Gray Hair Can Return to Its Former Color

According to legend, the hair of Marie Antoinette turned gray the night before her beheading in 1791. And while this can’t be by definition – – hair that has already grown from a follicle can’t change color – a new study by researchers at Columbia University’s College of Physicians has offered evidence linking psychological stress to gray hair in humans.

Kyiv. Ukraine. Ukraine Gate – June 23, 2021 – Lifestyle

“Understanding the mechanisms that allow old gray hair to return to its young pigmented state may provide new clues to understanding the susceptibility of human aging in general and how it is affected by stress,” said senior author Martin Picard.

According to him, the data obtained complement the growing body of evidence that human aging is not a linear, fixed biological process, but can be stopped, at least in part, or even temporarily reversed.

The researchers analyzed the individual hairs of 14 volunteers. The results were compared with a diary of each of them, in which people were asked to assess the level of stress each week.

It was noted that the gray hair of some participants naturally restored its original color, which was not documented at first.

The reason is the connection between the mind and mitochondria

To better understand how stress causes gray hair, the researchers also measured the levels of thousands of proteins in the hair and their change along the length of each hair.

When hair color changed, there were changes in 300 proteins, and researchers have developed a mathematical model that suggests that stress-induced changes in mitochondria may explain how stress makes hair gray.

“Mitochondria actually look like small antennae inside a cell that respond to a number of different signals, including psychological stress,” he said.

According to him, graying in people can be stopped if a person who has experienced stress has not reached a certain age. In other words, reducing stress in a 70-year-old gray-haired man is unlikely to remove gray hair.

But if we are talking about a high level of stress in a 10-year-old child, the age threshold when hair begins to turn gray naturally can be quickly overcome.