![]() In passing on epigenetic effects to the next generation, the body may be trying to help the next generation adapt.įor instance, it has been theorized that changes passed on to the genes of children of famine survivors may help prepare the children to deal with famine in their own time. It’s not all the stuff of inherited nightmares, mind you. Kellerman titled his article “Epigenetic transmission of Holocaust trauma: Can nightmares be inherited?” “As a result, some suffer from a general vulnerability to stress while others are more resilient.” “Instead of numbers tattooed on their forearms, (children of survivors) may have been marked epigenetically with a chemical coating upon their chromosomes, which would represent a kind of biological memory of what the parents experienced,” Kellerman wrote. In 2016, two New York City hospitals established that survivors’ children also had altered stress hormones - though not in the same form as the changes in their parents. The researchers suggested that the impact may make the younger generation less able to handle stress, and more prone to anxiety disorders.īoth the parents and children, meanwhile, showed changes to one specific gene associated with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder in patterns that differed from people whose families had escaped the Holocaust. ![]() (That’s right: Stress can influence your DNA.) This happens naturally during your life as you age, but under high stress, it can happen more frequently. A small molecule called a methyl group, which is a little cluster of hydrogen and carbon atoms, attaches itself to points along the DNA. ![]() That basic code never changes.īut genes are on chromosomes - strands of DNA - and chromosomes undergo physical changes throughout your lifetime. You get a set of genes when you’re conceived half from your mother, half from your father. In short, how much do our genes remember? It’s known as epigenetics - literally “beyond genetics” - and it’s raising such mind-bending questions as: Can we inherit fear? Can drug addiction pass down genetic effects to an addict’s children? Can extreme stress or trauma, on the scale of war or famine, re-shape an entire community, down through one or more generations? It’s perhaps an ideal disposition for someone who is also trying to identify the nuts and bolts of an emerging field in consciousness.
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