#and the epigenetics are already known to have an impact on psychology

[levbolton]

animal psychology is interesting, bcs they can also be good parents or not and this affects their offsprings, just like humans........

[scripttorture]

I don't know how well you'll be able to answer this since it varies, but I'm going to give it a shot. I have a character that is tortured for about 10-12 days. He's given enough water to keep him alive, but not really enough to keep him fully hydrated. He isn't given any food during his captivity (they weren’t torturing for information so they weren’t worried about keeping him alive. Around how much weight would he lose? He was already skinny to begin with (but a healthy skinny, not underweight)

It was worth a shot but yeah I can’t give you a definite answer there.

 There’s a lot of individual variation and on top of that this total lack of food isn’t how starvation typically happens either in a research lab or a torture scenario. What you tend to see instead is a starvation diet: no where near enough food instead of no food at all.

 I can tell you how much the volunteers in the Minnesota starvation experiment lost though.

 The aim was that they’d lose 25% of their starting body weight by being kept on a starvation diet for 6 months. Their calorie intake was cut in half and they continued to work throughout this period.

 As a scientist (keep in mind that I’m not a medic and don’t specialise in diet) my impression is that we don’t really understand the process of losing or gaining weight. There are a wealth of confounding factors and a lot of individual variation. It’s also not… really clear what ‘healthy weight’ is or if it’s even a real, consistent thing.

 Weight fluctuations and sudden deprivation of food are both known to be harmful and can have long term epigenetic effects that echo down generations.

 But the impression I get from the papers and summaries I’ve read is that we don’t really understand why there’s so much variation in weight loss and that it might not be the most useful thing to focus on.

 I know that people can lose 25% of their body weight and survive. However I’m not sure how quickly it happens and what factors might effect it.

 You might find this NHS piece on refeeding useful, because the risk category section outlines what risk category a person falls into by proportion of body weight lost.

 Wrapping up- I think sometimes we writers can get a little caught up with trying to find exact numbers when that might not be the most impactful way to communicate what’s happening. You could give a reasonable figure for how much weight he’s lost, and your readers might find that meaningful/scary.

 But it probably won’t have the same impact as describing the effects.

 It isn’t just that he’d be skinnier or that his bones would show through. It’s the sunkeness in the eyes, the gaunt, grey quality to the skin, the brittleness of his hair. You might even be in the realm where extra body hair is a possibility.

 And beyond that the behavioural effects of starvation can be terrifying. There’s typically a really disturbing mix of apathy and sudden bouts of rage. Really intense, unpredictable mood swings and it can make starving people very difficult to work with.

 If the other characters are expecting to get their friend back straight away ‘more or less unharmed’ all of that can serve as a real awakening. It can underline how drastic this was.

 And as the psychological symptoms of starvation will vanish as the character recovers the lasting symptoms of torture will become more obvious. All these changes in such a short space of time can really feed in to the relationships these characters have, showing how they adapt under strain.

 I hope that helps. :)

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Excess Stress Changes Marks on DNA and Could Epigenetically Harm Mental Health

An excess amount of the stress hormone, cortisol, in the body could impact epigenetic processes and boost one’s risk of experiencing psychological issues in the long run, reports a new study in Scientific Reports. People with anxiety, post-traumatic stress, depression and other stress-related disorders could be adjusting chemical tags on their DNA as a result of high cortisol exposure, which may even persist throughout the course of their lives or be passed on to their children.

The study assessed individuals in remission with Cushing’s Syndrome (CS) and found a significant alteration to epigenetic marks across the entire genome. Although CS is a rare disorder caused by excess production of the hormone cortisol, the results may translate similarly to those suffering from other common conditions related to high-stress. Additionally, those afflicted with CS are also highly at risk for suffering from anxiety, depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, and cognitive impairment.

In this study, the researchers found genome-wide change in DNA methylation. The CS patients who were exposed to high amounts of cortisol had less DNA methylation overall compared to healthy individuals. DNA methylation is a popular epigenetic mechanism defined by the addition of methyl groups to certain locations on the DNA. It is known to suppress the expression of genes.

