Stress can affect the body in many different ways. And while it seems that stressful life events – like being president – may cause grey hair, the truth is a bit more complicated.
Grey hair is likely caused by a combination of genetics, ageing, and hormones, and there is some research to suggest that stress can turn hair grey prematurely. Here’s what you need to know.
How hair turns grey
When you’re born, your hair color is determined by natural pigments in your skin called melanin.
“Human hair follicles contain two types of melanin: eumelanin and pheomelanin,” says Leann Poston, MD, a licensed physician. “The wide diversity of possible hair colors comes from the production ratio of these two types of melanin.”
Melanin is created from melanocytes, which are the cells found in your skin and hair follicles. When melanocytes stop producing melanin, your hair colour changes to grey.
Melanocytes often stop producing melanin as you age, which is why grey hair is so common among the elderly. However, it’s common for hair to start turning grey around age 35.
Overall, Poston says that a combination of factors – such as genetics, hormones, and your environment – will determine exactly when your hair turns grey.
Stress may cause grey hair prematurely
Though stress alone will not cause grey hair, there is some research that suggests it may speed up the greying process.
For example, a 2020 study published by the journal Nature found that when mice were exposed to stress, they lost melanocyte cells and gained grey hair as a result.
“This is an interesting study that links stress to an abnormal conversion of stem cells to a more differentiated form, melanocytes,” Poston says.
Melanocyte stem cells typically decrease in numbers as you age. But premature activation, associated with increases in a stress hormone called norepinephrine (or noradrenaline), actually caused these cells to decline more quickly in mice – leading to the grey hair that researchers observed.
Poston says she doesn’t believe this animal study is enough to definitively say that the same is true for humans. But other research has also suggested that stress can accelerate greying.
For example, a 2018 study in the International Journal of Trichology observed an increase in oxidative stress as a result of psychological stress – and higher levels of oxidative stress, which contributes to a complicated biological imbalance in humans, are associated with an increased risk of many chronic diseases as well as premature aging.
The study suggests that premature gray hair, or the graying of hair by age 20, is linked with higher levels of oxidative stress, which may increase with more of your everyday psychological stressors like a difficult job or the pressure to provide for your family.
In addition, cigarette smoking and vitamin deficiencies – which can also increase oxidative stress – have been associated with early graying.
Overall, genetics and ageing are likely to be more determinate for when your hair turns grey. But, as some research has suggested, psychological stress and other unhealthy risk factors may accelerate this greying process.
