A friend of mine, Natasha, came to me a few months ago, troubled by the sight of her first gray strands. She was only 27. The sight of silver streaks glistening in her dark hair was unsettling for her, especially at such a young age. She had always associated gray hair with the inevitable journey into middle age, yet here she was, spotting them in her twenties. It made me reflect on how common early graying has become for many, despite our best efforts to keep it at bay.

While most of us expect our hair to turn gray in our 40s or 50s, it can sometimes begin much earlier. You might spot those pesky silver strands in your 20s or even earlier. But why does this happen? And more importantly, how can we maintain the health of our hair while dealing with the natural aging process?

Why Does Hair Turn Gray?

The color of our hair is determined by melanin, the pigment responsible for giving us our distinct shades of black, brown, blonde, or red. As we age, the production of melanin decreases, which eventually leads to gray or white hair. But aging isn’t the only factor. Genetics, stress, vitamin deficiencies, and certain health conditions can also contribute to premature graying.

For Natasha, the situation wasn’t entirely surprising. Her mother had gone gray in her late 20s as well. Genetics, as it turns out, plays a significant role in determining when we start to see those first gray hairs. If one or both of your parents went gray early, you’re more likely to follow the same path.

Role of Stress in Premature Greying

We’ve all heard the saying that stress can turn your hair gray, but is it true? Science suggests that it might be. A 2021 study found a link between stress and gray hair. Researchers discovered that individuals who reported higher stress levels were more likely to have gray hair than those who experienced less stress.

Animal studies have also shown that stress can deplete the stem cells responsible for producing melanocytes, the cells that produce melanin. However, more research is needed to fully understand the link between stress and graying in humans.

That said, stress-relieving activities like meditation, yoga, or spending time with loved ones can help reduce the overall effects of stress on your body, which may, in turn, slow the graying process.

Health Conditions That Can Lead to Graying

Certain health conditions can also accelerate premature graying. Conditions like alopecia areata, which causes patches of hair loss, can make gray hairs more noticeable. Vitiligo, a condition that leads to the loss of skin pigment, can also cause the affected areas of hair to turn gray or white.

Vitamin and mineral deficiencies are another possible culprit. Nutrients like calcium, copper, iron, vitamin B12, and zinc play a key role in maintaining hair color. A deficiency in any of these can contribute to premature graying. Additionally, research suggests that vegetarian or low-protein diets may increase the risk of gray hair, as protein is essential for hair health.

Genetics of Premature Graying

For many people, premature graying is purely a matter of genetics. Studies have shown that individuals whose parents went gray early are three to five times more likely to experience the same. It’s important to recognize that if genetics is the main cause of your graying, it may not be possible to fully prevent it. However, embracing your natural hair color or exploring dyeing options can help you manage the change.

Who Is More Likely to Experience Premature Graying?

Race and ethnicity also play a role in when we start to go gray. Studies suggest that premature graying occurs before the age of 20 in White individuals, before 25 in Asians, and before 30 in Black individuals. Interestingly, premature graying affects all genders equally, though the pattern in which hair turns gray may vary. People assigned female at birth often first notice gray hairs near their forehead, while people assigned male at birth tend to gray around the sides of their head.

How to Prevent Your Hair from Graying Too Early

While genetics may be beyond our control, there are several steps you can take to slow down the graying process:

1. Manage Stress

Reducing stress is one of the most effective ways to delay the appearance of gray hair. Incorporate relaxation techniques like deep breathing, meditation, or yoga into your daily routine. Engaging in your favorite hobbies, spending time with loved ones, and exercising regularly can also alleviate stress.

2. Eat a Nutrient-Rich Diet

A diet rich in vitamins and minerals can support hair health. Include foods high in B vitamins, iron, copper, and zinc to help prevent nutrient deficiencies that may contribute to premature graying. Leafy greens, whole grains, lean proteins, and nuts are excellent sources of these essential nutrients.

3. Protect Your Hair from UV Rays

Exposure to the sun’s UV rays can cause oxidative stress, which damages the melanin in your hair follicles. Wearing a hat or using hair products with UV protection can minimize this damage.

4. Avoid Heat and Chemicals

Excessive use of heat tools like blow dryers and flat irons, as well as chemical treatments like hair dye, can damage hair follicles and speed up the graying process. If you color your hair, use gentle, ammonia-free dyes and try to minimize the use of heat-styling tools.