The team also found that specific DNA methylation adjustments were linked to the ongoing psychiatric issues the patients typically suffered from. These methylation changes were connected to genes that play a role in cortisol sensitivity and the plasticity and development of the brain.

“If these results can be verified and repeated in other studies, they would have significance for future possibilities for treating stress-induced psychological consequences,” said postdoctoral researcher, Camilla Glad, at the Department of Internal Medicine and Clinical Nutrition.

Since CS is typically caused from benign tumor growth in the adrenal or pituitary gland, operating on the tumor can improve physical symptoms. However, Glad says that even after doing this, “our previous studies show that the psychiatric problems largely often persist.”

The repercussions from these psychiatric issues are far-reaching and can have a meaningful impact on the quality of life. For instance, some will never return to life at work, avoid venturing into society and participating in everyday, normal activities.

“They quite simply constitute a patient group with major problems for whom we are extremely eager to find new ways to help,” said Glad.

To some extent, it has already been known that an increased stress load has the ability to epigenetically impact DNA. Previous studies have demonstrated that high levels of cortisol and extreme stress change DNA methylation.

“If there is a programmed sensitivity for cortisol where the response is depressions and anxiety at very low levels then this is not good for the future. We are talking about changes in DNA that have the potential to persist for the remainder of the patient’s life, and which can also be hereditary,” noted Glad.

Glad indicates that if DNA methylation levels are able to affect levels of various proteins, new doors will open to possible treatments. “With the knowledge we have today, I do not think we will be able to affect DNA methylation itself, but might, however, in the long-term, be able to counteract its effects,” she said.

Bailey Kirkpatrick

Source: Glad, C. et al. (2017). Reduced DNA methylation and psychopathology following endogenous hypercortisolism – a genome-wide study. Scientific Reports, 7: 44445.

Reference: Kubista, M. Cortisol excess hits natural DNA process and mental health hard. University of Gothenburg. 28 Mar 2017. Web.

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[makingscipub]

Epigenetics: Grappling with definitions

Definitions of epigenetics are notoriously slippery. This does not seem to hamper basic research. But it might hamper public understanding.

The words ‘epigenetics’ and ‘epigenetic’ have undergone quite substantial changes in meaning over time, leading up to a meaning which is now popular but open to misinterpretation. This history and increasing confusion has been charted, for example, by Haig, Deichmann, Greally, Henikoff and Greally, Deans and Maggert and many more.

But what do we mean by public understanding of epigenetics? We refer here not only to how people in the street might understand the word and concept  (most people have, however, never heard the word before), but also academic ‘publics’, including medical doctors, philosophers, sociologists (of science), policy analysts, advertisers etc., indeed anybody not actively carrying out research in epigenetics… How is this public understanding shaped and on what conceptions of epigenetics, or indeed misconceptions of epigenetics, is it built?

In this blog post we, that is Aleksandra Stelmach and I, will only be able to dip our toes into this topic, which will be tackled in more detail in an academic article in the future.

Epigenetics on Twitter

While we were thinking about issues around meanings and definitions of epigenetics in academia and elsewhere, we came across an exchange on Twitter which can be seen as a sort of microcosm of debates about definitions of epigenetics (mainly amongst academic twitterati) that might provide some insights into understandings, misunderstandings and attempts at understanding through the use of metaphors and analogies.

It all started with a tweet posted on 27 August 2018 by Christina Farr (Reporter at @CNBC.com with a focus on health and tech) asking: “anyone have a super simple explanation of what ‘epigenetics’ is? I’ve been paying with a few ideas, but I think you guys can do better. Shoot…” And people shot! There were around fifty replies.

Reviewing definitions

One reply/thread was by John Greally who is very active on twitter dispelling myths and misconceptions about epigenetics.

His thread recounts the history of definitions of epigenetics, from a developmental to a molecular one, leading up to the most recent but most misleading one: … “(5) Then the era of genomic biochemistry exploded, and a lot of regulators of the genome started to become discovered. Needing a name for this, the biochemists back-translated #epigenetics to epi-above/upon-genetics DNA sequence.” “(6) This definition covers every single genomic regulator, as we’ve thrown out the requirement that processes be heritable through cell division. The one regulator we don’t include, oddly, as it probably drives most #epigenetic processes, is transcription factors”.

