The unseen miracles: Stress Makes Hair Go Gray

The
most recent studies confirm that the huge psychological pressure affect
the hair and makes it gray, Allah almighty tells us that hair of people at day of resurrection will become gray ….

It
is a hard day which is the day of resurrection, when everyone will be
waiting for judgment and Allah will execrate disbelievers and atheists.
Allah almighty says about that day: (Then
how can you avoid the punishment, if you disbelieve, on a Day (i.e. the
Day of Resurrection) that will make the children grey-headed?)(Sûrat
Al-Muzzammil-verse 17) there is a sign in this verse for the existed
huge pressures in that day so that hair of children will become gray.

Some
people may claim that Allah says this verse as a simplification to make
people imagine the degree of difficulty of that day. But a new research
had proved that hair becomes gray after facing a hard situation.

Researchers
have discovered that the kind of "genotoxic stress" that does damage to
DNA depletes the melanocyte stem cells (MSCs) within hair follicles
that are responsible for making those pigment-producing cells. Rather
than dying off, when the going gets tough, those precious stem cells
differentiate, forming fully mature melanocytes themselves.

Anything that can limit the stress might stop the graying from happening, the researchers said.

The unseen miracles: Stress Makes Hair Go Gray Hair_root1

The
scientists discovered that hair graying, the most obvious aging
phenotype, can be caused by the genomic damage response through stem
cell differentiation, which suggests that physiological hair graying can
be triggered by the accumulation of unavoidable DNA damage and
DNA-damage response associated with aging through MSC differentiation,"

"The
DNA in cells is under constant attack by exogenously- and
endogenously-arising DNA-damaging agents such as mutagenic chemicals,
ultraviolet light and ionizing radiation," said Emi Nishimura of Tokyo
Medical and Dental University. "It is estimated that a single cell in mammals can encounter approximately 100,000 DNA damaging events per day."
Consequently, she explained, cells have elaborate ways to repair damaged
DNA and prevent the lesions from being passed on to their daughter
cells.

"Once
stem cells are damaged irreversibly, the damaged stem cells need to be
eliminated to maintain the quality of the stem cell pools," Nishimura
continued. "We found that excessive genotoxic stress triggers
differentiation of melanocyte stem cells." She says that differentiation
might be a more sophisticated way to get rid of those cells than
stimulating their death.
Nishimura's group earlier traced the loss of hair color to the gradual
dying off of the stem cells that maintain a continuous supply of new
melanocytes, giving hair its youthful color. Those specialized stem
cells are not only lost, they also turn into fully committed pigment
cells and in the wrong place.
The findings lend support to the notion that genome instability is a
significant factor underlying aging in general, the researchers said.
They also support the "stem cell aging hypothesis," which proposes that
DNA damage to long-lived stem cells can be a major cause for the
symptoms that come with age. In addition to the aging-associated stem
cell depletion typically seen in melanocyte stem cells, qualitative and
quantitative changes to other body stem cells have been reported in
blood stem cells, cardiac muscle, and skeletal muscle, the researchers
said. Stresses on stem cell pools and genome maintenance failures have
also been implicated in the decline of tissue renewal capacity and the
accelerated appearance of aging-related characteristics.

Here we have to ask some questions:

1. Why
did the Qur'an speak about head's hair taking into consideration that
horrible scenes in the day of resurrection will affect the entire body?

2. Who
told this illiterate man (prophet Mohamed) this medical information in a
time when people have only good knowledge about fighting and wars?

The
answer for the first question is that the effect of any psychological
pressure may be disappeared by time but the only effect that couldn't be
repaired is what happens to the Stem Cells that cause the hair to be
gray. Allah by that likening wants to tell us about a small part of what
will happen in day of resurrection and also to tell us about medical
reality as a proof that Mohamed (peace be upon him) is sincere and that
the message of Islam is the true message.

Therefore
the answer of the second question is clear, Allah almighty is the one
who taught His messenger everything also He is the sender of that holy
Qur'an.

الموضوع الأصلي : The unseen miracles: Stress Makes Hair Go Gray

المصدر : ملتقى الجزائريين والعرب