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Relax and Improve Your Genes
Reported July 04, 2008
(Ivanhoe Newswire) – The connection between the mind and body has
been studied for years, but now new research takes a closer look at how
Eastern medicine can activate patterns of genes associated with the body’s
response to stress.
“For hundreds of years Western medicine has looked at mind and body as
totally separate entities, to the point where saying something ‘is all in
your head’ implied that it was imaginary,” says Herbert Benson, MD, director
emeritus of the Benson-Henry Institute and co-senior author. “Now we’ve
found how changing the activity of the mind can alter the way basic genetic
instructions are implemented.”
The study was designed to look at the changes in gene expression and whether
specific stress genes were changed during deep relaxation. It was conducted
in two phases and included a variety of relaxation techniques such as yoga,
prayer and meditation. The first phase compared gene expression pattern of
19 long-term practitioners of different relaxation techniques and compared
them to 19 individuals who had never trained in these techniques. For the
second phase, the latter group went through an 8-week training session for
relaxation to investigate whether initiating relaxation response practice
would change gene expression over time.
Study authors report both phases of the study indicated the relaxation
response alters the expression of genes involved with processes such as
inflammation, programmed cell death and how the body handles free radicals.
Researchers say this is the first study to show how the mind can affect gene
expression in healthy individuals. They say they need to see if the same
changes happen in those with stress-related disorders. Those studies are
underway now.
SOURCE: Published online in PLoS One on July 1, 2008 |
