The stress of life in 2020 may be causing hair loss for some. | iStockphoto/Getty Images

Stress and the many changes this year could be causing irregular periods, hair loss, and more.

“I am seeing tons of hair loss,” Mona Gohara says.

Patients come to Gohara, a dermatologist and professor at the Yale School of Medicine, for all kinds of reasons from skin cancer screenings to cosmetic procedures. But this year more than ever, they’re worried about their hair.

It’s not a coincidence. Stress — like, say, that brought on by living through a deadly pandemic — is known to cause hair loss. Ordinarily, “90 percent of the hairs on our head are in the growing cycle; 10 percent are in the shedding cycle,” Gohara explained. “But when we’re subject to some type of physiologic or emotional stress, that cycle shifts to