Genes decide: how heredity affects appearance and aging processes

The rapidly gaining popularity of biohacking, ProAge and AntiAge philosophy poses a legitimate question to doctors and scientists about how to turn back the clock and look younger than one’s actual age without physical interventions. The answer lies on two planes at once: genetics, which determines appearance, and lifestyle. The second factor often affects the way a person looks much more than we used to think.

Let’s understand the subtleties of genetics and heredity together with immunologist, specialist in scientific and methodological work of Basis Genomic Group and speaker of the International Festival of Health and Sports SN PRO EXPO FORUM Alina Alshevskaya.

What determines a person’s appearance?

It has been noticed that the appearance of identical twins changes differently with age: the older they get, the less they resemble each other. If, say, at 12 years old twins are almost impossible to distinguish, then by 30-40 years the difference becomes obvious. It turns out that despite the fact that appearance is set by a set of innate markers, personal life experience, lifestyle, character, habits and inclinations of a person can make significant adjustments to the original genetic program.

Genetics determines not only the unique features of appearance – such as features of bone skeletal structure, muscle structure and structure, as well as eye color, hair color, etc. – but also the principles according to which the appearance will change with aging. The fact is that aging processes are directly related to the peculiarities of functioning of bone and muscle systems. In other words, age-related manifestations of bone thinning, changes in the fat layer, muscle tissue and in the state of the skin itself are largely determined by congenital features. However, the original matrix that each person is endowed with and which is formed in the DNA before birth, is layered with the consequences of the emotions he or she experiences and the level of activity that he or she has.

That is why modern cosmetology as a complex science is aimed at maintaining the quality of life, appearance and health. It includes not only and not so much cardinal corrections through surgical intervention, but also complex non-invasive solutions that provide for the maintenance of health and beauty from within. That is, the diet includes components that will help the skin, muscles and bones to remain highly productive. And through proper nutraceutical support, we can indeed maintain a youthful appearance for a long time.
However, to maintain youthfulness, it must first be “achieved”, namely, to balance the body’s mode of operation, compensate for deficiencies and achieve a state of maximum functionality.

How to preserve youth?

It is a path that lasts a lifetime, and the earlier you take it, the more effective it will be. The foundations of future metabolism and homeostasis are laid in the early years of life, so the process of forming habits related to the culture of nutrition and physical activity, it would be good to start in childhood. Otherwise, the likelihood of a scenario in which the condition of the body deteriorates faster than it was originally intended by the genetic program is significantly increased. In general, it is much easier to deteriorate the quality of appearance inherited from parents than to preserve the maximum reserve of initial data.

Improper lifestyle, neglect of water and salt balance and irresponsible attitude to their own health – all this leads to a violation of metabolism, metabolism of fats, carbohydrates and proteins and affects the appearance and quality of life much more than we would like.

However, it would be frivolous to claim that following general recommendations will be enough to preserve health and youth. Genetics determines the individual reactions of a person to those or other methods of introducing the principles of a healthy lifestyle into his routine, it depends on a huge number of congenital features that are important to consider when caring for appearance. Often it is precisely because the unique features have not been taken into account, exercise complexes, diets and additional vitamins do not give the expected effect.

I would hardly be mistaken if I said that in the practice of any doctor there were patients who after a course of, say, vitamin D, its level in the blood has not reached the reference values. Or, for example, one person has to spend hours in the gym, just to avoid gaining weight, and someone from one swing of the leg is already losing a kilogram.

How the body will assimilate vitamins, perceive physical activity, react to certain foods, etc., are decided by genes.

Trying to blindly follow the standard recommendations on diet and lifestyle, at least leads to disappointment in the principles of healthy lifestyle as such. So it is easy enough to worsen the appearance inherited from parents. To do this, you just need to sleep less, eat wrong, worry a lot and do not pay attention to individual characteristics.

To change for the better and keep youth and beauty for a long time is a much more difficult task. It is solved by approaching the maximum potential of appearance, laid genetically. Moreover, practice shows that just closing all the deficits and correct prioritization has a significant effect on appearance and allows you to look much younger.