Did You Know That Yoga Protects Your DNA From Stress?

Many of us have experienced it: after a yoga, meditation or Tai Chi class, we feel better. It doesn’t matter how we entered the session: stressed, worried, tired, with back pain… We almost always come out better. They are practices that relax us, clear the mind and make the body feel more free.

But have you ever wondered what happens inside of you while you are practicing yoga or some other conscious activity? What happens in your molecules? What chemicals are unleashed inside you to make you feel so good? And what implications does that have for your health?

Experts from the Universities of Conventry (UK) and Radboud (Netherlands) have asked themselves that and have gone even further. In addition to checking what molecular changes are produced in our body with these practices, they have looked at how their effects influence the expression of our genes. And the conclusions are surprising.

Yoga and meditation put your genes in your favor

The research, published in Frontiers in Immunology , looked at very diverse techniques and disciplines: yoga, tai chi, chikung, relaxations, conscious breathing. ..

Among these techniques, which the study refers to as “body-mind interventions”, there are some that involve physical movement and others that are more passive, but they all have in common that they integrate different levels of the human being and that those who practice them sustain that make them feel better: they reduce stress and anxiety, improve mood and allow them to better cope with chronic diseases.

After reviewing 18 studies from the last decade that looked at how these types of practices affect the behavior of our genes, they concluded that they can “reverse” molecular reactions in our DNA that can lead to illness and depression.

Surely the ancient yogis and Taoists also wondered what happened inside the body while meditating, holding an asana or practicing movements synchronized with the breath and putting all the consciousness into it.

They did not have the slightest idea of ​​the millions of molecules and chemical reactions that mark the course of our organism. Nor could they know what genes are, but they intuited and verified in themselves that practices that integrate the body and the mind promote health and longevity. And now we know a little more about how they do it.

The secret is in the cytokines associated with stress

Millions of people around the world today enjoy the health benefits of mind-body practices such as yoga or meditation. However, they may not be aware that the benefits are generated at the molecular level and may change the way our genetic code behaves ”, comments Ivana Buric, a researcher at Coventry University and the main person in charge of the study.

The key to understanding it is in how our body responds to stress.

Stressful situations activate our sympathetic nervous system (SNS), which is in charge of setting in motion the necessary mechanisms so that we can cope with that situation or at least run away. This results in an increase in the production of a molecule called nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB.

NF-kB regulates how genes are expressed. It activates them to produce proteins called cytokines that start inflammation at the cellular level.

This inflammation came in handy in specific fight or flight situations like those that humans lived when they were hunter-gatherers. But in our modern society, in which stress is usually psychological and prolonged, the body ends up subjected to sustained inflammation that works against us and is associated with an increased risk of cancer, premature aging and emotional disorders such as depression.

What happens when we relax by practicing yoga or Taoist techniques, meditating or regulating the breath? The effect that is experienced is the opposite: the production of NF-KB and cytokines is reduced. Consequently, the pro-inflammatory pattern that affects genetic expression is reversed and the risk of the problems associated with this inflammation is reduced.

According to Ivana Buric, a researcher at the University of Coventry and the main person in charge of the study, “these activities leave what we could call a molecular imprint on our cells that, by modifying the way in which our genes are expressed, slows down the effect that stress and anxiety they produce in the body ”. In simpler language, Buric clarifies, psychophysical practices “would make our brain take our DNA along paths that improve well-being.”