Epigenetics & Personal Health: Can We Control Our Own Future? | Matt Riemann | TEDxVeniceBeach

who determines our future us God the universe or what determines our future genetics evolution our environment one day about eight years ago I awoke in excruciating pain I couldn't breathe I couldn't move the time I had two degrees in applied human sciences was teaching doctors internationally and treating Olympic athletes I thought I knew a lot about the human body so it's after many humbling years of consulting the leading gurus in science and medicine that couldn't help me I realized there were some big limitations in what we knew about the body this led me down one of the most interesting rabbit hole journeys you'll ever hear about and led to the concept and the creation of what we now know espy actually sixty me that's a talk for another day so it was I left with after all this a genetic diagnosis of amyloid polyneuropathy mutation in my TTR gene very rare average life expectancy ten years from onset of symptoms mind y eight years ago so as my life it's my future predetermined do I get to have a safe or is there a way we can change or control our own future we'll talk about the concept of controlling our future to understand this concept we must first understand who we truly are as humans we're scientifically proven to be unique not one single one of us are the same who we are the state of our body and our mind is a reflection is influenced by our genes made up of our DNA and the things that influence the expression or the activation of our genes or switch them on and off we call these things epigenetic factors eppie meaning outside so things that influence our genes from the outside so genes plus our epigenetics equals who we are when we look and think in the mirror where our phenotype or you let's talk about our genes for a minute we often don't consider we have genes for many physical features we have genes for our eye color for our hair color our leg length our finger length and so on when these genes become activated we become who we see in the mirror so who we are when we look in the mirror what we think about so many different genes that are activated at any particular point in time which we call our phenotype now a phenotype gives us direct insight into our health status so here we are and how we look can tell us about our health how does this work well if we think of our physical traits how we look as a direct insight or reflection or projection of our internal health we may observe that if we have striations on our fingernails I may have deficiencies of certain minerals such as zinc we have gums that bleed we may have a height and oral acidity level or even sympathetic nervous system we have our index fingers that are shorter than our ring fingers may have increased levels of certain hormones like testosterone if you have our ear lobes that are creased and attached to our heads we may actually have a different type of tissue collagen quality compared to others and all of this has been demonstrated through science so body on the outside is a direct reflection of how healthy we are on the inside our body on the outside is a direct reflection of how healthy we are on the inside at any given point in time and so the question becomes does this change of course the answer is yes now crack lips may disappear as we increase our levels of vitamin b2 and as an Omega 3s hair may stop falling out as we start to normalize and balance our vitamin b7 s or fatty acids our skin may become smooth as we start to normalize our levels of salicylic acid now eyes actually may appear to change color as we detoxify our digestive system so if we now know that our health deficiencies can be reflected in our physical traits or how we look we now know that as our body changes our health changes as our health changes our body changes more profoundly as our body is changing on the outside our health is changing on the inside and so the question becomes what causes these change or creates this change what's actually hard-coded our genetics that may never actually change like a short off or two legs have broad or thin shoulders what's plastic and changeable like the strength of our muscles the sharpness of our vision the size of our waist more can influence these changes or more profoundly what can influence the activation of our genes that show up as changes in our body the answer this is extremely complex yet very simple in sour genetics things outside of our genes and so if we think big think about epigenetics as our environment and our lifestyle it's the food we eat to eat gluten or not to eat gluten that is still the current question CEL social environment and interactions we relaxed we stressed we happy we depressed to indoor spaces so dust our mold so air conditioning it's a natural light or a dark spaces and set outdoor places it's our climate so toxicity so allergens in our environment our lifestyle see exercise we do or don't do it's our career our jobs our natural talents our hobbies what we do with our time it's the sleep we get or the lack of it's our mind or lack of now it's our spirit and so these epigenetic factors things outside of our genes can actually influence the expression of our genes they can literally switch certain genes on and off and so if we now know about our epigenetic factors like the fact they can influence the way our genes are expressed which can then change our body shape and our features which can influence our health on the inside is it possible we can now control our own health can we manipulate or rebalance these epigenetic factors to improve what attea our own health can we think small to create big change can we think B to create small change or more profoundly can we control our own future and to answer this we need to look at how we can quantify our phenotype or measure ourselves and our features and to answer this we need to call on our wealth of knowledge in many different areas of science and medicine anthropometry it's a scientific study of our body and it's specific ratios linked to literally hundreds of peer-reviewed journal articles in scientific States showing clear links between our body shape and our risk of disease and hundreds more linking our body shape and our physiology or the function of our brain in our body embryology the scientific study of our biological development from preconception through life clear links between our organ development and function our brain physiology our body biochemistry and the external environment endocrinology looking at the science of how hormones can influence our function our behaviors our emotions and our disease can tell us if we're more likely to be someone who's a happy person or more trusting we've got high levels of oxytocin more likely to be depressed throughout low levels of serotonin physiology it's a scientific study of our body our systems ourselves and their functions so identify clear links between our heart our brain and our gut and can help empower and offer insights to quantify our health biomarkers for our personal health molecular biology and biochemistry looking at the interplay and interactions between our DNA our RNA our protein and other functions of the cells very very critical for our advancements in knowledge in precision medicine and to help with a resolution of current disease in the future neuroscience helping us understand how each part of the brain works what tasks are responsible for how they communicate