating like the rest of your body can. So when it’s hot, your body has to increase blood flow to the brain to help bring down its temperature, which can increase pressure.
Exercise headaches might not be as bad when you’re hydrated. ME Image/Shutterstock Similarly, exercise headaches also seem to get worse, and occur more often, when people are dehydrated.
However, we are not sure why this happens. Some research has shown that dehydration results in increased strain during exercise. As such, dehydration might not necessarily cause the headache, but make it more likely to occur.
Red flags: when to see a doctor
Most exercise headaches resolve themselves after a few hours and result in no lasting negative effects.
In some rare instances, they could be sign of something more serious occurring in the brain, such as a subarachnoid haemorrhage (a bleed between the brain and the tissues that cover it), reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome (a spasming of blood vessels), cervical artery dissection (or tear), intracranial hypertension (pressure in the brain), or an infection.
See a doctor to rule out anything serious if:
- it’s your first exercise headache
- the headache is severe and sudden (also known as a thunderclap headache)
- it’s accompanied by other symptoms such as vision changes, confusion, or sensations of weakness
- you experience a stiff neck, nausea, or vomiting with your headache
- it lasts for more than 24 hours and doesn’t seem to be getting better.
Can you prevent exercise headaches?
There is no surefire way to prevent exercise headaches.
But a recent review suggests that ensuring you’re adequately hydrated and gradually warm-up to your desired exercise intensity can make them less likely to occur.
Give your body time to adapt. Gorgev/Shutterstock Beyond this, you may wish to keep your exercise intensity in a light-to moderate range for a couple of months. This will give your cardiovascular system some time to adapt before trying more strenuous exercise, hopefully reducing the likelihood of getting exercise headaches at all.
Exercise headaches are annoying, but are generally harmless and should subside on their own over time.
Hunter Bennett, Lecturer in Exercise Science, University of South Australia
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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How Serious Are Antidepressant Side Effects?
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It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!
Have a question or a request? We love to hear from you!
In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!
As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, we’ll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, we’ll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!
So, no question/request too big or small 😎
❝I have been considering Antidepressants, but am concerned about the side effects including depression (how is that even possible) , suicidal thoughts, and anxiety, I don’t want to make things worse, should I be worred?❞
First of all: we hope things get better for you, whether with meds or not!
Secondly: we’ll quickly draw attention to our standard medical/legal disclaimer; we provide bite-size health science information here, and/but absolutely cannot give medical advice; for that see your own pharmacist or doctor (with the former generally being the better-informed about medication side effects), who will be aware of your personal circumstances.
Thirdly: we’ll now look at the actual topic with which you’ve kindly presented us 🙂
Most antidepressants work by increasing levels of one or more neurotransmitters in the brain, by one or more mechanisms. If that sounds vague, it’s because there’s a lot of antidepressants out there, and they fall into a lot of different categories of drugs.
For an overview, see: Antidepressants: Personalization Is Key! ← which also covers why antidepressants seem to work a lot better for some people than for others
Consequently, because “antidepressants” is really an umbrella term for a lot of different drugs working in a lot of different ways, each of which may or may not help one specific person with their (or your!) specific kind of depression, there are numerous possible outcomes from taking antidepressants, including:
- nothing discernible happens
- nothing discernible happens, which is a crushing emotional blow as the person had been really counting on this working, so now they feel even more hopeless and wretched
- depression lifted, but an excess of one or more neurotransmitters in the brain (from having been boosted by the antidepressants) is now causing a different problem, such as anxiety
- depression slightly lifted, which means that a person who was previously feeling suicidal but unmotivated to do anything, is now capable of doing things, and thus more likely to act on the urge
- depression gone and no new problems (yay)
There are also other less obviously brain-related potential side effects, with weight gain being a common one for many antidepressants, but
- it’s usually not severe
- it can also be a matter of regaining healthy weight that one lost unhealthily while depressed
For more on that, see: How Much Weight Gain Do Antidepressants Cause?
Back to the potential outcomes of increased suicidality, depression, or anxiety:
With regard to suicidal ideation and thus potential suicidality, in this writer’s experience: key is understanding suicide prevention methods, and consciously choosing to employ them for oneself.
We wrote about that, here: How To Stay Alive (When You Really Don’t Want To)
Perhaps most importantly in this case: understand in advance that you might feel that way, and understand that it’s because depression lies to you, and that you have decided to defy that, live anyway, and come out the other side into depression-free life.
With regard to increased depression: chances are it was just the wrong antidepressant for you. If it’s not working out for you after a few weeks, you might want to consider rolling the dice again on a different class of antidepressant, or else trying a different (i.e. non-medicated) approach. See also: The Mental Health First-Aid That You’ll Hopefully Never Need ← this is about depression-management strategies, whether in yourself or a loved one
With regard to increased anxiety: assuming that your meds indeed eased your depression, while giving you anxiety, then only you can decide for yourself whether that’s worth it. If you are open to the use of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, then that has much higher success rates with anxiety than depression—because it’s a lot easier to flowchart one’s way through “maybe they didn’t reply to my text because they’re busy, and not because I’m a contemptible idiot and they hate me”, than it is flowchart one’s way out of feeling nothing and feeling like doing nothing. See also: Radical CBT Tools To Try
One tool with a good record against both depression and anxiety is Behavioral Activation, so check out: Behavioral Activation Against Depression & Anxiety
Last but not least….
Here are some traps to not fall into:
5 Self-Care Trends That Are Actually Ruining Your Mental Health
Take care!
Don’t Forget…
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