Why Do We Get Gray When We Are Stressed?
The fact of believing that we get gray hair if we are stressed is understandable. It may not be something that always happens overnight, as popular imagination dictates, but there is a scientific explanation for graying in stressful situations.
The appreciation made of political leaders is known, comparing their hair before starting the government period and after leaving it. In the majority there is an increase in the number of gray hair.
Science has found that stress can deplete the stem cells that make hair pigment. When they are exhausted, they stop coloring the hair follicle and gray hair appears.
A relationship was also found between the genes that give hair color and those that mediate the body’s immune response. This link would explain why when going through serious infectious processes, some people go gray. This genetics is also related to the skin condition known as vitiligo, where spots without pigmentation appear all over the body.
What are gray hair?
Some scientists consider gray hair to be the natural state of hair. This is hair without pigmentation and it becomes more evident as we age. From this perspective, believing that we get gray hair if we are stressed would be a semantic error; in reality, we would be returning to normal form.
Hair color begins in cells known as melanocytes. These cells produce the pigment melanin, which colors skin and hair. The greater or lesser darkness is given by a variety of this substance that is eumelanin.
With the aging process, melanocytes lose their ability to produce melanin. The lower the melanin, the lower the dark coloration of the hair, and we perceive it as gray. Of course, this is more noticeable in individuals with dark hair.
So, beyond the possibility of stress as a generator of gray hair, we cannot ignore the effect of aging. In this process there are no measures that can be taken against, other than the tincture.
We get gray hair if we are stressed or infected
A scientific study, as we mentioned at the beginning, found a relationship between the genes of the immune response and those that regulate skin and hair color. This means that a large infection can trigger accelerated graying.
Of course, infections that strongly affect the body are stressful. The body must put in place adaptation mechanisms that allow it to survive and not succumb to the situation. If you adapt correctly, you will have overcome the stress.
The cited study proposed a link through the MITF protein. This protein is affected by the human immune system when fighting a major infection. When affected, the protein stops regulating the process of melanin formation in melanocytes, and the cells stop their function.
As there is no melanin, there is no coloration and, then, the gray hairs become more numerous. It is not an immediate response, but there may be the sensation of acceleration in dark hair, where gray is more noticeable.
Sudden canities or Marie Antoinette syndrome
In the stories referring to the possibility of gray hair if we are stressed, we cannot miss that of Marie Antoinette. According to legend, when the French queen was to be guillotined she suddenly turned gray, overnight.
Hence came the name of Marie Antoinette syndrome for clinical cases of sudden onset of gray hair. Technically, the scientific name for the disorder is sudden canities .
But the truth is that there is no such graying in this condition. In reality, sudden canities is an abrupt loss of hair from stress. The underlying issue is the stressful situation, but the consequence varies.
If we go deeper, what is known is that there is an underlying autoimmune disease. Stress would only accelerate the autoimmunity process causing severe hair loss on the head. When so many hair falls together, the gray hair becomes more visible, and that is why it seems that a rapid graying has occurred.
It is not a common disorder. Only 0.2% of the general population has Marie Antoinette syndrome, and most regain their hair when the stressful situation disappears, without the need for other treatment. 20% of these patients progress to a generalized fall with total alopecia.
Do gray hair appear if we are stressed?
The answer to the question about whether we get gray hair if we are stressed is yes. It is possible that internal mechanisms are triggered in stressful situations and our melanocytes lose the ability to produce melanin.
What we can deny is that there is sudden gray hair, that is, the transformation of hair from black to white overnight. This syndrome, known as Marie Antoinette syndrome, is actually stress alopecia, not graying.
However, if you think your gray hair is unusual or has appeared too quickly, you can consult a dermatologist. The professional will know how to advise you on the severity or not of the symptom and the degree of normality.
