We know that our skin, eyes, hair color, height or diseases such as diabetes, prostate, leukemia are genetically transmitted to future generations. However, our grandchildren do not inherit their traits through DNA alone. Studies show that the traumas, sadness and distress experienced by our grandfathers can be transferred to us biologically!
Due to mass extinctions, wars and economic depressions, many generations have left the earth before it could truly realize its potential. Descendants of those generations, on the other hand, will never know what happened in the past. just didn’t see it as a memory; In fact, their whole life was shaped according to this past.
This period when tensions peaked; It affected every individual in every layer of society.
Both in our country and in the world, people’s lives are becoming more and more stressful, traumatic and full of sadness:
For the first time in the 21st century, the whole world was experiencing fire without seeing fire, and war without seeing a weapon. However, there were fires and wars began. Undoubtedly what happened today will affect the future. So what does genetics say about it?
According to the results of some researches, here are the traumas and troubles we experience today; biologically can be passed on to the next generation! It’s not all about DNA, let’s introduce you to “epigenetics”…
According to research, changes in the environment we live in cause chemical tags to be added or removed from our DNA. These tags also turn on and off the genes involved, so we can adapt more quickly to changing conditions. However, if the said effect continues continuously, genes become permanent; It is passed on to our children and even our grandchildren. These genes generally determine our physiological characteristics such as skin and eye color. However, the only means of transferring the traits we have to the next generation is not the DNA transfer, that is, the genetic codes that we are talking about here.
Apart from genetics, it is also the branch of science that examines the traits transferred from generation to generation. “epigenetics” it’s called. According to Baha Patlar of The Tree of Evolution, the science of epigenetics examines how the effects of our environment on us are passed on to the next generation, even to our descendants a few generations from now. In short, even if our DNA does not change, our “epigenomes” can.
For example, identical twins with genetically very close DNA sequences can have different characteristics because their epigenomes are different. The same goes for a grandfather and grandchild:
Post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression change us biologically. These changes are also likely to be passed on to future generations:
Ali Jawaid, a neuroscientist at the University of Zurich, is one of the scientists who closely observes this issue. He had the opportunity to closely examine the orphaned children living in the Pakistani capital city of Islamabad and Multan, who lost their parents in the wars; emotional traumas and stress disorders caused by separation from their parents. how it affects their biological state he wondered.
According to the findings, the children in question were affected by the situation they were in for so long that it was understood that they could transfer the changes they experienced to their own children. I mean, even the grandchildren of a child who lost his family in the war, no matter how good the conditions are may experience the effects of the same trauma. A similar situation, II. It was also seen in the grandchildren of survivors of the Holocaust in World War II, and it was discovered that their children were affected biologically and in terms of health, that is, they could carry the traces of a past they never lived.
II. Descendants of Holocaust survivors in World War II bear the biological scars of traumas they have never seen:
Rachel Yehuda of the Icahn School of Medicine in New York, World War II. He conducted a study on the surviving descendants of 40 survivors of the Holocaust in World War II. According to their findings, the catalyst that plays a role in the secretion of stress hormone is also found in the grandchildren of war survivors. shows a slight effect. Imagine that you carry the pain of your elders biologically today…
On the other hand, according to Yehuda, it is too early to “tell conclusively” whether trauma has a hereditary effect. Yehuda even emphasizes that the media greatly exaggerates and distorts these findings. Because your misleading newsstates that it affects subsequent generations at least as permanently as epigenetic effects.
We can leave a great “social legacy” to the young people who will live 50 years from now:
Of course, this judgment is difficult to be certain, because investigating the epigenetic effects of experiences For this to happen, it is always necessary to face destructive examples. This confrontation is like walking on fire for scientists. But it needs to be researched and understood. Washington State University biologist Michael Skinner tells ScienceMag:
“If what your grandparents were exposed to changes your risk of illness, then what you experience today affects our grandchildren. This is a really scary thing.”
According to a study conducted by Skinner on animals, epigenetic changes that occur with traumatic effects, can be passed on to multiple generations. If traumas trigger epigenetic effects in humans, it means that other health problems, especially mental health, will be passed on to future generations as a social legacy. Already, previous studies and examples show this.
In the scientific world, how epigenetic effects as a result of trauma are transferred to future generations. There is an intense effort to illuminate. One way or another, the findings show that the changes caused by the troubles we experience today; It may also affect our grandchildren who will lead a more standard and normal life tomorrow.
Let’s end with the good news:
If how epigenetic changes affect our biology, this how it is transmitted is deciphered, treatment will become easier. We hope that when those days come, everyone will be able to access treatment more easily.