Longer-Overwhelming scientific evidence suggests that the weak parts in our genetic armor can be compensated for through interventions involving diet, exercise, lifestyle modification, and stress management. Genetics and constitutional factors will make some people more disposed to problems in the cardiovascular system, skin, Cancer or memory. Yet, lifestyle factors can be controlled to varying degrees to compensate for genetic weak links. For example if any of your ancestors have had Diabetes or Breast cancer you need not fear.
Research shows that genetics accounts for only a small percentage of physical and mental aging. The maximum contribution comes from our lifestyle, our engagement with life, what we eat, the way we manage stress, our social connections, and sense of personal power. These are definitely not in our genes. Let us not believe in Karma theory anymore and realize that we are the masters of our own fate.
Genes do influence health patterns to a considerable when a person is young. After the age of 50, genetic expression, and thus life expectancy, is more influenced by lifestyle, environment, and nutritional factors. When a person is in their seventies and eighties, there is not much genetic influence left. At elderly age lifetime of environmental influences and personal choices have far more influence than genes.
We have far more control over the aging process than we previously thought. We know that certain genes are associated with a greater risk for lung cancer. Yet, as smoking rates have fallen, so too has the incidence of this life-shortening disease. Heart disease incidence in the U.S. has dropped by 45% since the 1950s. This wasn't primarily accomplished through high-tech, but through improved lifestyles, lower smoking rates among men, and improved diets-all factors that modified bio¬chemical processes governed by our genes.
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