5. Quit Smoking

Smoking has been linked to premature graying, as nicotine can build up in the hair follicles, affecting pigmentation. Quitting smoking may not only slow down the graying process but also improve your overall health.

Despite our best efforts, some of us will go gray sooner than others. But graying is a natural part of aging and nothing to be ashamed of. Natasha decided to embrace her gray streaks, highlighting them with silver tones that added character to her appearance.

Whether you choose to embrace your gray hair or opt for a color change, the most important thing is to maintain the health of your hair through good nutrition, stress management, and gentle care.

Hair health is a reflection of your overall well-being. Taking care of yourself physically and mentally can help you keep your hair healthy and vibrant for years to come.

You may have heard people say that they are allergic to things, whether it is gluten, soy or peanuts. These people avoid these items, even going as far as not dining in certain places where there is a possibility of cross contamination.

While it may seem like an overreaction, allergy symptoms can range from just a few rashes to cause of death. There are many people who did not and still do not take allergies seriously. As one of the most common allergies, many people who have close ones with peanut allergy, many places have opened “nut-free” zones including schools, offices and many public spaces.

While there is no cure for allergies, a new clinical trial results show that exposure therapy with peanut allergies has proven successful.

Why Do We Need Exposure Therapy?

The research team reported in the journal Allergy, April 2025, that a significant majority of the participants, more than two out of every three (67%), were able to eat at least five peanuts without triggering an allergic reaction after undergoing the treatment. This marks a positive step forward in managing this common and often severe allergy.

Seeing as expansive as the risk associated with allergies is, researchers have continued working towards proper cures and treatments. While there are precautions like avoiding the allergens, reducing exposure, when a person with a sever, allergy is exposed to the allergens, the chances of them going into anaphylaxis is a lot, so many people care EpiPens or epinephrine shot that can counter allergic reactions for a while.

How Does Exposure Therapy Work For Peanut Allergies?

The way exposure therapy works is pretty simple but needs to be done carefully. People who are allergic to peanuts are given very, very small amounts of peanut protein every day. Over time, the amount is slowly increased. It's like gently introducing the body to the thing it's allergic to, little by little. This helps the body learn that peanuts aren't actually a threat, and it starts to react less strongly. It's a gradual process, but the goal is to build up a person's ability to handle peanuts without having a dangerous allergic reaction.

In this study, 21 adults who were allergic to peanuts took part. Every day, they ate a small amount of peanut flour mixed in with their food. The goal was for them to be able to eat a small amount of peanut flour every day for at least a month without any problems. After that, they were tested to see how much peanut they could eat. The researchers were very happy with how well the treatment worked, saying that the results were similar to what they've seen in studies with kids.

The study showed some really impressive results in how much more peanut the participants could handle after the treatment. The researchers mentioned that on average, the amount of peanut they could eat without a reaction went up by a hundred times!

Why Are Researches Like This Important?

What makes this study really important is that it's the first-time scientists have specifically looked at how well exposure therapy works for adults with peanut allergies. Usually, this kind of treatment is done with kids because their bodies are still growing and changing. However, this new research shows that even adults, whose bodies are already fully grown, can still become less allergic to peanuts with this type of treatment. This opens up a whole new possibility for adults who have lived with this allergy for many years and haven't had many treatment options before. Many said that the treatment was "life-changing" and they no longer lived in constant fear of their allergy.

Every three seconds someone in the world develop dementia. Forgetting things every now and then is normal, it happens to everyone. However, nobody expects to lose their sense of being, all the memories and life experiences that make you who you are. Dementia is the condition that makes all of these fears come true. It is a collective name for different brain syndromes which affect one's memory, thinking, behavior as well as emotions.

Many symptoms of dementia are vague, especially early ones, and they can easily mislead people. However, a new technological advancement may help people get diagnosed early, through shoes.

How Can Shoes Help Us Diagnose Dementia?

This new technology, published in Science Advances in April 2025, works by using special insoles you put inside your shoes. These insoles have tiny sensors that can feel the pressure when you walk or stand. What's really clever is that these sensors don't just feel pressure; they turn that pressure into tiny electrical signals. These signals carry hidden information about how you move and how your body is working, kind of like secret messages from your feet that can tell a story about your health without you even realizing.

How Do These Shoes Work?

The electrical signals created by the smart insoles are then sent wirelessly to a special application on your smartphone, just like getting a text message. This app takes all that data and turns it into easy-to-understand pictures and information about how you walk and stand. It can show exactly where you put the most pressure on your feet and how your movement changes over time. Even more impressively, the app uses smart computer programs to learn and recognize different ways you move, like sitting, standing, or running, giving a detailed look at your daily activities.

