Anybody else...

Think it's odd/funny/sad/worrying/sympathy-inducing to see U.S. Presidents gray, wither, and wrinkle before our eyes? Just do an Inauguration-Day-to-Farewell-Speech comparison, and it's a change that you wouldn't think four-to-eight years (or even as little as one or two) should make. Obama already looks a good ten years older to me. It's one of the most coveted positions, but I often don't envy Presidents. You deal with millions of lives, and sometimes you decide who dies and who lives. I think I'd crack. I wouldn't be able to sleep. How Dubyah supposedly slept ten hours a night... you know I was going to say "is beyond me", but when all I want to do is escape from the world, I sleep. Other times, I can't. I'm no President, but I could see it would work much in the same way except more violent. Plus, being on such a tight schedule, I'm sure it takes a toll on the body.

I'm no scientist, but I feel that looking at Presidents offers the answer to the disputed question of whether stress causes premature graying. I did some investigation, and it turned up that this link has never been proven, but it's suspected by many scientists. The debates seems to revolve around melanin, an a pigment polymer in our body that determines the color of hair, among other things. I won't talk too much about it, as I'm unsure even of that last statement, so I'll direct you to some links that discuss different sides of the issue.

The bottom line is that Presidents seem to age much faster than us commoners. Maybe it's because of the stress. Maybe it's just because we look much more at pictures of Presidents than ourselves or the people we know. Or maybe it's because the U.S. government has mastered time travel and Presidents spend years in the future finding out what issues they have to change to resolve the problems in future America. Which is your money on?