There are a lot of urban myths and old wives’ tales about how stress directly affects the body. I’m guilty of thinking that stress will turn my hair white and even writing about it. But stress alone can’t turn your hair white or grey. Stress can aggravate some medical conditions, but it usually is not the main culprit for some maladies that we blame it for. So, if you think your stress will give you an ulcer or cancer or turn your hair white, you can relax.
What About Ulcers?
The common teaching is that stress and spicy food gave you ulcers. Actually, they don’t. Ulcers are caused by a certain bacteria called (get ready for it) helicobactor pylori (usually just referred to as “h. pylori” for sanity’s sake). Appropriately, h. pylori is shaped like a corkscrew. We all have it in our guts, but sometimes it can really bother us by giving us an ulcer. It is unknown exactly why we sometimes can’t tolerate our little tenant.
Other causes include overuse of painkillers, smoking and drinking, which the h. pylori doesn’t seem to like, either.
Although stress can’t cause an ulcer, it can aggravate one when you already start to get one.
Hair Turning White
The reason your hair turns white is because melanin is no longer getting to the follicles. Melanin is what gives the strand of hair it’s color. This is usually die to the normal ageing process, but if you get really sick, your hair can turn gray or fall out altogether. Ignored long-term stress can aggravate your overall health, but is not a direct cause of your hair turning white. There aren’t any provable cases of someone’s hair turning white overnight due to extreme stress.
Cancer
Stress can’t cause cancer. Again and again, medical studies have proven that stress alone can’t cause cancer. Stress can lead to smoking, drinking and poor food choices which can cause cancer. But stress all by itself. You have enough to worry about — getting cancer because you’re worried about getting cancer is something you no longer need to worry about.
Hope this helps.
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89 Comments
Write a Comment»Thank you for refuting the conventional wisdom of how stress can cause illnesses or medical conditions.
I don’t know… I read so much about stress being bad for you. I’m not sure I’m convinced.
Well as a medical person I must tell you that stress indeed a factor that increases the risk of ulcer. Not because it brings bacteria to your body but because stress makes your body releases much more acid than usual. In short term it won’t mean much than a dispepsi/indigestive. yet, if it happen for a long time than you stomach wall will be irritated and that contribute to ulcer.
Isn’t that image upside down?
wow good job, its exelent post.
i am felling great now really stress free
good post
At least now when my folks say its my fault they went grey at such an early age I know there joking! After reading all of that I can relax a little.
Stress is the number one killer in my mind. If your stressed out all the time, chances are your happiness level isn’t high. There are plenty of things that can make you stressed out and depressed. You just have to work through it and get to the next day.
It’s true that stress alone can make your hair turn gray, just look at the last few presidents, their hair turned gray within 2 years in the office.
It is nice to know that you feel the same why I do about the myths of stress. Thank you for the great post.
Stress might be a factor about hair turning grey fast. I have actually witnessed some practical incidents. Thanks anyway for the nice post.
Such a wonderful article about ulcers and hair turning white.There are really a lot of new stuff in your post.Thanks for sharing.
Stress effects us all but if we all just learn to deal with things immeadiatly we would curb our stress.
I know you state that stress doesn’t cause ulcers, but perhaps there is an indirect link there. You also state that some ulcer causes include overuse of painkillers, smoking and drinking. When people are stressed, they smoke, drink and use painkillers excessively.
It is well said that a sound mind in sound body is above the health. Stress and its frequency are much common with the affluent classes. I have to know its correlation with suffering like hair color, ulcer and even TB. We should be habitual to be adjusted with difficult circumstances. If you might have enumerated causes and remedy of stress! Thank for post.
I totally agreed with your thoughts that stress turns tour hair white. In my point of view stress is bad it completely spoils your health and directly affects on you. I was scared after reading this post. So we should try to escape from the stress and stay healthy and fit. Thank you very much for sharing the nice and informative post. You really did a great job. Thank you for it.
Daily work out help relax the body and mind. However you should not stretch yourself to the extreme.
This is an extremely thought-provoking post, thanks for sharing.
Even though stress doesn’t reduce these health conditions directly, stress isn’t very fun.
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I find this post very interesting. I have traditionally thought that stress does have some causality with ulcers and cancer. And I am not sure if i agree with you 100%, I do feel that stress can have some effect on these ailments. However, If you do truly believe that stress does not have any cause with these ailments and you do tell your self to relax, I think these will have a positive effect on your health. I thinking that stress will give you cancer or ulcers will most likely just make you more stressful. So telling your self to relax and not worry about it will definitely have a positive effect.
