Very recently, I read a research article that indicated that, from nails, we can decipher the stress level of a person too through measurement of cortisol levels in the keratin structure of nails. The article also reported that, cortisol levels generally measured through blood tests are much fluctuating and they indicate stress level of someone considering a very small time window and this can give false positive results. Whereas, the nail cortisol concentrations are more stable and they can detect stress within the body considering a large time window giving the bigger picture of stress/anxiety in someone’s mind. The HPA activity (sharp indicator of chronic stress) is also more clearly recorded through nail samples. So, nails can now serve beneficial towards mental health diagnosis too.
