Premature gray hair. The cause of premature graying and what can be done in the field of medicine. Stress has often been linked to getting gray hair. But science has only recently been able to back up this claim.
A recent study showed that people who experience psychological stress were more likely to develop gray hair. It’s important to know that the study was pretty small, so we need more research to figure out exactly how this happens. So far, there’s no direct link between the amount and quality of sleep a person gets and whether or not they have gray hair.
But not getting enough sleep contributes to increased stress levels. Since stress is linked to gray hair, it’s very possible that not getting enough sleep over a prolonged period can indirectly contribute to gray hair. No, in general, there is no way to prevent your hair from turning gray as you age. Eating a healthy, well-rounded diet is a good idea.
This helps improve your overall health and decreases your risk of developing any nutritional deficiencies that may be associated with graying too early. It’s possible that lifestyle changes — like smoking cessation and lowering your stress levels — could help prevent premature graying. So far, though, there’s no definitive evidence to prove this. But research shows that these two lifestyle changes improve other aspects of your health, so they may be worth doing anyway.
Until recently, the answer to this has been “no.” It was thought that once a hair follicle stops making melanin, it couldn’t regain its color on its own. But a recent study showed that it may be possible to reverse gray hair — even if just temporarily. In the study, researchers were able to analyze how individual hair shafts changed over time. They showed that stress was linked to hairs turning gray, and when that stress was removed, some color was restored in some parts of the hair.
The study involved a small number of people, and the changes in hair color were subtle and only seen with a high-resolution scanner. But they provide evidence that turning gray may not be a fixed process. It’s hard to say for sure what this means for individual people — if anything — since everyone’s situation and genetics are unique.