Great Post. Thanks.
Well there are indirect causes and direct causes.
“Stress alone can’t cause cancer” is not quite the same as “stress can’t cause cancer.”
Wee written nice article.
The perfect solution like listening to music or 10 minutes perfect deep sleep can get rid of this stress . Nice article!
Yes it is true. Please don’t realize but they have negative effect on your health.
Couldn’t agree more.. from my own research of other scientific articles stress is only a contributing factor, not more than that. If stress alone was the reason for cancer then everyone would have some form of it. There’s a scientific evidence that cancer does strengthen cancer cells that’s the main reason why chemotherapy patients need to remain optimistic and free from stress.
‘Ignored long-term stress can aggravate your overall health.’- Stress and its concomitants are only one’s own making and not something that comes from without. nosle.com todd
Stress- Sucks the whole.
I never heard that hair turns white when you are stressed.If that is true I guess soon I will b called “STORM”! (I AM SURE YOU KNOW STORM FROM X-MEN!)
Well my hair is turning white and i’m in my early 30s. By 40 I’ll have 90% white hair and that’s not because of stress. I lead pretty balanced stress free life.. The main reason I’ll have white hair is because of my genetics as my dad’s hair turned white by the age of 40.
I hope that no one actually believes that stress can turn hair white. I wonder where the myth came from. Nonetheless, I’ll say the expression, “You’re going to make me go grey!”
You’d think I had kids, but I have a husband which is just as bad as a bratty kid sometimes!
That makes sense
This is not necessarily true
Thanks for sharing that helpful insight about what stress can and can’t do.
Nice refute about stress huh. Anyway, stress can make a person go ga-ga over something. But if that person knows how to handle stress, nothing, absolutely nothing can make him turn his hair gray.
Interesting article, ive had an ulcer for weeks maybe i need to relax…
they say that depending on how much stress you are involved with, it can take months, even years off of your lifespan :/
-jack
Interesting article thanks for sharing.
I believe that stress in general can trigger some health issues. Too much stress can push some irregularities that will eventually turn to a health problem
Stress can really make you sick. But it’s quite hard to live without stress in these trying times. Patterned relaxation is still the key.
Exactly stress is a major problem for our health.health is most important for us. stress can make our unhealthy and dump.stress is very big issue.stress directly affects the body.stress can killer in my mind.it has many effects our body like Hair Turning White and cancer so be happy and remove the stress.There aren’t any provable cases of someone’s hair turning white overnight due to extreme stress and Stress can lead to smoking, drinking and poor food choices which can cause cancer. But stress all by itself. so always try to remove tension and be stress free.so try to do some relaxation like meditation ,yoga and so on…. so i have read this article so carefully i like it very much.so i would like to say thank yo u to giving this informative and nice blog.
I’m surprised about the hair turning gray part, so now I can’t explain my own!
But I’ve seen it happen in myself and others- stress really can effect your health and well being!
It is good to know all these, but there are so many things (ending up being urban legends) that I am already lost!
I am just trying to eliminate the stress and not to worry about the consequences at all!
thanks for the infomation… best regard
I’ve re-read the article, and I find that it helps me more each time.
You would not say that stress can cause your skin to age quicker than if you had no stress in your life? I hear so many things that stress can do to your health and I am sure that is correct. Stress is very harmful on your entire body. I think stress ages you considerably but that is just my opinion.
Thank you for the post. Really informative to me.
Well, some people say it may causes cancer, I don’t really think so, but what I think is true is that when you feel stressed you look like different, tense, and your body is not the same that when you are not, so let’s take things easy, that’s best we can do.
phew good thing I try to live my life stress freeeee!
very chaotic
Yes stress can’t by it’s self cause cancer, but it will increase the risk of getting cancer and other illness’s
I learned in a health seminar that stress do cause cancer. An American woman surgeon, in her video tape said that stress is one of the main causes of cancer, the other two being wrong or unbalanced diet, and dehydration. May be it is indirectly caused, for stress do weaken the immune system which in turn may increase the risk of having diseases in the including cancer.
I learned a ton from this post! And even got rid of some myths that I had in my mind.
thats true, but stres can be one of many factors.
