If you suffer from stress and premature gray hair, we may have your explanation.

by Rachel Linder

Stress can be a funny thing. You could be experiencing some of the worst anxious thoughts of your life, and it’s possible that no one around you will have any idea. It’s an emotion that can be so well hidden inside your mind and your body that even those closest to you won’t realize you’re suffering. There are a few physical manifestations of stress, though, that can be dead giveaways of all that’s truly going on in your mind. One that’s hard not to notice when you look in the mirror is premature gray hair—and yes, in some cases we should be thanking our stress for that one.

Typically women can begin seeing strands of gray hair throughout their 30s, but it is not until their 50s that more than 50% of their hair turns gray, according to Trichologist Madeleine Pretson, who spoke with Cosmopolitan. What that means, is if you’re starting to see gray hair before you’re in your 30s, you’d be considered prematurely gray.

There are a few reasons premature grays can occur, the first, of course, being genetics. So, the first place to check when you start to notice those prematurely gray hairs is definitely your biological parents and grandparents. If anyone in past generations of your biological family experienced premature grays, that is likely the reason for yours as well. A study published in Nature Communications in 2016 identified the particular gene, known as the interferon regulatory factor 4 (IRF4), responsible for storage and production of melanin. It’s melanin that’s responsible for the color of your hair, so depending on how this particular gene is passed down in your DNA, you could be looking at prematurely gray hair thanks to your biology.

In the case that you’re experiencing grays and it’s not in your genetics, stress could be the answer. The idea that extreme, ongoing stress causes gray hair has been a myth for decades, but recent studies show that there’s actually some truth to it. A study published in Nature in 2020 used mice to look at the correlation between stress and gray hair. According to the Harvard researchers, after being exposed to different forms of stress, the mice experienced graying, in the same way that humans do. The researchers determined the graying was due to norepinephrine, the neurotransmitter responsible for the “fight-or-flight” response that comes from extreme stress. The norepinephrine prematurely activates the stem cells that generate hair pigment. Because these stem cells are activated early, when it actually comes time for the hair growth, it is left with no pigment, which is why it initially appears gray and ultimately turns white.

Of course, there’s no way to prevent genetically premature grays, but if you’re starting to see gray hair as a result of extreme, ongoing stress, there are ways to work on it. The last thing you want is to look in the mirror, see all those gray hairs, and know that they could have been prevented.