YOU Control Your Health (Your DNA Doesn't)

Stop blaming mom and dad for passing along bad genes and start looking at your own health habits, because you control your health more than your genes do. It's the start of a new year and a fresh start to improve your health. You can choose to believe that you can't control you health and continue down the road of declining health and more medication every year...or you can empower yourself with the latest science. Human genetics have barely changed in thousands of years, yet our health problems have skyrocketed in only decades. What's really going on? If genes haven't changed, what has?

As scientists gain a better understanding of genetics, they are learning more about how our habits actually control the function of our genetics. They have discovered that most health conditions are not the result of bad family genes. They come from bad habits. Our habits actually switch genes on and off, leading to increased risk of health problems or health improvement. This area of research is called epigentics; studying factors that control DNA. The infographic below helps simply explain how this occurs. Researchers studying epigentics have seen how smoking, diet, and exercise switch genes on and off. A stressful lifestyle or other environmental factors can also switch genes on and off.

Are you switching on good genes or bad genes?

Think about this: A young man with bad habits switches his genes to "unhealthy" mode and then passes them on to his first son. Then the father wises up with age, improves his health habits, and switches his genes back to "healthy" mode. He has a second son and passes these "healthy" genes on to him. The genes could theoretically be the exact same in both children, but the genes in the first son are switched to cause more health problems than the genes in the second son.
Now consider: The first son could potentially take up good health habits to switch his genes back to "healthy" mode, while the second child takes up bad habits and makes his genes worse.

Take control of your health for you and your children

The bottom line is: You control your health. You also control the health of your children and grandchildren by switching on bad and good genes and passing them down. You are not an innocent bystander of your  inherited genetics. Don't accept bad health and try to medicate your symptoms under control. Take control of your health with good habits. Watch for our helpful tips for these 5 major causes of health problems to control your genes: diet, exercise, posture, sleep, and stress.