>Why not put together a Twitter list of 1k licensed, practicing, medical Drs and allow them to vote on issues
>Why not?
How To Protect Your DNA (For Better, Slower Aging And Higher Quality Of Life)
Telomeres were first noted in the 1930s by scientists, and in 2010, Harvard Medical School connected the dots between telomere shortening and cellular aging. Telomeres are the DNA-protein complexes at the end of our chromosomes, which control how we age. Telomeres protect the genome, which is our complete set of genes or genetic material present in our cells, from degradation. It is a normal cellular process for telomere length to decrease as we age.
Telomeres influence how our chromosomes interact with each other, and if there is a weak connection between chromosomes, this opens the door to cell malfunction and a greater propensity for a disease that we might otherwise not have to contend with.
While the length of our telomeres change as we age, these changes are not linear or chronological, and not everyone’s cells age at the same rate throughout their lifetime. Telomeres can shorten more rapidly during times of high stress, smoking, obesity, poor diet, sleep deprivation, severe infection or illness. Additionally, when living a healthy and balanced life, the rate of telomere shortening can slow down significantly.
5 Things You Can Do To Lengthen Your Telomeres
Stress support – Both chronic and acute stress have been shown to suppress our immune system and shorten our telomeres. Acute stress lasting a few weeks or a month can even change the length of telomeres. Stress management tools such as meditation, grounding, and earthing are all beneficial to our stress hormones. In addition to these tools, the use of the amino acid L-Theanine, or the adaptogens Rhodiola and Holy Basil, can be helpful in modulating stress hormones such as cortisol. A high-quality omega-3 fatty acid, like our High-Potency Fish Oil, is also excellent to include to manage stress and support brain health. Watch our show on “Healing Adrenal Fatigue,” if you are under chronic stress.
Sleep quality and quantity are essential to our health. Aiming for 7 to 9 hours is key to optimizing and lengthening telomeres. Creating a healthy and peaceful environment can influence the quality of sleep as well as our sleep-wake cycle. We love eye masks, diffusers with lavender oil, and blackout curtains. Check out our blog on “5 Natural Sleep Tips” to ensure you sleep better tonight.
Physical Activity – Walking and biking can both be a great form of natural exercise.
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) has been shown to be beneficial in supporting telomere length. HIIT workouts or classes such as OrangeTheory are a great way to crank up metabolism while also supporting your genome. We recommend this type of workout 3-4x a week, and less for those with hormone imbalances or adrenal fatigue.
Yoga, in the form of Bikram or Vinyasa, is great to add in on a routine basis. Yoga has been studied as a way to reduce stress hormones and oxidative stress. Yin and restorative yoga can also be added in for stress reduction.
High-antioxidant rich foods have been associated with a reduced rate of telomere shortening in research studies. We have a whole blog dedicated to high-antioxidant rich foods called “Using Antioxidants to Reduce Inflammation.” This is an excellent read for those wanting to include more antioxidants in their diet using food as medicine by combining different foods for maximum antioxidant value.
Watching your blood sugar – Chronic disease, such as type 2 diabetes, can significantly affect our telomeres and DNA. Watching your blood sugar by tracking your fasting glucose and hemoglobin A1c is a great way to monitor for diabetes. Getting routine blood work done is also important.
https://www.thewholejourney.com/blog/protect-dna
Radiation Damage to DNA
Radiation can damage the cellular DNA and its ability to replicate correctly. Ionizing radiation such as that created by cosmic rays can damage the DNA in different ways. One way is to damage the nucleotides or the sugar moieties. Electrons from the high energy rays are transferred to the oxygen or nitrogen atoms in the DNA nucleotides for example, causing the formation of a mutation—or to be more exact, the wrong base pair to be formed during replication. Another possibility is that the high energy electrons actually cause breaks in the DNA strands. Usually, in cells with DNA damage, the cell would either repair the DNA or execute cell death (apoptosis). If the mutations are not eliminated through the repair system, the cells begin to divide and produce more copies of the damaged DNA (Figures 11 and 12, above).
A third way that ionizing radiation causes DNA damage is indirectly by increasing the amount of reactive oxygen species in a cell. Reactive oxygen species are chemically reactive, charged molecules that damage many parts of the cell, including the DNA. Although reactive oxygen species are formed naturally in the body, our body has repair mechanisms (such as p53) that can account for these errors. However, when reactive oxygen species increase and there are mutations in p53 genes, the combination is highly likely to lead to uncontrollable cell growth and cancer.
https://sites.duke.edu/missiontomars/the-mission/effects-of-radiation/radiation-damage-to-dna/
Protection Against Radiation
There are several factors that are involved in protection against radi-ation exposure. They include: 1) the amount of time exposed, 2) the distance between the victim and the source of radiation, and 3) shield-ing materials.
