Its True: Stress Does Turn Hair Gray And Its Reversible Columbia University Irving Medical Center

Table Of Content

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• Smoking plays a huge role with graying
• Stress can turn hair gray, but the process is reversible, study finds
• How Stress Can Affect Hair Loss And What To Do About It
• Tips for Preventing Premature Grey Hair
• What color is your tongue? What's healthy, what's not?

In middle age, when a person is nearer that threshold, stress can push a hair over the line. This analysis revealed that the times when graying or reversal occurred corresponded to periods of significant stress or relaxation. In one individual, a 35-year-old man with auburn hair, five strands of hair underwent graying reversal during the same time span, which coincided with a two-week vacation. Another subject, a 30-year-old woman with black hair, had one strand that contained a white segment that corresponded to two months during which she underwent marital separation and relocation—her highest-stress period in the year. Early evidence suggests that fish oil supplements can promote hair growth.

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By manipulating the genes, the researchers prevented or reduced gray hair in the mice. "Understanding the mechanisms that allow 'old' gray hairs to return to their 'young' pigmented states could yield new clues about the malleability of human aging in general and how it is influenced by stress," Picard says. The researchers showed that stress also leads to the loss of these pigment-producing stem cells in mice. “Understanding the mechanisms that allow ‘old’ gray hairs to return to their ‘young’ pigmented states could yield new clues about the malleability of human aging in general and how it is influenced by stress,” Picard says.

Smoking plays a huge role with graying

It's important to remember that going gray is a natural part of aging that everyone will likely go through eventually. If you're noticing more grays accompanied by stress, making some life changes may be able to help. Smoking, on the other hand, has been found to have a significant relationship with developing gray hair before the age of 30, according to a 2013 study. There are many reasons people experience graying, but a lot of times it simply comes down to natural aging and genetics.

Stress can turn hair gray, but the process is reversible, study finds

Each slice, about 1/20th of a millimeter wide, represents about an hour of hair growth. Researchers found that the norepinephrine from sympathetic nerves causes the stem cells to activate excessively. The stem cells all convert into pigment-producing cells, prematurely depleting the reservoir. In the hair follicle, certain stem cells act as reservoirs of pigment-producing cells.

How Stress Can Affect Hair Loss And What To Do About It

This April marks Stress Awareness month in the US, a calendar moment designed to raise awareness of the pervasive and damaging nature of stress. While we know that stress is an undeniable factor in most people’s lives, its impact on so many aspects of our physical and mental health is perhaps more far reaching than we might imagine. When it comes to our hair, stress is the second biggest cause of hair loss after genetics, but because the process usually takes anywhere between three and six months to happen, many people don’t make the connection.

When hair regenerates, some of the stem cells convert into pigment-producing cells that color the hair. For the study, published in eLife, researchers plucked, imaged and analyzed 397 hairs from 14 healthy people ranging in age from 9 to 65. None used hair dye, bleaching or other chemical treatments and all self-identified as having some gray hairs or two-colored hairs.

Chronic stress can have multiple effects on the body, and the hair is no exception. A 2013 study showed a correlation between stress and graying of hair in mice. While genetics seems to be a larger factor in when one grays, stress can contribute to it.

Some people consider gray hair as something that makes them look distinguished; for others, it's a reminder that they're getting older. However you feel about it, gray or white hair is pretty much inevitable with age (if you're fortunate enough to still have hair in your later years). Going gray is commonly explained as a loss of pigment (aka melanin) in the hair shaft. Typically, this hair has a different feel and texture than its pigmented counterparts. It’s been noted that gray hair is coarser, thinner, and “less manageable” — but there are products to help with this! Consider gray a new stage of life, one that you can learn to embrace in your own way.

What color is your tongue? What's healthy, what's not?

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“People who report having experienced moderate to high stress over the long term have been shown to have changes in different brain structures that are important for memory and cognition,” adds Simone. Dr. Patricia Simone is a cognitive neuroscientist and professor of psychology at Santa Clara University. The focus of her research is cognitive aging, and what factors influence long-term memory in older adults and children. 2018 research shows that regular physical activity may reduce stress and stress-related risk factors.

At the end of this stage, the follicle shrivels, the keratinocytes and melanocytes undergo programmed cell death (apoptosis), and the follicle enters a resting phase, during which the hair falls out. “Acute stress, particularly the fight-or-flight response, has been traditionally viewed to be beneficial for an animal’s survival. But in this case, acute stress causes permanent depletion of stem cells,” said postdoctoral fellow Bing Zhang, lead author of the study.

“Gray hair tends to turn a dull yellowish color that can age you, so try keeping it shiny and bright.” You can do this by using toning, purple-colored shampoos. Popular options include Aveda’s Blue Malva Shampoo, Davines Alchemic Silver series, and Joico’s Color Endure Violet. A 2013 study showed that smokers were two and half times more likely to develop premature hair greying than non-smokers. Even indirect stress, such as malnutrition, thyroid issues, hormonal imbalance and anemia, may impact hair pigmentation, he said. These findings suggest “that there is a window of opportunity during which graying is probably much more reversible than had been thought for a long time,” says study co-author Ralf Paus, a dermatologist at the University of Miami.

In hair follicles, cells called melanocyte stem cells color hair by converting into pigment-producing cells. The body can’t replenish the stem cells, so as these cells are used up, color vanishes. Sensory stress triggered a mouse’s sympathetic nervous system — which controls the body’s fight-or-flight response to stress — to release the neurotransmitter norepinephrine, the team found. That compound overactivates the reservoir of stem cells, setting off a flurry of conversion into pigment-producing cells. Hair color is determined by cells called melanocytes, which produce the pigment melanin. New melanocytes are made from melanocyte stem cells that live within the hair follicle at the base of the hair strand.

The team’s first step was to identify proteins that show if a strand was gray, white, or colored—at any point in its history. During stressful times, people often credit “the job” or “the kids” for their premature grays. While some may be only joking, there’s some truth to the theory.