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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28 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.