Grey Hair And Anxiety
Grey hair, such as hair losing its color, turning white or grey, or showing signs of premature aging, is a common anxiety symptom, including anxiety and panic attack symptom.
Many anxious people notice their hair turns grey.
This article explains the relationship between anxiety and grey, greying, or white hair.
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Grey or White Hair Common Symptom Descriptions
- Your hair is turning grey.
- Your hair is turning grey prematurely, in your opinion.
- Patches of your hair are turning grey.
- You notice all of your hair is turning grey.
- Some people refer to this symptom as their hair is turning white.
This symptom generally occurs gradually over months but can occur more quickly for some people.
To see if anxiety might be playing a role in your symptoms, rate your level of anxiety using our free one-minute instant results Anxiety Test, Anxiety Disorder Test, or Hyperstimulation Test.
The higher the rating, the more likely anxiety could be contributing to or causing your anxiety symptoms, including grey hair symptoms.
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Causes
Medical Advisory
Talk to your doctor about all new, changing, persistent, and returning symptoms as some medical conditions and medications can cause anxiety-like symptoms.
1. Anxiety-caused stress
Anxious behavior, such as worry, activates the body’s stress response, which secretes stress hormones into the bloodstream, where they travel to targeted locations to bring about specific physiological, psychological, and emotional changes that enhance the body’s ability to deal with a threat – to fight or flee.
This instinctual survival reaction is often referred to as the Fight or Flight Response.[1][2]
Visit the “Stress Response” article for the many ways it can affect the body.
Since stress responses push the body beyond its internal balance (equilibrium), stress responses stress the body. As such, anxiety stresses the body.
Regarding grey hair, research has shown melanocyte stem cells are responsible for producing pigment-generating cells in hair follicles. Stress depletes melanocyte stem cells in hair follicles. When new hair grows, it’s without pigment, appearing grey or white.
Consequently, anxiety-caused stress can cause grey hair.
The stress caused by an active stress response can cause grey hair, especially if the stress response is activated frequently.
2. Stress-Response Hyperstimulation
When stress responses occur infrequently, the body recovers relatively quickly from its changes. However, frequently activated stress responses, such as from overly anxious behavior, can prevent the body from completely recovering. Incomplete recovery can leave the body in a state of semi-stress-response-readiness, which we call “stress-response hyperstimulation” since stress hormones are powerful stimulants.
Hyperstimulation is also often referred to as “hyperarousal,” “HPA axis dysfunction,” or “nervous system dysregulation.”[3][4]
Visit our “Hyperstimulation” article for more information about the many ways hyperstimulation can affect the body.
Hyperstimulation can cause the changes of an active stress response even though a stress response hasn’t been activated. Just as an active stress response can cause acute stress, hyperstimulation can cause chronic stress, causing grey hair.
Hyperstimulation is a common cause of chronic stress and grey hair.
Researchers found that the norepinephrine from sympathetic nerves causes melanocyte stem cells to activate excessively. These stem cells all convert into pigment-producing cells, prematurely depleting the reservoir.
"’When we started to study this, I expected that stress was bad for the body -- but the detrimental impact of stress that we discovered was beyond what I imagined,” Hsu said. "After just a few days, all of the pigment-regenerating stem cells were lost. Once they're gone, you can't regenerate pigment anymore. The damage is permanent."
"Acute stress, particularly the fight-or-flight response, has been traditionally viewed to be beneficial for an animal's survival. But in this case, acute stress causes permanent depletion of stem cells," said postdoctoral fellow Bing Zhang, the lead author of the study “Hyperactivation of sympathetic nerves drives depletion of melanocyte stem cells.”[5]
Stress, including anxiety-caused stress and hyperstimulation (chronic stress) are common causes of grey hair.
3. Other Factors
Other factors can stress the body, which can contribute to grey hair, including:
- Medication
- Recreational drugs
- Stimulants
- Sleep deprivation
- Fatigue
- Hyper and hypoventilation
- Low blood sugar
- Nutritional deficiencies
- Dehydration
- Hormone changes
- Pain
Select the relevant link for more information.
Common Anxiety Symptoms
Additional Resources
- For a comprehensive list of Anxiety Disorders Symptoms Signs, Types, Causes, Diagnosis, and Treatment.
- Anxiety and panic attacks symptoms can be powerful experiences. Find out what they are and how to stop them.
- How to stop an anxiety attack and panic.
- Free online anxiety tests to screen for anxiety. Two minute tests with instant results. Such as:
- Anxiety 101 is a summarized description of anxiety, anxiety disorder, and how to overcome it.
Return to our anxiety disorders signs and symptoms page.
anxietycentre.com: Information, support, and therapy for anxiety disorder and its symptoms, including grey hair as an anxiety symptom.
References
1. Chu, Brianna, et al. “Physiology, Stress Reaction.” StatPearls, 7 May 2024.
2. Godoy, Livea, et al. "A Comprehensive Overview on Stress Neurobiology: Basic Concepts and Clinical Implications." Frontiers In Behavioral Neuroscience, 3, July 2018.
3. Yaribeygi, Habib, et al. “The Impact of Stress on Body Function: A Review.” EXCLI Journal, Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, 2017.
4. Teixeira, Renata Roland, et al. “Chronic Stress Induces a Hyporeactivity of the Autonomic Nervous System in Response to Acute Mental Stressor and Impairs Cognitive Performance in Business Executives.” Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports., U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2015.
5. Bing Zhang, et al. “Hyperactivation of sympathetic nerves drives depletion of melanocyte stem cells.” Nature, 2020.