After losing my mum to cancer just weeks after having my first child, I began thinking about my own risk factors for diseases like cancer. As a doctor, I wanted to learn about the science behind how our lifestyle affects our health and disease risk. That’s when I discovered Lifestyle medicine and became particularly interested when I learned about epigenetics. Epigenetics is a captivating field of study that explores how our lifestyle and environment can influence our genes’ activity without altering the genetic code itself. This emerging field has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of health and disease and could lead to new ways of preventing and treating various conditions.
At the heart of epigenetics is the idea that our genes are not our destiny. While we inherit genes from our parents, external factors like diet, stress, exercise, environmental toxins, and other lifestyle aspects can influence how those genes are expressed.
Researchers have found that certain lifestyle factors, such as diet and exercise, can lead to changes in the epigenetic markers associated with genes involved in metabolism. These changes can significantly impact our health and influence our risk of conditions like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.
As our knowledge of epigenetics continues to expand, it’s evident that our lifestyle choices can not only shape our own health but also that of future generations. This highlights the importance of making healthy choices for ourselves and for the well-being of generations to come. This is why I started Maldod life – to support, coach, and inspire others to make healthy, evidence-based lifestyle changes.
Epigenetics is a rapidly evolving field that’s reshaping our understanding of health and disease. By illuminating the intricate interplay between our genes and environment, epigenetics has the potential to pave the way for promoting health and preventing disease.
