A study of 380,363 women across India looks at stress, sleep and gut health alongside hair fall patterns and how they vary by regions across India.
Mumbai, 2026 – Traya Health today released findings from its female hair health study covering 380,363 women across India on stress levels, sleep quality, and gut health alongside hair fall patterns. Women with hair fall show high stress, poor sleep, and gut issues. All three are higher in women with side thinning or partition widening
At Traya, we have a clear point of view on what this means. Stress, sleep, and gut health are established biological contributors to hair fall, each through a distinct and well-documented mechanism. Elevated cortisol from chronic stress shortens the hair growth phase. Poor sleep disrupts the overnight repair that follicles depend on. Gut dysfunction impairs absorption of the nutrients (iron, vitamin D, and zinc) that hair follicles need to grow.
Still, most women address hair fall from the outside with oils, shampoos, and topical treatments. This study points to what is happening internally.
Key Findings from the Study
- 8% of women in this study have noticeable hair fall.
- Thinning is the most common pattern (53.7%), followed by partition widening (22.1%) and side thinning (19.1%).
- 52% of women are under moderate to high stress, 38.1% are not sleeping well, and 51.7% have gut issues.
- 6% of women have two or more of these three, and 1 in 6 (16.4%) has all three.
- Women with side thinning or partition widening show higher stress, poorer sleep, and a heavier gut burden than women with thinning.
The Internal Health Picture
Stress
52% of women in this study are under moderate to high stress, and more than 1 in 4 (25.3%) feel tense almost every day.
Chronic stress is a known biological contributor to hair fall. Elevated cortisol, the body’s primary stress hormone, shortens the active hair growth phase, pushing follicles into the resting phase earlier than they should. Sustained stress can also disrupt hormones such as oestrogen, which extends the growth phase and protects follicle health. When these hormones are disturbed, follicles become more vulnerable to shedding.
The result builds slowly. Hair fall from stress does not arrive suddenly; it accumulates over months. And because the shift is gradual, most women never connect the stress they have been carrying to the hair fall they are now experiencing.
Sleep
38.1% of women in this study are not sleeping well.
Poor sleep is a known biological contributor to hair fall. During deep sleep, the body releases growth hormone, essential for cell renewal inside hair follicles. When sleep is consistently disrupted, this overnight repair is cut short. Follicles that do not repair fully produce thinner, weaker hair with each growth cycle. Over time, density reduces.
The hair fall that follows is slow and diffuse. Most women attribute it to stress or age. The sleep deficit building quietly over years is almost never identified as a contributing factor.
Gut
51.7% of women in this study have gut issues, such as acidity, bloating, gas, or constipation.
The gut is where the nutrients that hair follicles depend on are absorbed. When gut function is impaired, absorption of these nutrients can drop even when dietary intake is adequate. A woman can be eating well, taking supplements, and still be nutritionally deficient at the follicle level if her gut is not processing effectively. Iron deficiency in particular is one of the most common and underdiagnosed contributors to hair fall in women and is frequently missed because the gut connection is never investigated.
Saloni Anand, Co-Founder, Traya Health
“Hair- fall is a sign of what is happening internally. I have spoken to thousands of women who keep switching products and supplements, waiting for a miracle instead of looking at what is happening inside their bodies. Almost none of them had ever been told that their stress, their sleep, or their gut health was connected to their hair. That conversation has been missing in India for too long. This study is our attempt to start it.”
Why All Three Together Matter
Stress, sleep, and gut health do not work in isolation. They can compound each other.
Stress disrupts sleep, and poor sleep keeps cortisol elevated, amplifying the hormonal disruption that affects hair growth. The gut and the brain signal to each other, so gut distress and stress can reinforce each other, while poor absorption starves follicles of the nutrients they need. In this study, the three often show up together. 46.6% of women have two or more of them.