The relationship between exposure time and the amount of damage is directly proportional. The longer one is exposed to the radiation, the more dosage of radiation one will receive. Therefore, minimizing the exposure time will greatly reduce the dosage of radiation the body receives. However, when radioactive materials are inside the body (either through swallowing or absorption), one has to wait until they decay or until one’s body eliminates the material. When that happens, the concept of half-life controls the time of exposure.
Increasing the distance between the victim and the source of radiation can also act as a protection. This relationship can be calculated with a little bit of math called the Inverse Square Law. The Inverse Square Law basically states that the intensity or strength of the radiation is inverse-ly proportional to the square of the distance from the source. Using the equation:where I is the intensity of the radiation, P is the total power of the radia-tion, A is the area (of a sphere) of radiation, and r is the radius of a circle or distance from the source.
For example, the exposure of an individual sitting 4 feet from a radia-tion source will be ÂĽ the exposure of an individual sitting 2 feet from the same source. To determine the ratio of exposure with the same intensity (I) and power of radiation (P), just divide the area (A) of one individual from the area of the second individual:
So, this means that when the distance increases by only 2 feet, the radi-ation is spread out over four times as much area, so the dose is only one fourth as much (Figure 13). Also, it is likely that the radiation will lose energy as distance increases thus reducing the intensity even further.
Figure 13. Increased distance will reduce the energy of the radiation.
Another way to protect against radiation is using shields. Radiation shielding can be accomplished with various materials that will absorb radiation between a person and the source of the radiation. One type of very effective shielding material is called Graded-Z shielding. Graded-Z shielding is composed of a laminate of several materials with different Z values (Z values are used to indicate atomic numbers.) This type of material has been shown to reduce electron penetration over 60%. The most common Graded-Z material involves a gradient from high-Z (usually tantalum) through lower-Z elements such as tin, steel, and copper, usually ending with aluminum. Sometimes even lighter materials such as polypropylene or boron carbide are used.
https://sites.duke.edu/missiontomars/the-mission/effects-of-radiation/protection-against-radiation/
Knowing how to protect your DNA data is incredibly important, because your genetic code is the blueprint for much of who you are. Thanks to the development of cheap genomics, at-home DNA testing kits from Ancestry(opens in new tab), 23andMe(opens in new tab), MyHeritage(opens in new tab) and others can now reveal a wealth of information about your genetic identity.
By sending in a sample of your DNA(opens in new tab), usually in a swab or saliva sample, you can discover long-lost relatives, hints about ancestry, or genetic risk factors for a variety of health conditions.
For whatever reason you choose to take a DNA test, it's important to understand how your DNA data might be used, and how you can protect your information.
The risk of losing control of your genetic information is both more and less serious than the risks of other kinds of private data, such as credit cards or social security, according to Michael Edge, a qualitative and computational biologist at the University of Southern California.
"If I know your genome, usually I don't know all that much particularly compromising about you," Edge told Live Science. "It's way less disruptive to your life than if somebody nefarious steals your credit card or your social security number."
On the other hand, as scientific knowledge improves, an individual's genome will probably reveal more and more about them personally, Edge said. Unlike a credit card or social security number, genetic information also reveals facts about family members. And it can't be changed. "Once it's out, it's out," Edge said.
This means DNA test kits are buyer beware, and it's wise not to click "I accept" on a privacy policy you haven't read. Most industry leaders have fairly comprehensive privacy policies, but a 2017 survey of policies(opens in new tab) found that 35 of 90 companies operating in the United States provided no information on how they would handle biological samples or genetic data.
Several companies share data with third parties by default, and even those that require consent to share data give themselves broad discretion about sharing once that consent is given.
Below you'll find out how your data data might be used, the current rules around privacy, how to check your data is secure, plus a brief rundown on the privacy policies of the major testing companies.
There are a few big things consumers can look for if they're concerned about privacy and security concerning their data, Edge said.
First: does the platform allow the uploading of genetic data by users? If the answer is yes, this is likely a bit more vulnerable to privacy breaches, and hacking, according to Edge.
It can be difficult to gauge a company's encryption standards, but one potential entry point for hackers is the ability of users to upload genetic data themselves.
This isn't possible for 23andMe and Ancestry. Users of these services can only get into the company databases by paying for the company's proprietary test. However, other sites, including MyHeritage and GEDMatch(opens in new tab), allow users to upload genetic information from outside sources.
Second: does the platform reveal which genes potential relatives share? If a company reveals which genes are shared and how long the shared genetic sequences are, that is more revealing than broad estimates such as "this person may be a third cousin."
more at: https://www.livescience.com/how-to-protect-your-dna-data
any?
>not very happy about the state of the world