You all know that stress whitens your hair. A team of Harvard scientists recently discovered the process by which this color change takes place.
Scientists have long known that gray hair is the result of it physicsof the human aging process, but also a result of certain disorders of the hair follicles and stress. Until now, we never knew exactly what role stress plays in causing gray hair.
As it turns out, a certain type of stress is the culprit behind graying. When you experience this type of stress it causes a stimulation of the nerve that activates the stem cells, which are responsible for coloring your hair.
According to research work of the Harvard team :
Our study shows that neuronal activity caused by acute stress can lead to rapid and permanent loss of somatic stem cells and demonstrates that the maintenance of somatic stem cells is directly affected by the overall physiological state of the body.
How did they do it all? Well, this point is pretty horrifying. They set laboratory mice in a state of three different types of stress: physical restraint, physical pain and psychological distress. Each stressor caused the mice to develop gray/white hairs.
The researchers then began troubleshooting to see what was secondary to the gray tint. Suspecting that the cause was the adrenal glands, they repeated the tests on mice after removing their adrenal glands. These mice were still graying, so they tried again by interfering with other hormonal processes. Finally, the researchers found that a sympathetic nerve response caused an overload of stem cells, which are responsible for gray hair. After blocking this process, the mice stopped graying.
All of this may sound gruesome and this particular article may be out of iguru's typical subject matter, but when scientists figure out how modeς μίας διαδικασίας, τότε η επόμενη κίνηση είναι να βρουν την θεραπεία της, με μορφή φαρμάκου. Όσοι λοιπόν από εσάς έχουν γκρίζα μαλλιά, μπορεί ίσως να μην προλάβουν να δουν την θεραπεία αλλά τα παιδιά σας θα έχουν την choice in their hands.
