Personalised Wellness and Epigenetics
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What is the formula for perfect health? How about to lose weight, to build muscle, to get fit, to offset a sedentary lifestyle and fight the aging process?
Should I eat keto, vegan, paleo, intermittent fast or perhaps apply a ‘balanced approach’ (whatever that means!)? Should I do more HIIT training, crossfit, fit45, running, yoga, lifting heavy weights or a mix of them all? And should I do it first thing in the morning? Or perhaps mid afternoon? Should I exercise on my own or in a group?
The answer is yes to all of the above! For the right person at the right time in their life. This is the age of information and there is research to prove the effectiveness of all of the approaches mentioned above and just as many to disprove them! Why? Because it depends on how the study was conducted and what the study cohort was. No wonder we are all left confused and frustrated! Then why does some things work for some people but not for others?
Because we are all different! We are all different genetically and we have all had different life experiences that shape who we are today. The science that looks at this is called epigenetics. Epigenetics literally translates to around or above your genes. Your genes or genotype never change BUT gene expression can and who we see now is called your Phenotype. Gene expression is influenced by environment and lifestyle which literally means EVERYTHING - Your diet, your movement, your stress, sleep, social life, work and home environment and even your internal mental/emotional environment. One way of looking at epigenetics is that your genes are the words in a paragraph and epigenetics is the punctuation.
So how influential is lifestyle on our genes?
Only 5% of disease-related gene mutations are fully deterministic, while 95% can be influenced by diet, behavior, and other environmental conditions.” And further “You are not simply the sum total of the genes you were born with. You are the user and controller of your genes, the author of your biological story. No prospect in self-care is more exciting.” - Dr Rudolph Tanzi
