Dylan Stoll | Health Editor
Featured Image: Researches analyzed the hair follicles of mice to determine the link between stress and grey hair. | Courtesy of Pixabay
Stress can cause all sorts of problems for your body. It’s known to cause headaches, depression, heartburn, and insomnia. It can increase your blood pressure, weaken your immune system, upset your stomach, and according to recent research, even turn your hair grey.
Researchers at Harvard University discovered the correlation between loss of hair colour and increased stress levels after they analyzed the hair follicles of mice, in particular the sympathetic nerve system (SNS) that they are connected to.
The sympathetic nerve system is responsible for the “fight or flight” response in animals. When there is an increase in stress, the SNS releases norepinephrine, a hormone and neurotransmitter, into the hair follicles.
Each hair follicle contains pigment-regenerating stem cells. When these stem cells are exposed to high levels of norepinephrine, they are destroyed irreparably. This results in what many have anecdotally said to occur — the greying of their hair after extremely stressful situations.
For many whose noses are stuck in the crease of their textbook, perhaps extreme stress has become a reality of their day-to-day lives. Though we are often encouraged to fight through the pain, so to speak, high stress levels will cause issues for your body. It is up to you to decide if those issues are worth those all-nighter, energy-drink-fuelled study marathons.
Ya-Chieh Hsu, the Alvin and Esta Star Associate Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at Harvard, explained to ScienceDaily just how much of a problem stress can become.
“When we started to study this, I expected that stress was bad for the body — but the detrimental impact of stress that we discovered was beyond what I imagined,” Hsu said.
“After just a few days, all of the pigment-regenerating stem cells were lost. Once they’re gone, you can’t regenerate pigment anymore. The damage is permanent.”
But, as we all know, stress is an unavoidable part of life. The key lies in stress management. Getting regular exercise, eating healthy, acquiring enough sleep and managing your time effectively will assist greatly. As will other less obvious methods: being assertive, setting limits with others, maintaining a positive attitude, and accepting that there are events out of your control.
If you are experiencing early hair colour loss, but you feel that stress is not the culprit, you may have fallen victim to other ailments, such as a vitamin deficiency. A lack of vitamins B6, B12, D, E, or biotin may be the reason.
Excessive use of hair products, such as dyes and shampoos, may also contribute to early greying. Most dyes contain hydrogen peroxide, and many shampoos contain chemicals that may be damaging to melanin reserves.
Bleaching, a common hair treatment, is also correlated with melanin deficiencies. Anyone who bleaches their hair regularly will more than likely have experienced some degree of hair colour loss as a result.
But, if you see a few grey hairs here and there, don’t worry yourself too much — this is entirely normal; it is only when significant hair colour loss occurs that you should consider a lifestyle change.
