Research published in Nature and carried out by the University of Sao Paulo in collaboration with Harvard University has confirmed that there is a possibility that having a stressful husband could cause your hair to turn gray prematurely after the age of 30. old.
Although a stressful husband is one of the possible causes, in reality any situation that causes you stress could equally trigger this phenomenon.
The theory arose as an unexpected finding after having carried out a couple of experiments with mice where they were subjected to stressful situations. Following this, the mice began to change the color of their fur and in a matter of just weeks, the mice stopped being gray and turned white.
The research scientists confirmed that the stem cells that control skin and hair color were affected by the “stress” factor, reducing their ability to produce melanin, which is responsible for giving color to the skin and hair. hair.
Given this finding, different American and Brazilian researchers found a way to develop a drug that prevents hair color loss due to aging.
“We now know for sure that stress is responsible for this specific change in your skin and hair, and we also know how it works.” – commented Ya-Cieh Hsu, author of the investigation.
Part of the research involved provoking the mice, which caused their hearts to beat faster, their blood pressure to rise, and so they released adrenaline and cortisol, which affected the nervous system and accelerated the depletion of melanin-producing stem cells. .
“Stress was expected to be bad for the body, but the detrimental impact of stress we discovered was beyond what I imagined. After a few days, all the pigment regenerating stem cells were lost.” added Professor Hsu.
Let’s hope that the researchers manage to develop a product that prevents the loss of these cells.