So young, but already gray
Emotional upheavals can lead not only to gray hair, but also to hair loss. What to do to help yourself?
The covid pandemic, nine months of war, life in conditions of complete unpredictability… Stress has a considerable effect on the state of the body, including hair. Someone turns gray, and someone loses it… Is it possible to slow down this process?
— Representatives of the Caucasian race are genetically programmed to go gray after the age of 35, says Zhanna Prykhodko, a dermatologist.
— Earlier graying (for example, in the twenties) can be caused by a lack of certain micro-elements in the body, endocrine pathologies (especially thyroid diseases). Infectious diseases and related intoxication. Also – stress. The stress hormones adrenaline and norepinephrine affect the synthesis of melanin. Which is responsible for hair pigmentation. It has been studied that stem cells of melanocytes (they produce melanin) under the influence of adrenaline and noradrenaline begin to divide faster and. As a result, are prematurely exhausted. Stress can also lead to an autoimmune reaction — the body’s defense systems damage the body itself, particularly hair cells. Its molecules undergo changes. Accordingly, the hair grows not only colorless, but also mostly less strong: the pigment in the follicle is replaced by an air bubble. Stress can provoke not only graying, but also hair loss – follicles “die” as a result of spasm of blood vessels.
– How quickly can this happen?
– One of my patients, she was 38 years old, experienced a personal drama – the simultaneous death of close relatives. The woman suddenly began to lose her hair — it thinned dramatically over several months. The same hair that remained was already growing gray. And if we managed to cope with the first problem with the help of treatment, then we did not return the hair color.
— What can be done to slow down premature graying?
— Of course, it is difficult to protect yourself from stress. And science has not yet learned how to make gray hair grow back in color. But it is quite realistic to monitor the condition of the thyroid gland and, if necessary, adjust its work (in Ukraine, its pathologies are very common due to the natural lack of iodine in the environment), to undergo a preventive examination every year. Care should be taken to ensure that the diet does not lack important vitamins (such as carotene, group B vitamins) and trace elements iodine, manganese, and iron.They are contained in vegetables available throughout the year, such as beets, carrots, and most berries. And it is also worth saying goodbye to bad habits, in particular smoking – it provokes the loss of calcium and iron in the body, which leads to early graying and excessive hair loss.
