The direct connection between a person’s actions and their genes has never been clearer.
Picture this: your life isn’t a script carved into stone by your DNA. It’s more like a dynamic novel—one you get to rewrite, edit, and shape with every decision you make. While our ancestors handed us a genetic blueprint, it turns out we hold the pen.
Sure, your genes play a role in defining who you are—from your personality quirks to potential health risks like diabetes or heart disease. But here’s the kicker: they’re not the whole story. Your daily choices, from what you eat to how you manage stress, have a louder voice than you might think. Imagine having the power to influence your genetic destiny. You do.
This isn’t science fiction; it’s cutting-edge research, championed by Harvard’s Professor of Neurology Rudy Tanzi and the ever-curious Dr. Deepak Chopra in their groundbreaking book, Super Genes. Their message? You’re not just living with the genes you’re born with; you’re actively in conversation with them. And the way you live can drastically improve your well-being.
“Just as our lifestyle and our choices are redefining our brain every single day, there’s also a parallel story with our genes,” says Dr. Tanzi. “The genes we got from our parents are not cast in stone. You cannot change your DNA sequence of the genes themselves, but every choice you make and every interaction and experience you have is changing your gene activity. And ultimately, that’s affecting your health and well-being.”
Think about that. Your morning jog, your meditation practice, even your decision to swap out fries for a salad—they’re not just good habits. They’re genetic influencers, flipping switches inside you that determine how your body responds to the world.
Dr. Tanzi dives deeper, explaining that repetitive actions, whether good or bad, shape not just our brains but our genes. Over time, these patterns become automatic. This is where both opportunity and risk come into play.
“If you are making the right choices every day, your gene activities are automatically serving you because you’ve trained them. Those changes become more permanent, so now your brain is working for you as well as your gene activities. That is what we call Super Genes.
Both your genome and your brain are highly vulnerable to repetition,” he explains. “On the other side of the coin, if you engage in bad habits and are doing things that are detrimental to you, your genes will begin to retain the acts the same way, and they won’t serve you.”
This phenomenon is known as epigenetics—the science of how behaviors and environment can cause changes that affect the way your genes work. It’s not just theoretical. In a striking study published in Nature Neuroscience, researchers discovered that mice could inherit fear responses to specific smells from their fathers, despite never having encountered those smells or their fathers themselves.
Now, if you’re thinking, “Wait, does that mean my stress could affect my future kids?” the answer is a resounding… maybe. While we’re still uncovering the depths of this science in humans, early evidence suggests that our choices ripple beyond our own lives.
Dr. Chopra puts it bluntly: “This information is going to be very frightening to those who believe that mutations are entirely random. Darwin didn’t know anything about DNA—genes hadn’t yet been discovered. He was way ahead of his time, but his theory is entirely mechanistic. These genetic marks that are created by the epigenome influence the activity of genes in the next generation.”
Pause and let that sink in. Only five percent of disease-related gene mutations are fully penetrant, meaning they’re guaranteed to cause disease. The other 95%? They’re influenced by factors we can control. This is revolutionary. It shifts the narrative from fatalism to empowerment.
And here’s where it gets even more fascinating: epigenetic changes, unlike gene mutations, are reversible. That’s right. You can potentially undo some of the genetic expressions shaped by past choices. Think of it like editing a draft instead of being stuck with the first version forever.
The linchpin to all of this? Self-awareness. You can’t change what you’re not conscious of.
“One of the problems in science right now that most people don’t talk about is the second most open question. Where is consciousness and how does experience happen? This is called the hard problem of consciousness. It is not known. The answer is not known,” says Dr. Chopra. “But what we do know is that experience happens in consciousness. At the level of providing advice, it is to remind ourselves that at every moment we are always making choices.”
Every decision you make creates an experience. Every experience rewires your brain and shifts your gene activity. Think of your life as a series of micro-decisions, each one casting a vote for the person you want to become.
So, what does this mean for you? It means your habits matter. Not just for today, but for your future self—and possibly for generations to come. It means you have more power than you’ve been led to believe. And it means that even small changes, when done consistently, can have a monumental impact.
You’re not just living out your genes. You’re leading them.
So, the next time you’re faced with a choice, big or small, ask yourself: Is this decision serving my future self? Because in the grand narrative of your life, you’re not just the protagonist. You’re the author.