QUESTION: Can extreme stress turn hair prematurely gray?
ANSWER: Stress won't turn hair white overnight, contrary to old wives' tales, says Tyler Cymet, a researcher at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore who has studied gray hair and its causes. Cymet says consistent mental and physical stress—over the course of many years—may cause premature aging of the body, including hair. However, this is a contested area of research; many scientists say only genes matter.
Hair turns gray when the cells that produce pigment stop doing their job. Stress doesn't directly cause these cells to bow out, but it does affect how quickly hair is shed. The faster hair falls out and regrows, the more quickly pigment cells break down.
Cymet thinks that on average people today are going gray about five years earlier than they did in 1970. He attributes the difference to a faster lifestyle, poor diet and lack of sleep.
