December 23, 2013

Meditation and prayer have long been known to enhance longevity and to reduce stress.

Two studies from 2011 and 2013 by Kaliman at el in the Journal Psychoneuroendocrinology looked at the effects of meditation on the regulation of the genome and specifically the telomerase enzyme. 

This enzyme is responsible for elongating telomere tails on the ends of DNA strands to protect them from damage. As we age these telomere tails get shorter until the replication of our DNA is hampered. When DNA replication gets hampered, our cellular book of life becomes faulty and we suffer aging disease. 

Telomere DNA tail length is thought to be a good marker of our cells aging process. 

Longer telomeres are associated with better DNA health and our own longevity. Interestingly, resveratrol, a chemical found in red grapes and wine is known to increase telomerase activity as well. 

The authors noted in one study that people who meditated had a significant down regulation of genes related to stress and inflammation. In another study they found that meditating increased telomerase activity. 

Why is this so important?

If we could teach our kids to meditate even for 15 minutes a day, we could impact the health of their DNA and future.

Other known causes of DNA enhancement are diet and exercise. 

Try these MP3's from the Ohio State University's Center for Integrative Medicine. They cover many topics including meditation. 

Try meditating, positive intentions and prayer,

Dr. M

How else did the switch from hunter/gatherer to farmer affect humans?

One of the greatest benefits and also downsides to farming was the ability to live in cities and larger villages. Farming allowed us to mass produce food and then store it for the winter. Population's boomed and we moved into cities. Prior to farming, hunter/gatherers had a population density of less than one human per square kilometer. At this level, epidemics of infectious disease do not occur. 

Contagion became a new problem. With living environments becoming crowded, infectious disease's ability to spread hit new rates. Humans early on were unable to effectively clear food and human waste from their village/city environment. This brought rats, mice and other opportunistic animals to the local environment. We also started to keep various animals in pens near each other and infectious diseases blossomed.

Take influenza for example. This virus rearranges its DNA code with other flu virion when pigs, humans and fowl are near each other. The novel DNA segment allows the virus to evade our host defenses and make us ill. This is not to say that the flu would not exist or be a slight problem, but through farming and city dwelling we enhanced its abilities. 

New human concerns became epidemics of smallpox, tuberculosis, leprosy, syphilis, plague and so on. 

Let me summarize where we are: Agricultural revolutions benefited humans in many ways including: 1) the ability to have more children; 2) the ability to have cities where some humans could learn and work with their mind instead of foraging or farming all day; 3) the ability to store food and make winters more survivable; 4) allow population growth. 

The downsides were: 1) infectious disease spread enhancement; 2) famine - occurred when crops failed or war time destruction occurred; 3) environmental damage; 4) easy production of high calorie low quality foods; 5) animal related disease development - an example would be E coli induced hemolytic uremic syndrome; 6) mismatch disease development.

The story continues...

Dr. M

• 1/2 tablespoon butter or coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 sweet onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh lime juice
• 1/2 cup almond meal (ground almond)
• 4 teaspoons Treader Joe's honey mustard 
• 4 (4- to 6-ounce) skinless salmon fillets, skin removed
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
• 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
• S and P to taste