We won’t go into the scientific intricacies of this explanation (but comments welcome, especially from biochemists), but we want to stress that this back-translation is very popular in academia, and we have employed it ourselves.

It is also used in the Wikipedia article on epigenetics, which, a few days later, provoked some debate, with John Greally remarking: “The wikipedia definition is based on the genomic biochemists’ epi+genetics travesty of a back-translation, with a tincture of heritability, a tip of the hat to cell differentiation, no wonder people are confused.” The wiki article itself would also deserve some analysis in the future! But back to Greally’s thread in answer to Christina Farr’s question.

As people had already begun to supply definitions, he warned her that “(8) The responses you’re getting to your question are focused on the epi+genetics definition. We can’t do simple let alone super-simple for you, when the term #epigenetics is ambiguous even for people working the field. To claim otherwise is misleading.” He put it more forcefully in 2016 when he said: “The shift in use of #epigenetics from developmental to molecular biology completely screwed the definition”.

Apart from the long thread supplied by Greally, what are the other answers to Christina Farr’s questions about a simple definition of epigenetics? The responses can be roughly grouped into three (as far as we can judge): those staying within mainstream of epigenetic science, those straying beyond mainstream of epigenetic science, and those providing metaphors and analogies.

Venturing beyond mainstream science

Lamarck

The first tweet we saw just said: “Lamarckian theory updated”. This view of epigenetics is widespread in some parts of academia, especially ‘bio-adjacent fields’, including the philosophy and sociology of science/biology, influenced in part by scientists like Jablonka, Laland, and Szyf, for example. Most recently, Peter Ward, a paleontologist, has written a book based on this hypothesis entitled Lamarck’s Revenge.

Genes and genomes

This nod to Lamarckism is often linked to a rejection of some central tenets of mainstream genetics and genomics, especially a view attributed to classical genomics, namely that genes/genomes are fixed and rigid entities. It is then claimed that after the advent of epigenetics, we can finally see them what they are, namely flexible, reactive and dynamic entities. As one tweeter writes: “How your so-called unchangeable genes can change? The answer is epigenetics”.

Nature and nurture

Szyf is mentioned in a response that focuses on nature and nurture, also a strong talking point in sociological research into epigenetics. “Nurture impacts nature: life events alter your DNA, and you pass these changes along from generation to generation. See TED talk by Dr. Moshe Szyf”.

Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance

Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance is a recurrent topic in sociological writing, and also in biological writings that influence it. Here we find, for example, speculations about how social experiences can be passed down generations of humans, a hypothesis that is widely criticised by working scientists, such as Kevin Mitchell and Jerry Coyne for example.

One tweeter writes: “An organism’s environment can have an effect on what genes are expressed, and those changes can be passed down to later generations!” The next tweet goes even further! “On a slightly different direction, I think some of the deep emotions we experience are actually epigenetic memories from emotions experienced by our ancestors”…..And this one goes further still: “Epigenetics from ancient Indian spiritual tradition: Every thought, word, and action leaves an imprint on our DNA- that can be manifested in our life or future family’s life”….

But…

As PZ Myers said in a blog post from 2015, epigenetics deals with “mechanisms that modify the expression of a genetic signal”. Gaining insight into these mechanisms is essential for understanding life, development and disease, from cells upwards. This is also important in evolutionary terms, as “gene expression is constantly being tweaked and modified” prompted by environmental triggers. But this does not mean, he stresses, that “you can explain a complex, higher-level psychological phenomenon like resentment of your mother” by reducing it to “a chemical reaction”!

And so we come to more mainstream science definitions (as far as we can tell).

Staying within mainstream science

Classic definition

One tweeter rehearses one of the most wide-spread definitions: “Epigenetics describes how gene expression changes occur without changes to the DNA sequence.” Another points out: “Post-translational modifications that direct gene expression. But since the modifications aren’t inheritable, it’s not really genetics.”

Cells

Others focus, rightly, on cells: “All of our cells have the same DNA – but epigenetics provides the next level of instructions to distinguish between a beating cell in the heart and a breathing cell in the lung.” And: “Genetics maintains information across an organism’s lineage. Epigenetics maintains information across a cell’s lineage.” And: “Cells in the body come from one fertilized egg. Epigenetics refers to the changes of gene expression of each cell as it specializes to function as part of a tissue. This is a fascinating journey for each cell & terrifying when the cell stops following the rules producing cancer!”

