
How exercise changes our DNA? - klintcho
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/12/17/how-exercise-changes-our-dna/?_r=0
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guiambros
I think the " _changes our DNA_ " is far fetched, but the link between
exercise and the neurochemistry in the brain has been proved by multiple
studies.

I've mentioned here before, but John J. Ratey recently wrote the excellent
_Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain_ [1], where he
explains in colorful details what happens in (and to) the brain when you
exercise.

[1] [http://www.amazon.com/Spark-Revolutionary-Science-
Exercise-B...](http://www.amazon.com/Spark-Revolutionary-Science-Exercise-
Brain/dp/0316113514)

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dbbolton
A technically more correct way of putting it might have been "alters our gene
expression", but that isn't as grabby-- not to mention the additional buzzkill
that gene expression constantly changes throughout the body due to a plethora
of factors, whether you exercise or not.

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skywhopper
This is interesting research, for sure, but the headline's claim that it
"changes our DNA" is misleading. The genes are not changed, only markers that
have unknown effects on their expression. Learning more about the mechanisms
of how DNA interacts with our body is certainly exciting, but the implication
of the headline is that our actual genetic code is being tweaked, which is not
true at all.

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djokkataja
Going to play devil's advocate: the epigenome is changed in methylation, as
explained in the article, and for a NYTimes article title, "changes our DNA"
is going to be much more comprehensible to the general public than "changes
our epigenome". "Tweaked" is actually a very good word for what happens--none
of the base pairs are rewritten, but epigenetic changes can significantly
affect the organism, even to the point of being passed on to offspring.[1]

1\.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgenerational_epigenetics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgenerational_epigenetics)

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cant-be-serious
Mechanism and whether if transgenerational epigenetics happens in human is
still unclear:
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24679529](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24679529)

~~~
skywhopper
Indeed. Given that this research showed these particular studied effects were
specific to particular muscles that were being exercised, it seems unlikely to
transfer through entirely different set of cells and into offspring.

In fact, my uneducated first guess would be that the different methylation
patterns are related to the actual buildup in strength, which itself would
require some way of coding for the expression of certain genes differently in
one set of muscle cells than in another.

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adem666
it is very interesting. I do not understand why people do not believe changing
dna can be possible

[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-
news/1048647...](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-
news/10486479/Phobias-may-be-memories-passed-down-in-genes-from-
ancestors.html)

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cant-be-serious
The title is linkbait and mislead