For patients who might be developing health issues, the smart insoles could provide early clues that doctors can use to make diagnoses sooner. For athletes, this technology can help them understand their posture better, which can prevent injuries and improve their performance. If someone is recovering from an injury, the insoles can track their progress and make sure they are healing correctly.

Researchers have already discovered that the way people walk can change when they have certain health problems, especially conditions that affect the brain and nerves, like Parkinson's disease. People with Parkinson's might start to shuffle their feet or lean to one side when they walk. The team behind these smart insoles believes that by having much better sensors in shoes, doctors could get a more accurate and earlier warning sign of these kinds of conditions just by analyzing someone's walk. This could lead to earlier treatments and better management of these challenging illnesses.

Why Is Early Diagnosis Important?

According to Alzheimer’s Disease International there are 55 million people living with dementia in 2020.

Their research shows that most of the people who have dementia have not received proper treatment for the same. About three quatre of the people who have been diagnosed with dementia lack treatment or have access to healthcare. Even in high-income countries only about 20-50% of people receive the proper care they need.

This treatment gap can only be fixed when people start getting a diagnosis. Not just receiving care, but receiving early diagnosis and treatment is crucial for proper dementia care, as explained by World Alzheimer Report 2011.

Whooping cough or pertussis, has been making headlines for its comeback across the United States. As per the recent data, there have been 8,485 reported cases for far this year. This is double the number recorded at the same time last year. The resurgence had already led to the deaths of two infants in Louisiana and a 5-year old child in Washington state over the past six months.

Pertussis is a highly contagious respiratory disease caused by the Bordetella pertussis bacterium. It is most dangerous for infants and young children, particularly before they are old enough to receive their first dose of vaccine at two months of age.

Why Are Cases Increasing?

During the COVID-19 pandemic, whooping cough cases dropped due to the increase in the use of masks, social distancing, and other preventive measures. However, it has made a comeback after 2 to 5 years as these preventive measures have decreased.

There is another factor in the increase of cases, it is the decline in vaccine rotes. As per an AP report, kindergarten vaccination coverage dropped last year, and vaccines exemptions reached an all-time high in the United States.

Public health officials worry that growing vaccine hesitancy could further fuel outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases like whooping cough.

Pregnant women are also recommended to receive the Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis) vaccine to protect their newborns. Unfortunately, vaccination rates during pregnancy remain suboptimal, leaving many babies vulnerable in their first months of life.

Which States Reported The Highest Cases?

There are certain states that have reported more numbers than others. As of the recent data, Pennsylvania reported 207 cases so far, whereas Michigan has seen an even sharper rise in cases. In 2025, Michigan has reported 516 cases, mostly among children, between ages 5 to 17. Michigan, in the last year, reported 2,081 pertussis cases.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that all infants, children, adolescents, and pregnant women get vaccinated against pertussis. Adults who missed vaccinations earlier in life should also receive a dose to ensure protection.

How Does It Affect Your Body?

According to the CDC, Bordetella pertussis bacteria attach to the cilia (small hair-like structures) lining parts of the upper respiratory tract. The bacteria release toxins that damage the cilia and cause swelling, leading to severe coughing fits.

Symptoms of whooping cough can vary depending on a person’s age and vaccination status. Initial symptoms often resemble a common cold: runny nose, mild cough, and low-grade fever. However, as the disease progresses, patients may experience uncontrollable, violent coughing fits that can make it hard to breathe. The characteristic "whoop" sound often occurs when the patient gasps for air after a coughing fit.

Who Is More At Risk?

Babies under 1 year old are most at risk for severe complications, including pneumonia, seizures, and even death. Individuals with underlying health conditions like asthma or those who are immunocompromised also face a higher risk of serious illness.

How It Spreads And How Can It Be Prevented?

Whooping cough spreads easily through respiratory droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes. People can remain contagious for at least two weeks after symptoms begin. Some individuals may only have mild symptoms yet can still unknowingly transmit the bacteria to vulnerable groups like infants.

The best way to prevent whooping cough is vaccination. Practicing good hygiene, such as frequent handwashing and covering coughs and sneezes, can also help limit the spread. In some cases, preventive antibiotics (post-exposure prophylaxis) may be recommended for those who have been in close contact with an infected person.