Environment

Another tweet focuses on the influence of the environment: “How environment impacts the expression of genetics. You can be ‘genetically pre-disposed’ to something but may never actually experience it unless the triggers are there. A example of this is Celiac Disease: a number of ppl have g-intolerance but don’t express signs for years.” Another points out: “Genes that ‘switch on’ based on environmental factors. For example, average coyote litter size increases when the local coyote population is under stress.” This brings us to metaphors and analogies…

Metaphors and analogies

Some of the metaphors and analogies used to define epigenetics are well-known and rooted in older ones, familiar from genetics and genomics, some are more creative.

Computer

Two tweets use computer metaphors: “Computer analogy – genome is hardware, epigenome is software (which can be changed)” and, the other way round: “Genetics is the software. Epigenetics is the user profile.”

Switch

Many definitions of epigenetics have been linked to the on/off switch metaphor (see Stelmach and Nerlich, 2015). One tweeter just said: “Turning genes on and off.” Whereupon another replied: “Specifically, it involves the factors that manipulate DNA’s 3D conformation / accessibility so that different genes can be turned on (expressed) or off (silenced).” Another tweet links the switch metaphor to the script metaphor: “Genes alone aren’t able to explain differences in genetic scripts. Something turns them on and off—epigenetics studies the driver’s of change”.

Book

So we come to various book, script and language metaphors: “If genome is a recipe book and all cells have a copy, how does each cell know which recipes to use? Only skin cells need recipe to make pigment, for example. Epigenomics provides ‘post-it notes’ in the recipe book, so each cell only uses the right recipes”. “I always liked the idea that epigenetic marks (themselves only one aspect of epigenetics) are ‘annotations’ to the genome–they don’t change the text itself, but they affect how it’s interpreted. Maybe that’s too high-falutin’, but I find it clarifying.” “It’s like putting an accent on your words where genetics is changing the language.” “Hollywood analogy: DNA is the script (fixed) – epigenetics are the actors (variables that influence the end product)”.

Music

Some tweeters homed in the ‘music of life’ metaphor. One wrote: “The musical score vs how you play it.” Another said, on a similar note: “genetics are the keys on the piano, epigenetics are the songs that are played”, and got the reply: “So is the piano the Proteome then?! :)”, and the first one retorted: “yes haha brilliant! and the pedals microbiome?!” expanding the metaphor into a little bit of absurdity perhaps!

Creative metaphors

There were however some tweeters who were more creative in their metaphor/analogy use: One defined epigenetics as: “Levers that affect gene expression. e.g., A tortilla, meat, salsa, avocado,…thrown on a plate do not become a delicious taco. Those things that can affect how the taco tastes (how meat is cooked, temperature, order & amount of ingredients,…) is epigenetics.” Others wrote: “Regulating genes without changing them. It’s like being a parent or a pet owner.” “How we are wired is the primer, the environment pulls the trigger and fate does the rest…..or something like that” and finally: “Bowling analogy: Genome sets up the pins, epigenetics tells you what knocks them down.”

There was also a tweet that engaged in wordplay: “Or: ‘It matters not only what genes you have but also how you wear them’”. Very nice!

What is epigenetics and who can define it?

As we have seen, many people threw a definitions of epigenetics into the ring after Christina Farr asked her question, but what to make of these definitions? Can one classify them as we did? What about the metaphors and analogies? Do they illuminate or obscure? Comments welcome!

Some tweeters engaged with these questions and wrote: “These responses seriously make my head hurt. Not everything can or should be summed up by a catchy analogy. Some topics really aren’t all that simple…”. Another attached a picture of a quote by Haruki Murakami: “Some things in life are too complicated to explain in any language” – and in any metaphor?

There was also some reflection on who contributed definitions and metaphors. Somebody said in not too complimentary terms: “the chasm between what bio-adjacent people think (I am including a lot of MDs who are not doing research but ended up commenting about ‘epigenetics’ […]) and what is actually true is kind of amazing..”

