How many times has it happened that you have been unable to give up the temptation to smoke, gotten drunk at just the second shot of vodka or just not able to wake in the morning for that jog you always planned on taking! It turns out some of those traits might actually not be your fault. Genes are responsible for certain physical attributes such as the color of your hair and eyes, the shape of your nose and whether or not you have dimples, but also certain behavioral traits are hereditary and not environment related so but the next time someone points out your flaws you can blame them on your genes. Here are the top 10 things you could blame your genes for:
10.Early Onset Myopia (Childhood Nearsightedness)
Early Onset Myopia (Childhood Nearsightedness)
Myopia or nearsightedness causes the eyes to see nearby objects clearly but far away objects out of focus.So if you have been saddled with glasses since you were young, it is likely that this tendency is higher if one or both of your parents are myopic as well. Hence genetic factors apart from environmental factors such as stress influence myopia. Multiple family studies report a relationship between myopia in parents to myopia in their children. Furthermore, children with a family history of myopia have, on eye exam,revealed changes within the structures of the eye that increase their probability of developing myopia which leads to the conclusion that our genetic make up indeed is responsible for eye growth. The next time your mom berates you for watching too much television and ruining your eyes, you can bargain for more time with the argument that you have a greater probability of that happening due to heredity!....
9.Alcoholism
Alcoholism
Lucky for all you binge drinkers out there, recent studies indicate that the development of alcoholism is influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. “It appears that the development of alcoholism is not a case of genetics versus the environment; it is one of genetics and the environment,” says Dr. Ting-Kai Li, distinguished professor of medicine and biochemistry at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. Family studies have proven for a fact that their genes do influence alcoholism and that your drinking behavior as well alcohol tolerance level is impacted by genetic differences. So the occasional,”it’s in my genes”, wouldn’t be a wrong statement to justify your drinking!
8.Baldness
Baldness
About 95% of hair loss from the scalp comes from heredity. If your grandparents and or your parents sport the bald patch, you may inherit that as well. Called male pattern baldness (MBP) this hair loss can start as early as in your thirties and ends in complete baldness. Balding can skip generations and it is randomly incident among siblings, so if you are lucky enough maybe you don’t possess the gene to make you follically challenged otherwise, at present there is no way to avoid male pattern baldness from happening so hope you look as good as Vin diesel when genetics takes over.
7.Gambling
Gambling
Apparently the probability of you being a gambler is much higher than your probability of winning in roulette, if one of your parents is addicted to throwing the dice. According to a new study of Australian twins, scientists have found that genes play a role in a number of addictions which includes gambling . Researcher Wendy Slutske of the University of Missouri told Reuters Health, “Previous research in men showed that gambling addiction can run in the family,This study extends those findings to include women.” If you find yourself unable to control yourself from going into the casino you know who to blame!
6.Laziness
Laziness
Turns out that your inclination to be a couch potato is not really a sin! According to a new US research, genes do act as a deciding factor in deciding your level of activity and motivation for the same. Researchers from the University of Missouri reached the above conclusion by performing the experiment by breeding rats which were either extremely active or extremely indolent, selectively. Researcher Frank Booth said and I quote, “We have shown that it is possible to be genetically predisposed to being lazy,” This could be an important step in identifying additional causes for obesity in humans. It would be very useful to know if a person is genetically predisposed to having a lack of motivation to exercise, because that could potentially make them more likely to grow obese.”
5.Anger
Anger
Are you one of those people who tend to bite people’s head off at the slightest provocation? Anger is a normal human emotion, experienced by everyone at one time or another. Just like the happy gene, there is the existence of an ’anger gene’ which makes some people temperamentally more inclined to be in a black mood. Though to say that the presence of the anger gene is an oversimplification, it is likely that this is due to a genetic predisposition. There is a trait that psychologists call ‘negative affectivity’, a term to define the tendency of some people to experience negative emotions. According to Most scientists adolescents are more susceptible to experiencing strong emotions since their brain systems responsible for regulating emotional responses are still under development. Hence it is so difficult to understand teenagers!
4.Obesity
Obesity
One of the major topics of recent surveys is the effect of genetic traits on the occurrence of obesity. The results of the studies established that though the weight of the students who were genetically predisposed to gain weight is similar to that of other children, they tend to quickly attain weight a few years later. So if you fall in that category of dieters where you put on weight with even a slight change in eating patterns, you are the unlucky few to have bad genes.
3.Lifespan
Lifespan
In recent years several studies have pointed to the fact that life expectancy can largely be dependent upon various genes.In 2009, a study at the Tokyo University of Agriculture found that a specific gene that was activated in men but not women, which backed up the fact why women on an average have a greater lifespan. The results of their research pointed to the conclusion that the gene allowed men to develop stronger bodies but at the cost of ageing [source: BBC News]. These studies and others like them show that lifespan may be strongly dependent on your genetic makeup, although it is affected by a number of genes. Instead of cursing your family hand reader, blame your genes for your short lifeline!
2.The pessimist effect
A new study by UCLA life scientists found that the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) is a strong predictor of optimism and self-esteem. Apparently if certain nucleotides at specific locations on the gene are absent you are more likely to be an optimist. Other scientists claim that a different gene (5-HTTLPR) regulates the neurotransmitter serotonin, that is the “happy hormone.” So with the results of the survey it comes as a surprise that your mood may not be as much under your control as you thought and not always linked to environmental factors. Some people are just happy! If you’re one of those people who look at the glass half empty, it may not just be you but your genes acting out which may be one of the reasons to be happy that your state of mind is not some kind of a weakness.
1.Addiction to Cigarette Smoking
Addiction to cigarette smoking
According to an article printed in the Washington post, scientists have managed to pinpoint variations in the genetic make-up of people which make them more prone to getting addicted to cigarettes. This discovery makes an irrefutable case backing up the role of your genetic structure to nicotine addiction. Christopher Amos, a professor of epidemiology at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and author of one of the studies said and I quote, ”It also makes you more likely to be dependent on smoking and less likely to quit smoking.” Based on these studies, it is reported that these smokers on an average light up two extra cigarettes a day and find it much more difficult to give up smoking.
No comments:
Post a Comment