GAZA, (PIC)
The appearance of white hair on the head or beard is no longer limited to the elderly in the Gaza Strip, as in the streets, shelter centers, universities, and markets, it has become common to see young people in their twenties and thirties carrying features older than their true ages, after gray hair invaded their heads and beards within a short period of time.
Many young people link this phenomenon to the enormous psychological pressures experienced by the residents of the Strip during recent years, especially in light of the ongoing war of genocide, loss of loved ones, and repeated displacement, and permanent anxiety about the future.
We grew old in the blink of an eye
The young man Mohamed Abu Al-Abd, 27 years old, said, “Before the war, there was no white hair in my head, but during recent months, I was surprised by the clear spread of gray hair in the front of the head and beard. When I look at my old pictures, I feel as if I grew ten years older at once.”
He clarified, in a special interview with the PIC correspondent, that he lived through long periods of fear, staying up late, and anxiety for his family during the war on the Gaza Strip, and lost a number of relatives and friends, believing that all of this reflected on his health and external appearance, and one of its most prominent features is the appearance of gray hair.
As for Abu Karim, 31 years old, he confirms that his friends have begun commenting constantly on the clear change in his hair color, expressing his surprise at reaching this stage at this age.
He said in a special interview with the PIC correspondent, that within a few months, many white tufts appeared in his head hair and beard, blaming the psychological pressures that he lived through and still lives through daily for that.
As for Mahmoud Ahmed, 24 years old, he clarified that he noticed the appearance of gray hair at an accelerated pace after displacing more than once, and losing his job and source of livelihood.
Mahmoud believed at first that it was a hereditary matter, “but I discovered that many of my friends who are at the same age suffer from the same phenomenon.”
In a sarcastic tone, he told the PIC correspondent, “We, the youth, have started mocking each other night and day, and the less gray-haired taunts the one with more visible gray hair. The matter has become a joke we trade every time we gather.”
He added, “We no longer look at gray hair as just a sign of advancing in age, but rather it has become for us a visible trace of what we lived through of traumatic events, continuous pressures, and a war of genocide that is still ongoing.”
What does science say?
Recent scientific studies indicate the existence of a relationship between acute psychological stress and the appearance of premature gray hair. Research supported by the National Institutes of Health in the United States showed that severe psychological pressures can affect the stem cells responsible for producing hair pigment inside the follicles, leading to the loss of the natural color of the hair and the appearance of gray hair prematurely.
Other studies also link premature gray hair to multiple factors, including genetic predisposition, and deficiency of some nutritional elements such as iron and vitamin B12, in addition to chronic psychological pressures and mental health disorders.
The research explains that continuous psychological stress may raise the activity of the nervous system responsible for the “fight or flight” response, which leads to depleting the pigment-producing cells inside the hair follicles faster than usual.
It is medically known that gray hair appears gradually with advancing age under natural conditions, but its early appearance comes as a result of the overlap of several factors, the most important of which are severe psychological pressures, malnutrition, and deficiency of vitamins and minerals, in addition to the genetic factor.
Psychological specialists point out that continuous exposure to psychological trauma, grief, and chronic anxiety affects various systems of the body, and its effects may appear on the skin, hair, sleep, immunity, and public health.
Although scientists confirm that the genetic factor remains one of the most important causes of premature gray hair, the exceptional conditions experienced by the residents of Gaza prompted many young people to believe that the war left its clear mark on their features before its time.
Despite the absence of official statistics around the phenomenon of premature gray hair among the youth of Gaza, specialized United Nations reports documented a wide deterioration in the mental health of the population as a result of the war and chronic pressures, which confirms what international scientific studies concluded about the existence of a relationship between acute psychological stress, loss of hair pigment, and the appearance of premature gray hair.
While researchers continue to study the relationship between psychological stress and hair health, the gray hair spreading among the youth of the Strip remains a visual witness to heavy years of pressures, losses, and uncertainty, which are conditions that many see have accelerated the appearance of signs of advancing in age among a generation that is still in the prime of youth in the Gaza Strip.