The concept of ‘bio-adjacent people’ is intriguing and one should perhaps look at this more closely in the context of the emergence of bio-social research agendas based on various interpretations of epigenetics. This still leaves the question: is there a true definition of epigenetics?

The ‘truest’ one might be this one, provided in answer to Christina Farr’s question: “A very nascent (and often over-hyped) study of the ways a gene expresses an organism’s characteristics”.

It is important to monitor emerging and changing definitions, meanings and misconception of epigenetics that circulate in the public sphere, including academia, in order to see through what’s hype and what’s reality. This small analysis of a Twitter conversation provides some insights into what’s ‘out there’.

Image: Pixabay

  The post Epigenetics: Grappling with definitions appeared first on Making Science Public.

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[antonellafi]

https://www.facebook.com/events/1833588030262874/?ti=cl Learn RPT in Italy! A unique chance to learn this amazing state of the art technology to clear all kinds of trauma easily, quickly, painlessly and permanently (we will work on life traumas but also on birth, womb and ancestral traumas) and to enjoy a holiday in Florence and its gorgeous countryside. RPT is therapy and personal development done right. It’s the only technique that can guarantee lasting, permanent results. Until now it's mostly been taught in Russia, it's a unique chance to learn this in Europe in English. What’s more, RPT can solve your problems and heal traumas: Without having to talk about the problem Without needing to relive painful or traumatic memories Without requiring months or years of counselling Without having to wait to see the results. RPT is a set of tools for quick, painless, permanent change. You can heal traumas! More details below and on the website: www.rptitalia.tk RPT is extremely effective. We can heal almost all cases of emotional traumas and wounds, most cases of emotional problems (relationship issues, self-sabotage, depression, anxiety, etc), and many physical ailments and health challenges which stem from self-sabotage and/or trauma. We have a 95% success rate. RPT is based on 15 years research by the founder, Simon Rose, and a team of other trainers and developers. The team include psychologists, geneticists, neurologists, and a wide range of healers and therapists across many fields. Almost all therapies have some elements of truth and some elements of success. There are some underlying mechanisms in all these techniques that work sometimes (but not always). Simon’s insight was to refine these techniques to identify active ingredients: “de-armouring” (the removal of selfsabotage); finding the beginning; and acknowledgement. Lots of techniques use one, two or all three of these ingredients (whether they know it or not), but no techniques have used all three active ingredients in a systematic way to get guaranteed results. Only RPTdraws this knowledge together to achieve consistent results. Level 1 RPT: Healing That Works The Level 1 RPT course is for: Experienced therapists who want to integrate these extraordinary tools into their existing practice; People who want to become therapists or learn simple techniques to help others (friends, children, etc); Ordinary people just like you, who want to improve their own life with these tools (without needing someone else’s help to change). There are two types of healing techniques or therapies: a “bypass” to get a temporary result, and a permanent change. Almost every single therapy that exists is a bypass. That is why you feel good for a while but the results do not last forever. RPT is designed to yield permanent results. The full course contents include: The different mind centers (extended Triune Brain Model); How to bring the minds into oneness or “coherence”; How to feel empathy for your client or another person and know their emotional state (the “pretending technique”); How and why trauma is stored in the body, how to quickly release trauma from the body without re-living it; Why trauma happens and how to prevent it; How to restore missing parts of the self (feelings, skills,insights) in order to make permanent change and prevent recurrence of trauma; How and why people have hidden benefits from their symptoms and how to remove these; Self-sabotage behaviour - why people act against their own best interests and how to eliminate this; A simple process of Manifestation (attracting more of what you want into your life); Level 2 RPT: Re-Conception and Key Developmental Events Level 2 RPT takes you on a unique journey that seems to turn the very concept of therapy inside out. This is literally something unique and it achieves extraordinary results. There are countless therapies in the world, but absolutely nothing like this. The course is divided into four distinct sections which are best described separately: * The Art of Re-Conception * The Key Developmental Events Model * The easy way to heal Birth Trauma * The Journey of the Soul The Art of Re-Conception Many aspects of our life, health, abundance, relationship patterns and more are written in stone (metaphorically) at the moment of our conception. In the Re-Conception we create an intuitive blueprint or map for how our parents connected with each other and how their dynamic related