Your Genes Are Not Your Fate

Dr. Dean Ornish at a recent TED converence portrays new research which divulges how adopting habits of a healthy life style can greatly affect a person at a genetic level.

It has been demonstrated that when you live healthier, exercise, eat better, and love more, your brain cells actually increase. This occurs because your brain gets more blood flow and oxygen under these robust conditions. Along with healthier actions on your part, substances like chocolate, tea, and blueberries and other foods high in anti-oxidants add to the number of new found brain cells.

Along with the creation of brain cells, your skin benefits from more blood flow as well, therefore making you appear as if you're aging more slowly. It also could possibly cure heart disease, inhibit tumor growth, etc. Ornish concludes this beneficial talk by telling that you are in control of your body's features and you can change your gene's fate by simply changing your habits. Making bigger changes that you might not have made otherwise, might affect the way your genes are expressed.

You may live to be 100+

TED ( http://www.ted.com/ ) is a small nonprofit organization that is devoted to ideas worth spreading. This TED conference concluded that your genes are not written in stone and you can alter their fate by simply changing your lifestyle. This idea connects to the theme of "Biology of Continuity and Change". Although there are a prevalent number of organisms using the same genetic code, one can alter some aspects of the code by changing something about themselves. This could possibly lead to change over time in that specific organism, or evolution.

How to be 100+

In this TED conference, the concept of living to be 100+ is addressed. One of the speakers, Dan Buettner, says that only 10% of our capacity to live long lives is attributed to genetics, and the rest is determined by the way that we live, i.e. the things that we eat, exercise, socialization, spirituality, etc. A few demographically confirmed areas whereby people tend to live longer are explored as well as a few myths about longevity.

The first myth is: If I try really hard, I can live to be 100. Only one in 5,000 people make it to 100. We are just not ordinarily programmed to live that long, and if we do, than we just won the genetic lottery.

The second myth is: Treatments exist that can slow aging. Our bodies naturally break down, and the aging process accelerates as we get older. However, there are a few places on this earth whereby people generally live longer, and by studying their cultures, some clues might be found to at least extend our lives a bit.

Italy’s Hardy Centenarians

Up in the higher elevations of an island off the coast of Italy, 102 year olds still ride their bikes to work and chop wood. They have a basic vegetable diet and eat unleavened whole wheat bread, cheese from grass fed goats and drink wine that possesses three-times the amount of polyphenols in it. Their older people are celebrated instead of maligned as it is in our youth-infatuated culture.

Okinawa’s Hardy Elderly

The next culture that has many centenarians is on the island of Okinawa which is south of Japan. They have a plant-based diet along with tofu. They tend to eat on smaller plates and do not overeat. They have a phrase they use that loosely translated means to “stop eating when you’re 80% full”. Also, a close group of friends that travel through life with you is extolled, so there isn’t much isolation where stress can grow. There is no word for the word “retire”; they know why they get up in the morning and go about their chores zestfully.

California’s Hardy Elderly

In America, there is a community in southern California of Seventh Day Adventists who are averaging living eleven years older that other Americans. They do rest on Saturdays and habitually take walks in the countryside, they take their diets from the bible (more plant based), they socialize and pray with one another.

Health Conscious Lifestyle Wrap Up

This lecture can be linked to a few of the major themes in biology. The “Science As a Process” theme is exemplified in the way that the data on centenarians is analyzed. When the common elements of the cultures are compiled and distilled, a picture of a healthy lifestyle can be inferred by inductive reasoning. Also, the “Relationship of Structure To Function” theme is shown by the lifestyle constructs that yield successful results, i.e. a large, healthy geriatric population.

In urban America, with the financial strains and space limitations, one and still adapt to positive lifestyle constructs and prosper with one’s health. Following a good nutrition, exercise and relaxation construct is a clear-cut method to longevity and good health.

Soaking in A Hot Tub

One not so modern health therapy and health practice that has been extensively used by the ancient Romans, Finns, Japanese and other cultures has been soaking in a hot tub. The weightless environment of a hot water spa reduces the pressure on your joints and the heat serves to loosen muscles, tendons, ligaments and nerves and furthers relief from musculoskeletal aches and pains . It is also a great place to intimately talk, relax and communicate with friends and family. Portable hard shell hot tubs are now affordable for most budgets, are guaranteed for life and virtually indestructible. The many hydro water jets action against the body stimulate the release of endorphins which in turn invigorates one’s feeling of wellbeing.