:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/elfinanciero/HJDRTRF2INA65IHOCELFX3LQ4Y.jpeg?w=1440&resize=1440,960&ssl=1)
Concern about aging is in trend. Although hair dyes have existed for several decades, in recent years interest in staying young has increased, which is why there are more and more treatments to delay the visible signs of aging. Note the presence of white hair It is a fear of many people, especially women, and it is believed that stress can accelerate this process.
One of the recurring images on social networks is that of leaders or holders of public office who appear to have gray hair at the end of their administration, unlike how they looked at the beginning. But then could leading a more relaxed life slow down that color change in your hair?
What are gray hairs?
According to an investigation by the University of Coloradothe hair begins to turn gray when the melanocyteswhich are the stem cells present in the follicles that produce melaninreduce their presence in the body with the passage of age.
There are two types of melanin, eumelanin is related to dark pigments and pheomelanin is related to yellow and reddish tones. So, The lower the number of melanocytes, the less pigmentation there is in the hair.. That’s why you suddenly start seeing gray hair where there was none before.
The same source points out that from the age of 30, the amount of melanin produced is reduced by 10 or 20%, the percentage increases to 50% when we turn 50. However, there is a belief that a life of stress leads to the early appearance of gray hair.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/elfinanciero/HJDRTRF2INA65IHOCELFX3LQ4Y.jpeg)
Does stress cause gray hair to appear?
“Don’t be angry because you’re going to get gray hair” or “I’m going to get green gray hair” are common phrases that refer to this process and there are those who believe that it directly affects the appearance of new gray hair.
According to research published in the journal Nature in 2020 and later taken up by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), there is some truth in that. A group of scientists studied the link between stress and aging in dark-haired mice. They tried subjecting them to different forms of stress: physical and psychological to address different reactions and origins.
The scientists were surprised to realize that a few days after the experiment began, the mice experienced a change in coat color, due to losing melanocytes. But by introducing them cortisolthe main stress hormone, the result was not different, so they ruled out that origin.
However, they found that the reaction that caused depigmentation in the mice has to do with the sympathetic system. Specifically with the physiological response known as the “fight or flight reaction”, the one that is activated when faced with a threat to survival and is responsible for producing norepinephrine that has an effect on the melanocyte stem cells.
“After a few days, all the melanocyte stem cells were lost. Once they disappear, the pigments can no longer be regenerated. The damage is permanent,” said author Ya-Chieh Hsu, professor of Regenerative Biology and Stem Cells at Harvard.
Throughout the study, they evaluated possible reactions to different sources of stress: “By understanding precisely how stress affects the stem cells that regenerate pigment, we have laid the foundation for understanding how stress affects other tissues and organs in the body. “Hsu added to The Harvard Gazette.
But he stressed that this is a preliminary scientific study that will lead to new research, so it is not conclusive. In any case, the NIH urge to reduce the stress in daily life because it has other negative effects on the body.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/elfinanciero/HJDRTRF2INA65IHOCELFX3LQ4Y.jpeg?w=1200&resize=1200,0&ssl=1&description=Does+stress+accelerate+the+appearance+of+gray+hair%3F++%E2%80%93+The+financial){kind=link}