Can Your Change Your Genes? What Is Epigenetics? Biofeedback, Epigenetics & The Biology Of Belief

Could you think yourself thin?

What about combat disease?

Could you build muscle simply by focusing your mind on doing so?

Epigenetics is a concept that researchers are very interested in as it could hold promising hope for those who have been dealt a bad hand of cards, so to speak, in the genetics category.

The word epigenetic essential means ‘in addition to changes in genetic sequence’ according to the Environmental Health Perspectives journal.

You may think that is quite a mouthful. In simplistic terms, it refers to any process that will alter gene activity without changing the cells’ DNA sequence.

This is a chance in your phenotype without a change in your genotype. Phenotypes are observable traits or biochemical characteristics based on an individual’s environmental and genetic factors.

These changes are influenced by many factors, including age, lifestyle choices, the environment you live in, as well as certain states of disease.

If you’re still asking yourself what epigenetics is, check out this video, where I explain it in greater detail.

So the question remains: can you change your genes? The biology of belief is very powerful, and when you believe something to be true, very often, as you may have noticed in your own life so far, that truth can start to manifest itself.

For instance, let’s say you believed you would fail an exam you had to write. You strongly believed that no matter what you did, you were destined to fail.

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How would this impact your desire to study? Chances are, you wouldn’t feel much like it. You’d probably think, ‘What’s the point – I’m going to fail anyway, so I might as well not waste my time!’

Right?

So this then leads you not to study. But anyone who doesn’t study will have a higher probability of failing because they just haven’t learned the necessary information.

But because you believed you would fail from the outset, that belief became your new reality.

Many situations occur this way. Let’s say you firmly believe you are unattractive and will never get a date. How would this impact your confidence if you were to ask someone out? Chances are you’d come across as very unconfident, and that, more than anything else, will impact the outcome.

Likewise, let’s say you want a promotion at work. But you don’t believe you will ever get one. As such, you never ask for one. Will someone come out and hand you that promotion? Likely not. But if you voiced that you wanted more challenges and were ready and willing to advance your career, that may have led to another outcome.

All of these are examples of how your mind can shape your future. But what about your body?

The Biology Of Belief

Can you think yourself thin? That is the question.

While there’s no doubt that you can’t magically wish away pounds of fat, you must not overlook the power that what you think has over your body weight.

For instance, have you ever met a dieter who always seems to be trying new diets (and equally as often, is falling off those plans)?

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Why do you think they are not seeing the desired results and achieving a healthy body weight?

Chances are good. It’s because, after so many previous failed attempts, they don’t believe they will be able to get the results they are looking for. This may, even on a subconscious level, be causing them to hold back their effort or sabotage their results.

Perhaps they aren’t trying all that hard to lose weight because, in the back of their minds, they know that it’s not a worthwhile cause. It just won’t happen to them.

So while they state they may be going on that diet, and they very well may be, they aren’t positioning themselves – in their mind – to see results on it.

This is powerful stuff. You will attract what you think, and this can, in turn, change your biology.

Can You Change Your Genes

Let’s look at another example of how this can work and how you can impact your body on a more physical level.

Take Derrick. Derrick is a naturally overweight individual who has had a very hard time losing any body weight. As a child, he was always the chubby of the group, which carried into his teenage years.

Now, at the ripe age of 21, he wants to take charge. He wants to get fit, get lean, and get healthy.

As he begins his exercise program, he starts implanting several strategies he reads about.

•      He starts eating more fresh fruits and vegetables
•      He ensures that he’s eating a lean source of protein with each meal
•      He removes all added sugars from his plan
•      He participates in strenuous interval training
•      He lifts weights 3-4 times per week

As all of this is happening, he starts seeing the weight come off. Great right?

There’s more. What’s really unique about this situation is that as he’s making these changes, his body is also changing physically.

While initially, he may have started out with high levels of insulin resistance (which essentially made gaining weight very easy for him), now, with all of these changes, he’s become more insulin-sensitive.

Meaning his body is becoming more prone to staying lean. He no longer becomes the ‘fat guy in the room,’ but instead, is someone who can naturally maintain his body weight.

Sure, he may never be the guy who can eat anything he wants and never gain a pound, but provided he keeps up his efforts, his body has now been conditioned to remain leaner and healthier overall. He has, more or less, changed his genetic background to some degree.

While this example is being given about losing fat, you can apply this same principle to many other areas of your health.

If you want to build muscle? The more muscle you build through positive thinking and continual effort, the more likely your body is to maintain that muscle through both the good habits you’ve built and the changes to your body’s strength and ability to withstand the continual stimulus that weight lifting provides.

Essentially, the body becomes its function.

Take a runner, for instance. If you’ve never run a step in your life, there’s a good chance that the first run will feel pretty brutal. You’ll be out there, running away and just praying it’s over soon. Your muscles ache, your joints ache, and fatigue sets in.

But as you keep at it, you’ll soon be able to run further distances. What’s more, is that your cells are changing as well. For instance, your bones will grow stronger. With all that stress continually placed on the bone joints, they will remodel themselves, growing back stronger than before.

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This can result in less pain and less risk of injury, and you enjoy yourself a lot more while performing that exercise. Before you know it, you may find that you are signing up to complete your first marathon race.

You’re now in love with the activity of running, and your body has adapted so that you can better handle those longer distances. If you think back to your first day out on that run, there is no way you would have ever experienced such a thing.

So there, you have a closer look at how you can use biofeedback, your belief systems, and changes to your lifestyle and environment to impact your genes.

Epigenetics is the study of how all of these interact to impact your genetic make-up, and research has now suggested that a number of genes can be influenced in this manner.

While you will never change who you are at the core of your genetic makeup, you can shape yourself to become closer to what you want to be. That is the real message here that you need to know and remember.

You are not destined to be a certain way if you don’t have to be. You can mold your body and direct your future through hard work, persistence, and knowledge.

Do you have an experience with this that you would like to share? Have you taken steps to outsmart genetics and become something you’d never thought you’d be?

Comment below and share your story with us.

References:

Weinhold, Bob. “Epigenetics: the science of change.” Environmental Health Perspectives 114.3 (2006): A160.