Old fashioned, outdated information in manual handling training is at best redundant and at worst harmful
By Paul Bolger. Chartered Physiotherapist at Nano Physiotherapy, Kilkenny (www.nanophysio.ie).
You would be forgiven if you believed that your genes held the key to your health. Many people also think genes dictate personality, behaviour and even eating patterns. While genes do influence all these things, there is so much more to it than this.
What is really important is not just the genes that you are born with, but how those genes interact with your environment. By environment, I don’t mean the weather or the natural world, I mean everything that surrounds you – be it other people, relationships, what you eat and drink, your day-to-day experiences.
The incredibly interesting scientific field of epigenetics explores this phenomenon – how our genes interact with our environment and what this means for us.
How Genes Work
Your genes are found in your DNA, which is in almost every cell in your body – tightly wound up in the cell’s nucleus. DNA in a single cell would reach 2m in length if you could unwind and pull it out (that’s a lot of room for genes in that cell!).
Your genes work like little recipe books. The recipes within your genes tell the cell how to make certain proteins. Importantly, the genes can be turned on or off. Whether a gene is turned on or off is dictated by certain signals from the body.
Turning on and off the genes
The fact that genes can be more active or less active (i.e. they can be turned on or off) is essential for growth and development and allows us to adapt to different situations and demands in life.
For example, if you donate a pint of blood and are subsequently running low on red blood cells, signals from the body will upregulate (i.e. turn on) certain genes in cells in your bone marrow that hold the “recipe” for red blood cell production. With these genes more active, you produce more red blood cells. Once the level of red blood cells in your bloodstream reaches its normal level, the body detects this and signals to reduce activity of the same genes – maintaining a healthy balance.
Another interesting example is that a low-stress environment during pregnancy can positively impact a baby’s stress tolerance and reduce the risk of mental health difficulties later in life. This is partly due to gene activation resulting in the development of a healthy, balanced stress system within the baby.
You are shaped by your environment
Yes, the genes that you have play an important role in your development and your health. But the environment in which you were born and raised has shaped you, and how you lead your life will continue to dictate how and when many of your genes become active.
This helps to explain why it is so important for those who have a genetic predisposition for certain issues (like heart disease, cancer or mental health difficulties) do what they can (e.g. exercise, healthy diet, etc) to allow their genes to work for them and not against them.
Crucially, us humans do most of our developing in our early years. It is vital that we understand the importance of giving the youngest in our society (with all their vulnerability and amazing potential) and their parents the environment within which they can develop and thrive. Understanding the importance of epigenetics is just another reason to do so.
