Does Stress Turn Hair Gray? – Webtekno

The fact that a person is stressed undoubtedly effects both physiologically and psychologically. But is this feeling strong enough to change the color of the hair follicles?

Enter, Let’s answer this question.

A group of researchers working at Harvard University found various findings about how stress whitens hair.

Since stress affects the whole body, the first thing to determine at this point is, Through which system does stress affect hair color? was to be found.

Researchers first stress causes immune cells to kill pigment-producing cells He thought it happened as a result. However, tests on mice did not support their hypothesis.

Because experiments, The hair of mice that lack immune cells is also showed that it turned white like the fur of ordinary mice.

As a result, researchers turned to the hormone cortisol.

The reason they turned to this hormone was that stress increases the level of cortisol in the body. But experiments did not support this idea either. The hair of mice whose bodies do not produce cortisol hormone because their adrenal glands have been removed is also it tended to turn white when under stress.

Researchers then began studying the sympathetic nervous system. sympathetic nervous system, regulates unconscious processes in the bodyis part of the autonomic nervous system.

It is also responsible for the process called the fight and flight response. When any living creature encounters a danger that threatens its life, The sympathetic nervous system responds. The creature chooses to either run away from the threat or fight.

Sympathetic nerves generally bifurcate around the hair follicles in the skin.

Experiments conducted by researchers show that stress, This indicates that it causes the release of noradrenaline from the nerves. There are also various stem cells in hair follicles. After a hair strand is lost, as a new hair strand grows from the hair follicle, these stem cells turn into pigment-producing cells.

Thus, the hair strand gains color. The results obtained, release from sympathetic nerves causes noradrenaline to transform into pigment-producing cells showing.

This results in the depletion of the stem cell reserve in the hair follicles and Thus, the renewal of pigment-producing cells stops and the hair begins to turn white. In other words, stress has an effect on hair whitening.

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