Text: Dr. Wang
Edited by Chi You
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Gray hair, as a natural sign of aging in the human body, is often considered a testimony to the passage of time. However, ancient medicine and some folk traditions believe that the distribution of gray hair may have some relationship with physical health.
In particular, gray hair in different parts of the head is thought to indicate different health problems. Today, we're going to explore this topic: gray hair on the forehead, temples, and back of the head may indicate a health condition.
First of all, we must be clear that modern medicine has no direct evidence that albinism of hair is directly related to a specific disease. Gray hair is mainly caused by the reduced function of melanocytes in the hair follicles with age.
However, exploring this conventional wisdom makes sense to understand how people associate body signals with health conditions.
- Growing on the forehead: Conventional wisdom suggests that gray hair in the forehead area is associated with heart health. The heart is an important organ in the human body and is responsible for blood circulation, which is associated with concepts such as "insufficient blood in the heart" or "exuberant heart".
Some believe that long gray hairs on the forehead may be an outward sign of poor heart function. From a modern medical perspective, while there is no scientific basis for this association, we cannot completely ignore the impact of heart health on overall health.
For example, long-term stress and anxiety can lead to heart disease, while also affecting hormone levels in the body, which in turn can affect the health of your hair.
- Growing on the temples: The ancients believed that the gray hair on the temples was related to liver health. In TCM theory, the liver is considered to be the organ responsible for mood regulation and blood storage, so gray hair on the temples is seen as a sign of liver qi stagnation or liver blood deficiency.
Modern medicine, while there is no direct evidence to support this, we know that liver insufficiency does affect the overall health of the body, including hair growth. Liver problems can lead to poor absorption of nutrients, affecting the health of your hair.
- Growing on the back of the head: Gray hair on the back of the head was often associated with kidney health in ancient medicine. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the kidneys store essence, the main water, and kidney deficiency may cause the hair to turn gray in advance.
Modern medicine believes that while kidney disease does not directly cause hair graying, people with chronic kidney disease may indeed experience a range of metabolic problems, including malnutrition and hormone imbalances, which may indirectly affect the health of the hair.
In addition to the above conventional wisdom, we also need to consider other factors that can contribute to gray hair. For example, genetic factors play an important role in the appearance of gray hair.
Some family members may develop gray hair earlier, which is related to their genetics. In addition, lifestyle factors cannot be ignored.
Long-term stress, poor diet, lack of sleep, excessive use of chemical products, etc., can all lead to premature graying of hair.
Now, we can analyze this phenomenon in conjunction with some specific examples. For example, a 40-year-old man who has been working in high-stress jobs for a long time recently noticed noticeable gray hair on his forehead and temples.
While it is not possible to directly conclude that this is related to heart or liver health, long-term stress can indeed affect heart health and can lead to an imbalance in hormone levels, which in turn affects hair pigmentation.
Another example is a 50-year-old woman who has been eating an unbalanced diet for a long time and lacks adequate nutrient intake, and finds that the gray hair on the back of her head is increasing day by day.
Although it can't be directly linked to kidney health, malnutrition does affect the health of your hair, including contributing to the appearance of gray hair.
In summary, while the association between gray hair and health status in traditional medicine is not supported by direct evidence from modern science, this view reminds us that the healthy state of hair may be a reflection of the overall health of the body.
As doctors, we should comprehensively consider the patient's physical condition, including their lifestyle habits, dietary structure, and psychological stress, so as to better understand and solve health problems.
What do you have to say about this? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section!