Can stress really turn your hair grey?

Stay calm and check the facts.

Is it a truth that too much stress can change the color of your hair? Well, the answer is complicated. Stress gives some physical marks on our body. It can damage your mood. It may also cause various physical and mental problems.

But, when it comes to graying hair, scientists are still finding causes of it. According to the new study, there are certain factors that influence the amount of silver on the top of your head.

Melanocytes are the cells, from our hair gets color. It also adds pigment to the strands being get up through the scalp by hair follicles. But when we age, melanocytes grow weak or dies off. Thus the result, our hair does not get the same ‘paint job’. This kind of damage is known as oxidative stress. It occurs in all the cells in our bodies as a natural part of the aging process. But, it’s not because of the stress of rising looming deadlines or exams.

When our body gets older, we can’t fight with particular types of toxic molecules effectively. oxidative stress kicks in, and our hair can show the effects. This is the natural graying process. But, can emotional stress play a role at the beginning of oxidative stress? Thus, it may indirectly cause grey hair?

Previously, various study held on oxidative stress. But, the evidence for a definitive link is not specifically strong. According to scientists, it is not strong enough that most stressful situations won’t directly cause your hair color to change.

But there are hints of something else going on.

In 2007, researchers from Harvard University suggest, regularly being stressed-out could speed up the greying process. Because stress can produce free radicals that mess with melanin production.

But that was an extremely small study, and we’re still waiting on conclusive evidence for their hypothesis.

Miri Seiberg, dermatology consultant from the Global Dermatology Institute in Florida said,

“Stress is more likely to cause hair loss and to increase shedding rather than cause greying.”

Although, by the beginning of this year, scientists from the UK identified IRF4 gene. This IRF4 gene was linked to gray hair. Scientists suggest that some of us are more willing to going grey than others. But according to scientists, there are a various number of other environmental factors involved as well. For example, smoking, being exposed to air pollution, and not getting a good diet.

It’s probably a good idea to avoid all these things if you want to maximize the chances of keeping your hair color for as long as possible.

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