Can Meditation Affect Your DNA?

Image by kai kalhh from Pixabay

What does pond scum have to do with meditation? They were the focus of Dr. Elizabeth H. Blackburn's groundbreaking research on telomeres, the ends of DNA chromosome strands that get shorter each time a cell divides. She, along with Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak, won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2009 "for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase."

It turns out that the length of telomeres is related to the aging process, cancer and a higher risk of death. In her 2017 TED Talk (link below), Dr. Blackburn points out that that new research has shown that chronic stress can shorten telomeres. Yet how we respond to life events is important and can help us control the way we age. The good news is that meditation has a positive effect on attitude and on telomeres.

https://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_blackburn_the_science_of_cells_that_never_get_old

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