Is regular exercising in your New Year’s resolution? Your DNA would like to know…

The following are excerpts from a New York Times article How Exercise Changes Our DNA that was published on 17 December 2014.  It explains, in plain language, the findings of recent research titled An integrative analysis reveals coordinated reprogramming of the epigenome and the transcriptome in human skeletal muscle after training:

• Exercise, a new study finds, changes the shape and functioning of our genes, an important stop on the way to improved health and fitness.
• Scientists know that certain genes become active or quieter as a result of exercise. But they hadn’t understood how those genes know how to respond to exercise.
• Scientists know that methylation patterns change in response to lifestyle. Eating certain diets or being exposed to pollutants, for instance, can change methylation patterns on some of the genes in our DNA and affect what proteins those genes express. Depending on which genes are involved, it may also affect our health and risk for disease.
• Through endurance training — a lifestyle change that is easily available for most people and doesn’t cost much money, we can induce changes that affect how we use our genes and, through that, get healthier and more functional muscles that ultimately improve our quality of life.

Women’s Therapy Center would like to wish you a Happy New Year 2015!  May it be a year of health, personal growth, and peaceful living.