It’s Official—Stress Ages Us

It’s Official—Stress Ages Us
Krakenimages.com/Shutterstock
Armen Nikogosian
Updated:

Stress has been blamed for causing gray hair for ages and researchers have now discovered the specifics of this relationship. The stress response activates the fight-or-flight response which can cause irreversible damage to pigment-producing stem cells in the hair follicles known as melanocytes.

The recent study, published in Nature, investigated the effects of stress on the melanocyte stem cells of the hair follicle of mice. Melanocyte stem cells produce the pigment cells responsible for coloring the hair, skin, iris and other regions of the body.
Armen Nikogosian
Armen Nikogosian
MD
Armen Nikogosian, M.D., practices functional and integrative medicine at Southwest Functional Medicine in Las Vegas, Nev. He is board-certified in internal medicine and a member of the Institute for Functional Medicine and the Medical Academy of Pediatric Special Needs. His practice focuses on treating adults and children with illnesses such as chronic gut issues, autoimmune conditions, autism and other complex medical conditions. He also treats healthy adults for anti-aging & health/performance optimization.
Related Topics