A new study has suggested that reducing stress can reverse grey hair into its natural colour.
Researchers from Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons published the study that found significant results showing stress causes gray hair – and that reducing stress can even reverse it.
The team of researchers made their findings by analyzing the graying hairs of 14 volunteers, seven men, and seven women, in comparison to stress assessments made by each participant. The researchers found that hair colour corresponded to periods of stress by examining hair growth like tree rings.
The scientists marked portions of hair by the hour of their growth and were able to match those periods with less colour to times of high stress reported by the volunteers in their stress assessments, according to the study.
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The scientists noted that the concept also worked in reverse with graying hairs growing darker again during periods of relaxation. According to the study, researchers found ‘a new way to digitize and measure small changes in colour along with single human hairs’ after whole hairs were first photographed using a Panasonic DC-FZ80 Digital Camera against a white background.
The researchers noted that before the study, their literature review showed that research in mice suggests stress may speed up graying hair. However, there had been no definitive research on the effects of stress on graying hair in humans because there were no ‘research tools to precisely map stress and hair colour over time’ until the new method was developed.