Read the article and it is really very useful..i will always try to remain tension free..;)
wow good job, its excellent post . This was a lot of work,so I appreciate it.
In short term it won’t mean much than a dispepsi/indigestive. yet, if it happen for a long time than you stomach wall will be irritated and that contribute to ulcer.
thanks for informations..
For me surfing the internet is being tension free
I hope that no one actually believes that stress can turn hair white.
They say stress can kill you! Watch out.
Great article, An American woman surgeon, in her video tape said that stress is one of the main causes of cancer, the other two being wrong or unbalanced diet, and dehydration.
Excellent article ,In short term it won’t mean much than a dispersion/indigestible. yet, if it happen for a long time than you stomach wall will be irritated and that contribute to ulcer.
Thanks for the information is a excelent article and i really apreciate
Dispersion, is a great article
yee really i haven’t heard such a effect of stress your hair turned white. That means practice Meditation to reduce stress.
To the above poster….while I do believe that mediation can in fact reduce stress and anxiety levels there are things that are simply to overwhelming for such a practice to have effective results.
You really scared but your post hopefully to create awareness who takes unnecessary Stress to make their life hell, stress creates a lot problem it creates both personal and professional problems so always try to avoid stress.
I really thought stress can turned my hair white until I read your post.
Anyway, there’s lots of other factors can also contribute to change of hair color including chemical ingredients in the shampoo and conditioners as well as in the hair creme.
What ever it is, I believe it’s time for me to learn about stress management
Very educational article. Continue podderzhiat your blog.
Very intersting post, thanks. Please keep on blogging such interesting articles.
Stress can ruin your life big time. It can even lead to destructive addictions like drug abuse, alcohol addiction. Good post, enjoyed reading it.
Thank for stating this
Well, its nice to read that the stress can’t cause directly cancer or things like that. How about stress during pregnancy? has any effect?
in our language (turkish) there is a word..its called a beautiful body comes from a beautiful mind. Don stress to much. Even if you think there is darkness, there will always come light.
i hate for being stress, make awful days… let’s cheer up everyone.. give your smile to the world and find the magic of smile that can erase your stress…
I agree, stress won’t do harm always, because it just depends upon the way which a person react to the stress factors. In fact stress has its positive side too- it serves as stimulus for us to attain goals, solve difficult problems, enhance performance under pressure and helping us rise to the occasion.
Stress is one of those things that everything gets blamed on but that’s because as you mentioned, it can affect things that are already wrong with you. It pretty much exacerbates any problem making it more prominent and destructive. That’s why it’s so important to take the time to relax!
Quite effective post to control stress if any want to prevent their life by stress and old age must need to follow carefully.
Stress can be quite deadly as well.Stress can lead to commitment of suicides in many cases.
Nice website! Keep it up
Stress causes my girlfriend all sorts of trouble. She becomes seriously ill - headaches, uncontrollable stomach, dizziness, panicking, loss of all rationality… it’s a nightmare.
Thanks for this post, it is great. Stress is the great enemy of our body. People must learn to release stress, because otherwise they can sick from various diseases.
Stress is normal… becouse we’re human…but we can manage our body and soul to control it..
Thank to God that Stress not causing Cancer but as you mentioned it force to smoke and drinking or other bad habits, but you doing great job via post.
I enjoyed very much reading your article on stress, and can agree with you on its affects on the body. Thank you for this information.
I think that stress reduces your body’s overall health, and can lead to all kinds of diseases and illnesses indirectly. Having a moderate amount of stress is normal and even necessary, but habitual over-stressing oneself can only harm the body and its health. Stay relaxed!
Many have tried to draw parallels between stress level and acne. No such relations exist!
Nice Info..
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I totally agree with you. It is most definitely a myth that stress causes ulcers, cancer, multiple sclerosis and the hair to turn gray. Years ago I did a research paper on this topic and it turns out that we can blame many diseases and the whole hair turning gray on vitamin and mineral deficiencies in the body, which is why it’s important to eat right. Stress, like you said, can cause one to make poor choices regarding food, alcohol abuse, etc…
You ruined my master plan to take up playing golf full time. It looks like I need to strike stress off my list for ulcers
Such a wonderful article. Thanks for sharing that helpful insight about what stress can and can’t do.
Thank you for info. Very interesting and usefull.
Stress makes my eye twitch… I really need to work on my stress relieving tactics