How Epigenetics Can Impact Your Health
Your health depends on several things, for example, your genes can determine whether you are susceptible to developing certain conditions. Your behavior and environment can also dictate how your health will be. Seeing a Commack epigenetics specialist is one way of understanding the roles your lifestyle and environment affect the way your genes perform. The team at Chase Dental Sleepcare can help your body to respond to a specific DNA sequence, continue reading to learn how it works.
What is Epigenetics?
As explained by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, epigenetics is the study of how your behaviors and environment can cause changes that affect the way your genes work.
Why is Epigenetics Important?
Epigenetics is a dynamic process that can be influenced throughout your life. This happens as the years continue to progress, it can control your health in the following ways:
Susceptibility to Infections
Each time your body is exposed to germs, its immune system becomes weak. The sooner you get treatment, the better your chances are of fighting diseases.
Cancerous Growths
Did you know that some mutations can put you at the risk of getting certain cancers? Even if your body does not undergo some changes, it may heighten the chances of getting cancer. For instance, if you smoke cigarettes, your chances of lung cancer are relatively high. This causes you to have a mutation for a specific gene, putting you at risk of getting cancer.
Lifestyle Habits
As much as your epigenetic may stabilize when you hit adulthood, it is highly likely it can still affect your lifestyle choices and environmental influence. Meaning that it goes beyond childbirth. Throughout your lifespan you will experience changes that have nothing to do with what your mother took, or the type of environments you were exposed to as a child.
What you Eat During Pregnancy
One of the primary goals of having a healthy diet during pregnancy is to ensure your baby receives all the nutrition they require to become healthy. What a pregnant woman eats is capable of altering their babies’ epigenetics. These changes may remain with your baby and may put them at the risk of getting certain diseases. For example, if you faced severe malnutrition during pregnancy, your baby’s chances of developing chronic conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, or mental issues are high.
Fortunately, epigenetic changes can still be reversed. Scientists are still coming up with brilliant ideas to reverse the damages that may come from the changes. For example, if you were exposed to malnutrition as a baby, you can still escape from getting chronic conditions. And since the environment is a major contributing factor to epigenetic tags and susceptibility to diseases, many people are at the risk of contracting neurodegenerative diseases.
An Epigenetics Professional Can Make You Understand Your Inner Self
As epigenetics continues to dominate the field of medicine, many people are beginning to understand how their life experiences control their genetic inheritance, hence changing their genetic ‘fate.’ Even before you were born plays a significant role in determining your risk for disease in the future. Your environment can also put you at risk of developing certain diseases. To learn more about epigenetics works, schedule an appointment with your specialist today.
