Decoding Epigenetics: The Impact of Lifestyle on Genes

Epigenetics: The Effects of Lifestyle Choices on Genetic Factors Epigenetics can be defined through its own etymology: epi means on top of and genetic refers to our genes. Thus, epigenes are small chemical tags that sit on top of our DNA and chromatin with instructions for them. In order to best understand this concept, one must understand some fundamental truths about our DNA: Each person is born with a set strand of genes. What differentiates our cells from one another (say a blood cell from a neural cell) is actually the aforementioned instruction provided by epigenes, which prompt our DNA to essentially turn certain genes on or off, resulting in a differentiation of cells. What is interesting about the study of epigenetics is the promise

This asserts that like certain genetic factors are undoubtedly inherited through generations, epigenetic factors also have trans generational effects on our genetic predispositions. As discussed previously, epigenetic factors are subject to environmental changes. This means that despite their original genetic makeup, your ancestors’ environmental choices (for example smoking, diet and exercise, and lifestyle) also have a direct effect on your genetic makeup, as the changes caused by their lifestyle choices affect the chemical tags your epigenes turn on and off. This is interesting hen one examines their family history of disease. At its most basic, the study of epigenetics suggests that a simple family history workup should tell you relatively what major diseases you might be at genetic risk of developing. In light of my personal family history, the only obvious disease risk factors appear to be cancer in three grandparents and thyroid disease in five family members: one being a parent, another a grandparent, two aunts, and a cousin, all on the maternal side of the family. Based on the ideal promise of epigenetics, one might hope that scientific research might discover either a way to change environmental factors such as diet in a way that would cause epigenetic mechanisms to shut off the genetic markers in my makeup that might carry cancer and thyroid disease. On a more forward-thinking

A life expectancy questionnaire is useful in loosely determining how your daily lifestyle choices affect the number of healthy years you will potentially live. According to the bluezones vitality compass, my current biological age is 26.4, which is my exact age. My life expectancy is 82.2 years, with 70.8 years of completely healthy life (free of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes). Due to my lifestyle habits, my life has accrued a total of -1.3 years. According to the website, I could add a total of 16.7 years to my life expectancy if I completely quit smoking, do more vigorous exercise regularly, attend a religious service at least once a month (spiritual in my case) and eat less salt and salty foods. Ultimately, the study of epigenetics focuses on maintaining the healthiest lifestyle possible in order to attempt to avoid certain genetic markers that might result in disease. While healthy living is not necessarily always going to erase your predispositions to disease (there are countless cases of people who have never smoked in their life and still die of lung cancer), it does stand true that your lifestyle choices have a significant effect not only on your current genetic makeup, but on that of your subsequent