If you were not born a genetic “strong”, which is nothing of any stress, you are not lucky? Is it worth knowing your genetic predisposition and what can be done to compensate for weaknesses? Genetics Valery Ilyinsky answers these questions.
Genetic tests can tell how we risk getting sick, which lifestyle is more suitable for us, which sport will help to come to form faster. What about temperament and character traits?
Researchers of the Genotek medical and genetic center studied the results of DNA tests of 2500 of their customers and found in 76% of them a gene option that increases stress resistance. The remaining 24% found a variant of the same gene with a mutation that is associated with low stress resistance.
What conclusions from this follow and what to do with the results?
Psychologies: 24% – not so few, almost every fourth. How this feature affects people’s lives?
Valery Ilyinsky: COMT gene, which we are talking about, is responsible for the transmission of nerve impulses in the brain. Specifically – regulates the levels of neurotransmitters of dopamine, adrenaline and norepinephrine using a certain enzyme. So, some people found a mutation that reduces the activity of this enzyme by 40%. This means that their brain reacts more acutely to negative incentives: such people feel thinner, shy, avoid danger and unknown, do not go to conflict.
That is, this is a kind of “breakdown” that prevents life?
I wouldn’t say that. It’s just more difficult for them to maintain self -control in crisis situations. But in peacetime they have an advantage in training and social adaptation.
And more specifically?
They have better memory and higher than the ability to learn. In general, according to the options of the COMT gene, people are divided into two types: conditional “warriors” who study worse, but less anxious and better tolerate pain, and “scientists” who cope with stress, but reflect well in a calm atmosphere, show ingenuity.
Natural division of labor?
You can say so. Negative mutations that do not contribute to survival are simply not transmitted further. Scientists suggest that the mutation in the COMT gene, which reduces stress resistance, also was also fixed by chance. Perhaps it gives an advantage in adaptation in difficult modern conditions, where success is more dependent on memory and ability to concentrate than on the ability to overcome pain and ignore the dangers.
And yet the ability to endure stress is important. Look at the requirements for a candidate for any vacancy – be sure to boil for the notorious stress resistance.
This is so, but it is important not to forget that genetic “scientists” have more chances to earn a nervous breakdown at work, if they have to constantly be under pressure, act quickly and decisively, conduct hard negotiations. But it’s easier for them to learn new things, it is easier to feel the mood of customers and colleagues, offer a constructive solution to the conflict.
Suppose I found a certain version of the gene. What follows from this? If I am a “scientist”, access to the air traffic controllers is closed to me?
A person with any COMT gene can work as an air traffic controller. Just “soldiers” need to pay attention to the development of memory, and “scientists” – to increase stress tolerance. Therefore, career guidance on genes in pure form is impossible: in addition to them, the education, daily routine, food, lifestyle, previous experience are affected by a person. A person is generally flexible – he is able to adapt to both environmental conditions and to the features of his own brain.
Is it worth it then to know about your genetically programmed reaction to stress? Maybe this will only limit people: they will abandon serious challenges, avoid loads.
We have a DNA test “Talents and Sports”, which parents often order for children. And there we study, including the COMT gene. Compensating for the features of COMT is best in childhood. Independently or with the help of a psychologist, teach a child to successfully cope with negative situations, understand and predict his reactions, use techniques to relieve stress.
According to customers, this knowledge is also useful for adults. Someone finally decides to leave the unloved work, making sure that stress is “genetically contraindicated”. Someone, on the contrary, for the first time truly pays attention to this problem, learns stress management techniques and, as a result, significantly increases the quality of life and performance. In any case, people become happier, as they begin to come to reactions more consciously.
How genetics affects psychological stability in comparison with education, culture, environment?
There are about 20 thousand genes in human genome, and the psyche consists of dozens of different aspects and features. Therefore, they usually compare a specific, measurable parameter – for example, a tendency to play leadership roles at work, formal and informal. According to 2006, this feature is 30% set genetically. For the role of genes in the stress resistance of quantitative assessments, it has not yet been possible to get: besides COMT, other genes and the interaction between them are still studied.
Reference
The gene is a DNA section that performs certain functions in the body and encodes the protein. It happens that the same gene exists in several versions. Then he works differently. For example, the gene responsible for the production of insulin pancreatic. One of its options can lead to a malfunction, and then instead of absorb glucose necessary for nutrition of muscles and liver cells, pancreatic cells will be destroyed and insulin production will be impossible. This gene variant will lead to the development of diabetes of the first type.