to your conception. The results from this process are remarkable. In fact we use this technique whenever a client has a problem that we cannot solve. If there is a symptom with no known cause (especially if it is tied up with their “story” of who they are), this is the technique to change it. The Key Developmental Events Model There are approximately 10 key moments that occur to every person around the time of conception. These moments include ovulation, fertilisation and implantation. “Micro-traumas” occur to the sperm, to the egg and the fertilised zygote during their journey. Whilst tiny, these micro-traumas create what are called epigenetic changes. These are the hidden keys to your health and well-being. Each of the developmental events opens the door to healing and changing a different part of your life. These doorways include: * healing of sexual, emotional and physical abuse trauma; * re-balancing of healthy levels of masculine and feminine characteristics; * releasing parasitic behaviour patterns and protecting yourself against parasites (human or microbes); *adjusting easily to rapid change and growth; * no longer feeling a need to hide or be invisible in order to feel safe; and many more. The best part about the Key Developmental Event (KDE) work is that we already know what the keys are. In every other therapy it is necessary to spend hours digging to find the root causes of your problems. But with the KDE work, we already know the cause. The only question is “how profoundly are you able to change today?” The easy way to heal Birth Trauma The moment of birth is arguable the most defining moment in our physical existence and there is no doubt that this moment had an impact on us, just consider: your first decisions or associations about the world – e.g. is it safe for me or not? - are made in this moment. There are healing tchniques devoted just to this question of healing birth trauma but generally these techniques require many sessions of heavy breathing techniques and some people find that the treatment is almost as traumatic as the original problem! RPT provides an incredibly safe, gentle and easy way to heal the trauma of birth. The most important step is to transform your emotional state (recorded in your body’s memory) just before, during and after the birth process. Some of the most remarkable instant healing (including instant physical changes) that we have seen in RPT occurred immediately after using this gentle birth trauma release. Journey of the Soul Get more details and read the FAQ on the website: www.rptitalia.tk Simon Rose Simon Rose is the founder of RPT. He is the expert that many psychologists call when they cannot help someone. He is a leading authority on emotional therapy who wrote the new guidelines for how therapists should help their clients. His techniques have solved some of the most significant problems in psychology and medicine. Simon has taught these techniques to many thousands of doctors, psychologists and complementary therapists in 20 different countries. Before RPT, Simon worked as a corporate lawyer in a large Australian law firm and as an investment banker in London. He started exploring therapy and alternative healing techniques after he was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2003. After receiving significant personal results from alternative therapies, Simon trained to become a therapist and a teacher of alternative therapies. The defining moment for Simon (and the discovery of RPT) came in 2008. After a major personal crisis Simon realised that there was a major problem with all established therapies. Despite the promises, they cannot get to the bottom of a client's problem. They can help a person, but never in a permanent way. In fact, the best and most successful therapies work mostly on a placebo effect. What that means is that either the client doesn’t heal (50%) or they do heal, but the problem will come back later (50%). Simon dedicated his life to understanding this and creating a permanent solution to people's problems. He succeeded in various stages, starting with the first introduction of RPT in 2009 up until the official launch of the completed technique in 2015. In doing so, Simon solved some of the most significant problems in modern psychotherapy such as dealing with secondary gains and self-sabotage. Simon's modern solutions are taught around the world to therapists and to ordinary people who want to change their life in a meaningful and permanent way. RPT1 will be held on October 21st, 22nd and 23rd There will be an optional (but recommended) day of practice on October 24th RPT2 will be held on October 27th, 28th and 29th : The investment for both levels, which are intended to be taken together is 950 euros including the practice day, 900 euros without the practice day. If you only want to take RPT1 (including the practice day) the cost is 650 euros. Payments via Paypal only The nearest airports are Florence, Pisa and Bologna. Directions from there can be given and pickup arranged. It is of course better to arrive at least 1 day before the course starts. There are different choices of hotels and airbnb in the vicinity For any info and question in English please write to Antonella Ercolani at antonellafi@yahoo.com or message on Skype (anto75uk)

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What is Epigenetics – Video with Marc David

