Vacation and epigenetics

Scientists have again proved that vacation is good for health

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In the USA, scientists from the School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai) have again proved the benefits of vacation. They conducted a small study, the results of which revealed that rest itself not only improves the psychological state of a person, but also changes the expression of genes and reduces the number of biomarkers of aging in the blood. It turned out to be especially useful to combine vacations with meditative practices – such a combination had a positive effect in the long term, even after 10 months, reducing the stress level of the former vacationer.

A group of 102 women aged 30 to 60 years was invited to participate in the scientific work. All of them rested for 5 days at the four-star La Costa Resort and Spa hotel in California. Before and after the vacation, all participants had their blood taken for analysis, in addition, on the fifth day, as well as a month and 10 months after the vacation, women were interviewed about whether they felt symptoms of depression, whether they were stressed, how energetic and attentive they were to what was happening around them. At the same time, a yoga retreat seminar was held at the hotel, within the framework of which meditation classes were planned, and about a third of the women specially booked seats in advance, as they meditated regularly. The remaining 70 women had never practiced meditation, and they were randomly divided into two groups, one of which also participated in the retreat, and the other was just resting.

According to the results of analyses and surveys, the "vacation effect" was manifested in all 102 women. All of them felt better after the rest, the activity of their genes increased. However, meditation classes enhanced this effect – firstly, even after 10 months, those women who meditated reported lower levels of stress and depression than those who rested and did not do anything extra; secondly. at the molecular level, the body of a woman engaged in meditation worked more efficiently, in particular, used proteins more effectively. Despite the fact that the expression of genes changed in all participants, and the number of blood biomarkers indicating the aging of the body also decreased in all, telomerase, an enzyme associated with longevity, was more active in those women who engaged in meditation.

Among other things, rest reduced the activity of the body's defense systems – calmed the immune system, reduced inflammatory processes. On the one hand, according to one of the authors of the study, Eric Schadt, this can be called a negative effect, since the body needs protection, but on the other hand, excessive activity of defense systems can lead to the development of autoimmune diseases. The scientist added that despite the fact that a small number of people participated in the scientific work, he and his colleagues again confirmed that rest and meditation can have a positive effect on health.

Article by Epel et al. Meditation and vacation effects have an impact on disease-associated molecular phenotypes published in open access in the journal Translational Psychiatry. A short retelling of the work can be read in the press release of Mount Sinai Hospital Systems Biology Research Study Reveals Benefits of Vacation and Meditation - VM.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  22.09.2016