By Linsey McMurrin, Brainerd Dispatch, September 30, 2019
We know the way we see and experience the world around us is influenced by many factors.
These include our culture, how we were raised, and the challenges we have overcome. The research around Adverse Childhood Experiences helps us understand more about how hardships and intensely stressful situations we go through early on in our lives can impact our brains as they develop. This can cause us to be constantly on “high alert” as we look for the next problem to come our way. This tendency to always be on the watch for danger or conflict takes a toll on our bodies, our minds, and our emotions. It can even change the way we deal with other people and the issues we are faced with every day.
Now, there is more research that helps connect how we are not only impacted by our own experiences, but by the things that have happened to our parents, grandparents, and others that have come before us, too. The field of study, called epigenetics, shows us how the trauma and adverse experiences that our relatives went through may sometimes be passed down to us at a cellular level -- through our bodies and genetic makeup. This does not change our DNA itself but helps us adapt to the world around us through changing how our genes are read. It is like turning a light switch on or off. Some switches are activated and light up, allowing the gene to be read, where others are not needed and stay dark.
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