Can yoga change your dna?

Our genes, which are made of DNA, contain a fundamental life code which exists in all living organisms. Information about our lives, health or diseases is written in our genes. However, external factors can also play an important role in our genetics. Some genes can become active or inactive, depending on our lifestyle.

Yoga and meditation can help us to relax our body and relaxation can reduce stress. Thanks to that it is possible to reverse stress-related changes in our genes. Can yoga really change genes? British researchers proved that it is possible. You can check their research paper here

All exercises that involve relaxation can relieve stress and thanks to this there could be some changes to your genes. You can practise yoga, meditation, breathing exercises, Qi Gong or Tai Chi. They are all very helpful. Researchers found that these types of mind-body exercise suppress the expression of genes and genetic pathways that  promote inflammation. It means that due to these breathing exercises people have fewer signs of inflammation and lower production of inflammatory proteins. This is like changing your body to the state before stress appeared in your life. Therefore yoga exercises can reduce risk of inflammation-related diseases.

Another research shows that practising yoga, meditation or mindfulness can also increase the length of telomeres. They are small repetitive sequences of nucleotides at the end of chromosomes. They protect chromosomes from deterioration and cell death. Telomeres shorten during our lives with every cell replication. Therefore, telomeres are associated with ageing, mortality, and ageing-related diseases. Chronic stress may play a role in speeding up the ageing process due to faster shortening of telomeres. An enzyme called telomerase prevents shortening of telomeres. Researchers found out that lifestyle changes, such as healthy food, plant based diet but also yoga, meditation and stress management increase telomerase activity. Cell life can be extended when telomere length is extended. Therefore lifespan can also be longer. You can find here more information how yoga can alter our genes.

Did you know that our genes can get switched on or off depending on our lifestyle? External factors such as environment, what we do and what we eat can activate certain genes or deactivate. Not all factors are purely written in our genes and came from our parents. Therefore also stressful situations can play with our genes altering gene expression and yoga and other relaxation exercises can reduce stress and therefore change our genes. Researchers found out that just 15  minutes per day doing yoga, Tai Chi or other relaxation exercises can help to change your genes. Our genes are not static and we can slightly change them with our lifestyle.

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