with each other and how this can influence our thoughts our feelings our behaviors our emotions chronobiology the science of our biological rhythms studies the impact of our 24-hour light-dark cycle on our biochemistry and therefore enough thoughts in our behaviors geo medicine look at the effect of one's personal environment in the wind temperature local allergens but also population environment we can't disease epidemics like SARS or swine flu we'll get an instance of disease according to geolocation we need toxicity our waterways I could go on and on all day so how does this all integrate what does this all mean if we can actually start to take the links and measures and correlations from all these scientific fields we can start to piece together an accurate representation of our phenotype how we look think act and feel so if we think small we think about epigenetics with our science and the medicine brain these little epigenetic marks that can determine how each specific bundle of DNA and protein or histone can actually be made accessible and inaccessible for the cell to activate its gene if we think big we think about epigenetics is our environment and our lifestyle the very things actually determine those chemical reactions at the microscopic level and each of ourselves this poses a profound question can we actually know about the activation of our genes without even sampling our genome if we can know about the activation of our genes who we are or a phenotype without it in sequencing our genome is it possible that we can decipher a personalized formula for optimal health include this be made available for the entire population to help solve the global epidemic of chronic disease it exists it's affecting over 3 billion people worldwide is it possible we have a future generation that's free from pain and disease ensuring correlation between our genotype and our phenotype is the first important step the second is making sure that we look at quantifying or measuring our epigenetics when we talk about measuring epigenetics we need to go deeper than just our broad categories of environment and lifestyle as you go deeper again and just our categories of food and exercise activity environment social interactions our mind need to look at specific intolerance as to food or allergies in to look at the specific inactivity the free Quincy's of activity need to look at how many hours we've traveled need to look at the specific times of day we're doing our work our tasks the people that we hang out with our personalities so if we can quantify our epigenetics and measure these things we can start to know about a phenotype and start to know about us so it becomes clear the epigenetics is actually our controllable variable it empowers us to influence our own health or an experience of life who we like or dislike when we look and think in the mirror I believe in the coming years that epigenetics will take center stage influencing the future of personalized health personalized information allowing us insight to find out how unique we are what's right for each one of us individually practical applications and integrations with bio technologies creating meaningful outcomes to make sure we interpret the overwhelm of data we're currently tracking and collecting predictive compliance actually looking at how we can help someone who needs support who just needs some guidance and who actually just wants the information so they can do it themselves sustainable behavior change speaking at a language that actually connects with each person's neuro type then supporting their behaviors and their emotions we're not just going to be speaking one generic message anymore let's just take a moment to reflect on the true power of this realization every single one of us on this planet has a different set of genes and a different environment and a different lifestyle not one single one of us are the same not even identical twins therefore we all have different foods we should be eating different exercise we need to do different environments and climates that will thrive or suffering different jobs will enjoy perform efficiently and efficiently different friends we should hang out with different personalities different things that will stimulate or quiet our minds why is this so powerful what could have could our advice to every single person on the planet it's the same healthy fruits and vegetables actually be wrong for someone right for others for doing 60 minutes of exercise a day strengthen some and cause back and knee pain for others you could even the way we conduct us our research in science and medicine based on generic population sciences averages and best fits actually be inaccurate considering we're all completely different people is this acceptable to us as a species moving forward into the future when we already know better within the next five years we're going to be kicking ourselves for giving such generic healthy advice to the entire population the same advice when we already know clearly know better it's going to make some sick injured or diseased and others healthy I believe it's time to make a new statement as a society about health let's change the world's current health experience let's upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 8 well let's just convert to Mac already I believe it's time to get person without health let's start using the power of smart health another all our advice our interventions our management and outcomes will be specific for each individual they have to be they must we're all completely different people when you live in pain or with a poor health prognosis does funny things to people changes the game changes the game for you changes the game for those around you it opens your eyes gives you much clearer perspective as to why we're even on this planet in the first place it inspires you it motivates you empowers you to make a difference so even though there's continuing research to be conducted and theories to be proven in the field of epigenetics my message for you today is this what if you can control your health control your life control your future what if the food you have for breakfast tomorrow or the walk you take or don't take could be the difference between health order zees what would you do if you have the choice to be in your own drivers seat we will have friends and family that suffer from pain and disease we have the science the technology in the men is to take not just a step but a leap in the right direction so what were your choice B I chose to be in control to find out what my unique body needs to live life the way my body intended now I'm on a mission I've devoted my life to this course I need your help so that millions of people worldwide can treasure the gift of health and happiness enjoy this crazy game we call life I sincerely hope you choose to join me because together we can make this world a healthier and happier place thank

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 109,859

Rating: 4.7393665 out of 5

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, United States, Science (hard), Behavior, Biology, Body, Change, Choice, Control, Death, Decision making, Disease, Environment, Food, Future, Genetics, Health, Life Development, Life Hack, Nature, Nutrition, Personal growth, Positive Thinking, Research, Science, Self, Self improvement, Senses

Id: BZ3o5X2j3kY

Length: 17min 54sec (1074 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 30 2015