The Power Of Epigenetics To Transform Your Healthspan And Lifespan

Episode 485 1h

Overview

You might have heard the word “epigenetics” and wondered what the heck it means. Well to sum it up shorthand, epigenetics is how everything you’re exposed to throughout your life—your environment, your social relationships, your diet, etc.—impacts how your genes are expressed. Think of it like this: genes are our hardware and epigenetics are like software. Our software is something that can be changed and upgraded, it doesn’t have to be static. If you want to learn more about understanding, demystifying, and harnessing epigenetics, then this is the podcast episode for you.

Today’s guest on The Doctor’s Farmacy is my good friend, mentor, and the reason my health and career are where they are: Dr. Jeffrey Bland. We talk all about epigenetics and unpack what can be a complicated topic in terms you can actually understand. If you want to learn how to prevent disease and reverse aging, at any stage of life, then listen closely to this episode. Epigenetics is an incredible area of research that can help us do this and more. Using the Functional Medicine framework, we look at genetics as well as the various areas of our lives that are constantly modifying them.

Dr. Bland explains the nuances of the epigenome and how research has evolved our understanding that genetics aren’t set in stone, even if we’re already well into adulthood. Social connections, sleep, and exercise can all have epigenetic influences, along with the powerful influence of diet. Dr. Bland and I discuss the amazing benefits of plant phytochemicals for health and aging, beyond their antioxidant properties, and how to get more of these in your meals. Trauma and stress are two more epigenetic influences that we get into in this episode, including their impacts on future generations. We explore how we can lessen their impact, through things like meditation and cognitive behavioral therapy. This is a relatively new area of research that provides tremendous hope for changing the operating system of our biology. Listen in to learn how to upgrade your software, today.

Sponsors

This episode is brought to you by Rupa Health, Eight Sleep , and ButcherBox. The Doctor’s Farmacy podcast works with a select group of sponsors to allow for ongoing production and allow it to be zero-cost to anyone who wishes to listen to and watch the podcast.

Topics Covered

  • The paradigm shift away from siloed medicine towards systems biology

    (7:42)

  • New understandings about how our genes can be modified to reverse disease and aging

    (10:02)

  • Early research that led to our understanding of how epigenetics works

    (12:02)

  • Genes that can be imprinted and modified even into adulthood

    (19:27)

  • Reversing our biological age

    (21:35)

  • The influence of our external environment and experiences over our genes

    (27:03:00)

  • How what we eat, how we love, how much stress we’re under, and more impacts our genes, our health, and the process of aging

    (35:08:00)

  • The amazing benefits of phytochemicals in plants for human health

    (38:38:00)

  • Trauma, PTSD, and our genes

    (51:05:00)

  • Our ability to control the operating system of our biology

    (56:13:00)

1 of 10

Resources Mentioned

Host & Guests

Back to Content Library
Ep. 485 - The Power Of Epigenetics To Transform Your Healthspan And Lifespan