Did you know that every cell in your body has a complete copy of your DNA?
Your skin cells, brain cells, muscle cells, and every other kind of cell…they all have the same blueprint for everything about you.
Which begs the question:
Why do the various cells in your body do different things?
The answer can be found in your epigenetics. Your epigenome operates like a series of switches that turn specific genes in your DNA on or off. Switching these genes on or off is what allows cells with the same DNA to perform different functions.
Let’s take a look at some factors that can have an effect on your epigenome, and why epigenetics is so important for your health.
How Epigenetics Works
Your body has a multitude of different kinds of cells. Skin, hair, organs, muscle, and brain cells to name just a handful.
And they all have identical DNA.
Epigenetic markers tell each of those cells which genes to turn on, and also which ones to ignore. While these markers don’t modify your DNA, they do impact how your cells read your DNA. A couple of processes make this possible:
- Methylation adds a chemical “tag” to molecules in your body that activates or deactivates specific genes in your DNA.
- Histone modification alters the proteins that wrap around your DNA (otherwise known as histones), making it easier for specific genes to be turned on or off.
Your epigenome changes throughout your life and can be impacted by everything from environment to lifestyle habits. Interestingly, once these changes occur, they can be inherited.
Epigenetics and Your Health
For all of the reasons described above, your epigenetics can significantly impact your health.
Lifestyle factors like smoking, a poor diet, and a lack of exercise can add harmful epigenetic markers to your epigenome and increase the risk for illness and disease.
On the other hand, healthy habits like good nutrition, regular exercise, and stress management can result in positive epigenetic changes.
Cancer illustrates this point well. While mutations in your DNA can be responsible for causing cancer, epigenetic changes have the potential for silencing genes that suppress tumors or activating genes that promote uncontrolled cell growth. In fact, researchers are currently exploring epigenetic therapies as a potential avenue for treating cancer.
Epigenetics also helps to explain why identical twins—who share the same DNA—can age differently and/or develop varying health conditions if their environment and lifestyle habits aren’t the same.
Support Healthy Epigenetic Changes
Here are some ways you can control your epigenetic health for the better:
- Maintain a healthy diet—Foods rich in antioxidants support healthy gene expression. Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and kale are especially beneficial.
- Get regular exercise—Physical activity can positively influence gene expression, thereby reducing the risk for illness.
- Manage stress—Meditation, yoga, and relaxation can help to prevent the development of harmful epigenetic markers.
- Avoid toxins—Tobacco, alcohol, and pollutants all contain harmful chemicals that can cause unhealthy epigenetic changes.
Your DNA Isn’t the Final Answer
While your DNA may be your body’s blueprint, that blueprint can be modified via your epigenetics. And your epigenetics is affected by the choices you make relative to your environment and your lifestyle.
Choose well, and you can influence the way your genes express themselves for the better.
At Renew Youth, we’re here to support you in making those healthy choices. To learn more about how you can optimize your health with hormone therapy, call us at 800-859-7511 or use our easy contact form to schedule your complimentary 30-minute consultation.