When a strand of white hair suddenly appears, we think that it is inevitable.
However, American
researchers have just demonstrated the link between stress. and early onset of cancer,
and even that the phenomenon is reversible.
White hair: a decrease in the melanin level
Age and cellular aging
decrease the level of melanin in the hair., a substance that gives it its
natural color.
The decrease of this pigment
can be linked to several factors such as heredity, a lack of nutrients but also
stress.
This phenomenon generally
occurs between the ages of 35 and 40 but can also occur at a younger age.
In this case, we talk
about advanced canitis, a stop in the production of melanocytes which pigment
the hair.
Link between stress and white hair appearance
For the first time, American
researchers have just understood the link between stress and the appearance of
white hair.
The phenomenon may even be
reversible.
We call it sudden or early
onset Canitis.
When you have a little
white streak that appears in the middle of your ebony-black hair even if you
are not 30 years old.
Suddenly, you think that
this phenomenon is inevitable, that it is because of the passage of time.
Canitia: white hair appearance
Cancer is not the same
thing as vitiligo, which affects the former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe,
and which is a skin depigmentation disease.
For canitia, it is the melanocytes,
the cells that pigment our hair according to different mixtures.
To make browns, blondes,
redheads, which after a while no longer do their job.
Several factors can
explain it, such as heredity, time, and also stress.
Researchers: hair bleaching due to stress
Data about this phenomenon
was approved by researchers from Columbia University, who have just published
their work in the journal eLife.
They asked 14 male and
female volunteers aged 35 and over to keep a diary for a year.
It was by noting different
events in their lives and their degree of stress, from 0 to 10.
For example, "I have
to go to the dentist, level 10."
That's not an actual
sentence from the study, but that's what I might have written, had I
participated.
Along with this stress
diary, the researchers took regular hair samples from the participants.
They then scanned them
with a high-resolution scanner to see the degree of graying over time.
By including graying that
is invisible to the naked eye.
A reversible phenomenon until a certain age
The researchers also found
that among the inventories, one participant went on vacation with five white
hairs on his head.
When he returned, the five
white hairs turned brown again (the study does not say where he went on
vacation).
What is also original in
these studies is that until now, hair discoloration due to stress has never
been scientifically documented in humans.
It has only been documented
in mice. When subjected to stress, adrenaline depletes the cells responsible
for pigmentation.
Here, we can also see that
stress can play the same role in human body, through adrenaline secretion,
depleting the cells responsible for pigmentation.