Most of us have been taught that our destiny is largely determined by our genes. It’s true that there are certain aspects of our physiological makeup that are not likely to change overnight, such as the color of our eyes or the structure of our bones. However, a newly emerging branch of science known as “epigenetics” has now proven that we have more control over our genetic expression than we previously thought, because certain aspects of our genetic programming are now understood to be switched off or on by a variety of environmental factors. The beauty of this new discovery is its suggestion that by making different environmental shifts, we may be able to change which of our genes are expressed at any given time. Our genes no longer have to dictate our future. In this provocative new video from IPEtv, Marc David, founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, explains why we no longer have to think of our DNA as an unchangeable plan for our future. Tune in and learn how you can start to take charge of your genetic expression and set yourself up for better health!

In the comments below, please let us know your thoughts. We love hearing from you and we read and respond to every comment!

Here is a transcript of this week’s video:

Greetings, friends. I’m Marc David, founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating. Let’s talk about what is epigenetics.

Wow, my friends. This is some good news. There is an absolute Renaissance that is literally changing the landscape of health and medicine as we know it. It is the indisputable research that has turned the field of genetics upside down. And it’s all about this new field of epigenetics, which is not so new, but it’s really coming to the forefront now.

So here’s the deal: simply put epigenetics means above and beyond genetics. And it embraces it. It’s all about how certain genes are turned on and off by environmental factors, such as nutrition, supplements, stress, relaxation, sunlight, specific foods, specific herbs, meditation, exercise, anger. And the research continues to explode.

So everything I just mentioned, there is research that shows that when these factors come into play, they change gene expression. Researchers have identified some amazingly specific factors that directly impact genes that are connected to poverty, to trauma, to abuse, to being an orphan, to bullying, or the stressful experiences that your grandparents had will be impacting you. This is wild!

Genetic switches can literally be turned on and off within minutes.

This has been measured. They can be turned on and off within minutes on exposure to such environmental triggers. And this constant dance, it’s an interplay between our life and the air and the sun and the moon and the stars and everything that’s impacting us.

So, in other words, people have been thinking for years, “Well, it’s genetics. I have brown eyes. And genetics is eternal. I’m brown eyes forever.” Well, yeah, there’s certain things that genetics holds will be consistent for you throughout your life. Here’s your maleness or here’s your femaleness or here’s your brown eyes or here’s how tall you are.

But genetics is much bigger than that. It’s a constantly changing, evolving experience. Genetics loads the gun. But environment—meaning epigenetics—pulls the trigger. So, in other words, the epigenome, all these factors that are impacting us, they’re talking to your DNA.

When you eat food, it is literally talking to your DNA.

When you meditate and put yourself in a certain brain state, that state is literally talking to your DNA and telling it to turn on and off different genetic switches that encode for alcoholism, that encode for depression, that encode for cancer, that encode for heart disease or breast cancer. The list goes on.

So the beautiful thing is epigenetics actually puts the responsibility back on us. So gone are the days where we believed that if you have the gene for alcoholism, for example, you will surely become an alcoholic. That’s nonsense. And it’s not true.

Gone are the days where if you have a gene, let’s take, for breast cancer, that means you will surely have this affliction and you have to start cutting out their body parts in advance. That’s a form of insanity, my friends, because its environment. It’s all the energies. It’s the food. It’s how you are doing your life, the substances that you ingest, the pollution, the health of the world around you that is determining what’s happening in your body: diet, lifestyle, stress, all of it. These are the beautiful ways that life is communicating to your DNA every single moment.

So please to not believe that if somebody tells you, “You have the gene for this, that, or the other thing,” that you are destined to live in a diseased world. The onus is on us to start to do the things that we know work and to treat the body like it’s sacred and to start seeing the world as this beautiful, magical dance between what’s going on inside of us here and what’s going on outside of us there.

Because when we begin to create a healthier world, healthier diet, healthier way of being with each other, that talks to the very cells in our body. And it tells us, it tells your cells, it tells your DNA to be the best that it can possibly be in your metabolism, in your health, in your longevity.

And that, my friends, is the absolute magic of the world.

Warmly, Marc David

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from Robert Morgan Blog http://psychologyofeating.com/what-is-epigenetics-video-with-marc-david/