Meditation changes gene expression and has long-term benefits | Roland Griffiths
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Rumination, the practice of dwelling on external stressors to excess, can set in motion a cascade of hormonal and physiological responses that harm mental and physical health. Meditation has been shown to reduce rumination and its negative effects, however, and influences the gene expression of as many as 500 genes, many of which are in the brain. In this clip, Dr. Roland Griffiths and Dr. Rhonda Patrick discuss the effects of meditation on gene expression.
Rhonda: Wow. I'd read a study showing that there were gene expression changes that occurred after like the first five minutes of meditation. There was like 500 different genes were changing their gene expression, which to me is very phenomenal that you can actually just...just by actually stopping the rumination and sitting there and whatever it is that you're thinking in the present moment or there's lots of different types of meditation, but that you can actually just change the way so many different genes are working, many of those in the brain, of course.
Roland: Yeah, and there're long-term consequences to meditation. And there's work suggesting effects on telomeres.
Rhonda: Yes, I was forgetting. Elizabeth Blackburn showed that meditation... and Elissa Epel, I think, that meditators had longer telomeres than age-matched control. Which makes sense because stress does the opposite. Stress accelerates telomere shortening. I mean, that's all not such a surprise.
The process in which information stored in DNA is converted into instructions for making proteins or other molecules. Gene expression is highly regulated. It allows a cell to respond to factors in its environment and involves two processes: transcription and translation. Gene expression can be turned on or off, or it can simply be increased or decreased.
Long-term meditation is a practice where an individual trains the mind or induces a mode of consciousness designed to promote relaxation, build internal energy or develop a desired mental state. It can range from 20 minutes to an indefinite amount of time. Long-term meditation is associated with increased gray matter density in the brain stem.
The practice of dwelling on external stressors to excess. Rumination can set in motion a cascade of hormonal and physiological responses that harm mental and physical health. A key player in the body’s response to rumination is a biological pathway that starts in the brain’s hypothalamus with the release of corticotrophin-releasing hormone and has a direct effect on many parts of the body including the brain, gut, and DNA. Meditation has been shown to reduce rumination and its negative effects.
Distinctive structures comprised of short, repetitive sequences of DNA located on the ends of chromosomes. Telomeres form a protective “cap” – a sort of disposable buffer that gradually shortens with age – that prevents chromosomes from losing genes or sticking to other chromosomes during cell division. When the telomeres on a cell’s chromosomes get too short, the chromosome reaches a “critical length,” and the cell stops dividing (senescence) or dies (apoptosis). Telomeres are replenished by the enzyme telomerase, a reverse transcriptase.
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