It is well known that the appearance of gray hair is associated not only with aging, but also with stress. “I almost went gray,” is how many people describe the shock they experienced. But only recently has a group of scientists from Harvard University been able to explain the link between stress and graying from a scientific point of view. Their findings are described in the journal Nature.
The same principle applies when a chameleon changes color. This happens when the animal is in danger and experiencing stress. The same is true for flying foxes (a type of lizard) – their levels of dark gray pigment also increase during moments of stress.
In humans, a mechanism responsible for the color of our hair comes from mesenchymal stem cells (MeSCs). They release melanocytes, which migrate to the base of the hair follicle and produce the pigment melanin, which in turn colors our hair. This process does not stop under normal conditions. This can be clearly seen in the example of artificially dyed hair: the roots that grow out have the color that is natural for that person.
When the body experiences a negative emotional shock, the system malfunctions at one stage of this process, and instead of our natural hair color, the hair follicles receive a dose of gray pigment. How exactly does this happen? The experiment was conducted on rats that were made to experience stress induced by physical pain. The pain caused a hyper-arousal response, also known as fight or flight. This effect activated the production of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine in the rats.
The color of a person’s hair depends on the pigment that enters the hair follicle. We explain quickly, simply, and clearly what happened, why it matters, and what happens next. The number of episodes should remain the same. End of story. Podcast advertising.
Adrenaline is responsible for increased alertness and impulse to act and is associated with MeSC. When the rat experienced pain, adrenaline was released and melanocyte stem cells began to proliferate, migrate, and deplete at an accelerated rate. At the same time, the limited supply of MeSC decreased, and the lower the MeSC levels in the body, the less quality melanocytes participate in hair pigmentation.
Unlike animals, humans are capable of experiencing not only physical pain, but also emotional suffering, intense emotional upheaval, and prolonged deep experience. As a result, errors in the pigmentation process of our hair can occur much more frequently. Everyone knows stories about how 20-year-old men became completely gray-haired during the war. The famous movie “Come and See” by Elem Klimov is based on the story of a Belarusian teenager who, after witnessing a punitive operation, turns into a gray-haired old man in just a few days.
During the aging process, a person’s MeSC reserve naturally depletes over the years, and the person also begins to gray. In rarer cases, the earlier onset of gray hair is explained by hereditary predisposition.