The Internal Burden Is Heavier Where Hair Fall Is More Visible
Women in this study were assessed on both their hair fall pattern and their internal health markers. Women with thinning, the most common pattern, sit slightly below the national average on all three markers. Women with side thinning or partition widening sit above it on all three.
| Hair Fall Pattern |
% of Women |
Stress |
Sleep |
Gut |
| Thinnng |
53.7% |
51.4% |
37.5% |
50.1% |
| Side Thinning |
19.1% |
54.2% |
39.2% |
54.6% |
| Partition Widening |
22.1% |
53.6% |
39.6% |
54.1% |
| National Average |
|
52.0% |
38.1% |
51.7% |
Women with side thinning or partition widening show higher stress, poorer sleep, and a heavier gut burden than women with thinning. The gaps are modest, between 2 and 4 points, but they are consistent across every marker. This matches what we see at Traya: women with side thinning or partition widening tend to carry more internal pressure.
WHERE IN INDIA IS IT WORST?
| Region |
Stress |
Sleep |
Gut |
| Maharashtra |
52.8% |
41.1% |
52.4% |
| Karnataka |
51.5% |
40.0% |
49.4% |
| UP |
50.1% |
34.7% |
53.2% |
| Telangana |
53.7% |
42.1% |
44.1% |
| Delhi |
51.7% |
37.3% |
56.0% |
| West Bengal |
57.7% |
39.3% |
58.7% |
| Gujarat |
51.5% |
35.6% |
50.1% |
| Tamil Nadu |
55.6% |
43.1% |
45.4% |
| Madhya Pradesh |
50.4% |
34.3% |
50.0% |
| Bihar |
47.5% |
32.6% |
51.9% |
| Rajasthan |
48.9% |
31.1% |
50.8% |
| Odisha |
52.5% |
35.5% |
54.9% |
| National Average |
52% |
38.1% |
51.7% |
West Bengal has the highest stress and the highest gut burden of any region in the study. Stress is 57.7%, 5.7 points above the national average. Gut issues are 58.7%, 7 points above. Nearly 6 in 10 women there have gut issues, which can limit how nutrients reach the hair follicle. Stress disrupts the hormones that protect hair. In West Bengal, both sit well above the national average at the same time.
Tamil Nadu has the worst sleep. 43.1% of women are not sleeping well, 5 points above the national average and the highest of any region. Stress at 55.6% is 3.6 points above. Poor sleep cuts short the overnight repair that follicles depend on, and stress disrupts the hormones that keep follicles in their growth phase. In Tamil Nadu, both are above the national average at the same time.
Telangana: stress and sleep are both above the national average. Stress at 53.7% is 1.7 points above. Poor sleep at 42.1% is 4 points above and the second worst of any region. Stress disrupts sleep, and poor sleep keeps cortisol elevated, amplifying the hormonal disruption that affects hair growth.
Delhi NCT has the second-highest gut burden, after West Bengal. 56.0% of women have gut issues, 4.3 points above the national average. Gut distress can affect how women absorb iron, vitamin D, and protein. A woman can eat well and supplement regularly and still not see results if her gut is not absorbing effectively. In Delhi, that is more than 1 in 2 women.
Traya’s Read
More than 1 in 4 women (25.3%) feel tense almost every day. 38.1% are not sleeping well. More than half have gut issues. Nearly half have two or more of the three, and the burden is heavier in women whose hair fall has moved to the sides or the parting.
Most Indian women dealing with hair fall have been addressing it from the outside. This study points inward. Stress needs to be addressed. Sleep needs to be protected. The gut needs to be investigated, because until the absorption gap is identified and corrected, the nutrients hair follicles need may not be arriving.
At Traya, we start with the internal picture and treat it alongside the scalp.
About Traya Health
Traya Health is India’s leading hair treatment brand, combining Ayurveda, Dermatology, and Nutrition to identify and address the root causes driving hair fall in women. Founded on the principle that hair loss is a symptom of deeper internal imbalances, Traya has treated lakhs of Indians and built one of the country’s largest proprietary datasets on hair health, gut function, and lifestyle indicators.
