Redheads feel less pain: people with ginger hair are less sensitive due to genetic peculiarity

Redheads feel less pain: people with ginger hair are less sensitive due to genetic peculiarity

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Redheads have a higher PYN threshold than blondes or dark browns, because the pigment-producing cells of their skin do not have the function of a certain receptor.

  • Redheads have a faulty receptor on skin pigment cells that does not tan it
  • But also has a hormonal effect that leads to increased pain threshold
  • The end result is that ginger produces more opioid signals than people with other hair colors and complications and an increased pain threshold.

By Joe Pinkstone For Mailonline

Published: | Updated:

Ginger people can tolerate more pain than brunettes and blondes, and a new study has found out why.

It has been found that the skin cells that determine a person’s pigmentation, called melanocytes, are the most important in determining a person’s pain threshold.

Redheads have a genetic mutation which means that their melanocytes have a faulty version of a key receptor and therefore cannot make dark pigment to turn brown.

An attacking effect of this is a chemical imbalance that leads to a cascade of different hormones that eventually increases the effect of pain-blocking opioid receptors.

The end result is that ginger produces more opioid signals than people with other hair colors and complications and therefore have an increased pain threshold.

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Redheads have a genetic mutation, which means that their melanocytes have a faulty version of a key receptor and therefore cannot make dark pigment to turn brown. But an effect of this is a chemical imbalance that leads to a cascade of different hormones that eventually increases the effect of pain-blocking receptors (stock).

Redheads have a genetic mutation which means that their melanocytes have a faulty version of a key receptor and therefore cannot make dark pigment to turn brown. But an effect of this is a chemical imbalance that leads to a cascade of different hormones that eventually increases the effect of pain-blocking receptors (stock).

Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital looked at red fur mice in a laboratory.

The skin cells of rodents are similar to those of humans and the cause of red hair is comparable in the two species.

Dr. David Fischer led a previous study in which it was found that fiery hair could not create dark pigment and tan due to a loss of functionality in melanocytes.

Ginger, the rarest human color, like all humans has a receptor on their melanocytes called melanocortin 1 that protrudes from the surface of the cell.

Ginger, the rarest of human hair colors, like all humans, has a receptor on their melanocytes called melanocortin 1 that mediates the production of dark skin pigment. But in redheads it is wrong. This leads to a hormone level that differs from people with other complications and leads to an increased pain threshold (stock)

Ginger, the rarest of human hair colors, like all humans, has a receptor on their melanocytes called melanocortin 1 that mediates the production of dark skin pigment. But in redheads it is wrong. This leads to a hormone level that differs from people with other complications and leads to an increased pain threshold (stock)

Gray becomes ’caused by stress’

Scientists have finally proven what conventional wisdom has been telling us for decades – having stress causes hair to turn gray.

However, researchers at Columbia University have also found that the process can be reversed in hair that has just turned gray.

Reducing stress can stave off gray hair, scientists say, and it is hoped that drugs can be developed to further prevent the unwanted process.

According to the study, hair from all over the scalp can turn gray. It has also discovered that beard and pubic hair can regain their color after turning gray.

Scientists believe that the root of the gray problem arose due to changes in metabolic pathways that form proteins in the body.

These pathways are strongly influenced by hormones produced when someone is stressed, and the relief of stress can therefore undo the process.

The normal role is to control when the body starts to turn dark brown or black pigment.

In redheads, however, it does not work, causing the pale skin of many ginger that never turns bronze and is prone to sunburn.

But dr. Fischer found that these deficient receptors also alter the production of a chemical called POMC, which then breaks down into different hormones.

These hormones create a balance between receptors that inhibit pain and improve pain.

In redheads, the damaged melanocortin 1 receptor causes less POMC to be produced and therefore they have lower levels of the derived hormones.

This means that the equilibrium in redheads has a lower concentration than in people with other hair colors.

It therefore increases the impact of other hormones – which are not made by the skin pigment cells – which increase the effect of the analgesic opioid receptors.

As a result, redheads have an increased pain threshold, the researchers include in their study, published in Science Advances.

“These findings describe the mechanistic basis behind earlier evidence suggesting divergent pain thresholds in different pigmentation backgrounds,” says Dr. Fisher.

“Understanding this mechanism provides confirmation of this earlier evidence and a valuable recognition for medical staff when caring for patients whose pain sensitivity may differ.”

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