You Are Not Powerless Over Your Genetic Code
In my book (The Abstinence Myth Book) there are four main camps vying for control and “victory” in the battle to be recognized as the most important factor in addiction; biology, psychology, environment, and spirituality. Since Biology is probably the most infamous, and the most misunderstood camp, we’ll be discussing it further in this article.
When trying to understand why someone is struggling with addiction most of the time people blame their faulty family genes. “My Uncle Frank drank himself to death, therefore addiction must run in the family.”
But what many people don’t realize is that there are MANY ways to biologically intervene/change your genetic code, ways that will either help you overcome your behavioral issues/ addictions or help you perpetuate them.
For example, pre-existing conditions such as anxiety or depression often lead people to self medicate with drugs, alcohol or food as a way to “fix” these issues. If you begin to rely on alcohol as a coping mechanism, you’ll likely develop other biological consequences as a result such as liver issues, memory loss or cancer. But if you were to dig deeper to find out why you are experiencing anxiety or depression to begin with, and find tools or methods that strengthen your biological response to stress, you would avoid any negative consequences altogether.
You have the power to intervene biologically and control which of your genes are activated.
Effects of Biological Intervention
There are two effects of biological intervention that you can expect to happen
Your state is your momentary way of being; the way you perceive the world, the way your body is activated, and your current thoughts and emotions. Some behavioral biological interventions will affect your state and have a momentary effect on your mental and physical being.
When you use drugs, watch porn, or eat donuts, for example, you will experience a change in state, a biological intervention. Anything you do that changes your biology for a period of time is considered a change in state.
If you repeatedly partake in a particular change of state over time, however, it can turn into trait based intervention which will cause more meaningful long-term changes in your biology.
The exciting part is that YOU get to decide which of your genes get activated and which genes get suppressed. If your gene code is the blueprint of who you are, epigenetics is the White Out that determines which of those genes actually get displayed to the world. The things that you do every day can override some of your genetic coding by repressing risk genes or activating protective genes.
Here are some things that I do daily to immediately activate protective genes:
I write in my Five Minute Journal in the morning as a way to tune into the positive aspects of my life, to express gratitude, and to plan out how I want to feel for the rest of the day. This practice prevents stress from being activated throughout the day thus keeping my anxiety levels to a minimum.
I drink Superfood Coffee to help me perk up with caffeine while also nourishing my body with adaptogens, good fats, and proteins. My Superfood Coffee includes ingredients such as cacao and maca which impacts the epigenetic activation of your genetic blueprint. These ingredients not only bring about an immediate change of state by increasing my energy levels but when used repeatedly over time, but they also bring about a change in trait, decreasing the likelihood that my stress genes will be activated throughout the day and improving my overall vitality.
Other Practices That Affect Your Epigenetics and Biology
It’s no surprise that practices like mindfulness and meditation affect your epigenetics and biology in the short and long term. Some easy mindfulness practices that you can incorporate into your life today include mindful walking and breathwork.
However, there are also other more sophisticated and clinical techniques that have incredible power in altering your brain.
For example, when I ran a treatment center in LA a few years back, we saw incredible results with techniques such as biofeedback and neurofeedback. You literally go into the treatment facility and a professional creates an intervention of electrodes and computer interfaces that is specifically formulated to help change your behavior. You then sit in front of a computer and complete a series of activities (similar to video games) while they alter the way your brain reacts.
Here’s how it works. Your state (how you feel in the moment whether relaxed, focused, sleepy, or activated) depends on the specific biological intervention. When these states are implemented frequently over a long period of time, they alter the trait. The altered trait can then last weeks, months, or even years after intervention. Muse and Circada are amazing treatments for biofeedback and neurofeedback for altering traits and rebuilding your own biology.
Another technique that is very beneficial and quite simple to use is measuring your heart rate variability (HRV). HRV has been researched almost more than any biological intervention that I know of (including a lot of medications on the market). HRV is your body and heart’s ability to control the rhythm of the activation of the four chambers of your heart. The more adaptable your heart is to your brain, the more your body is tailored to react to things as they happen in the environment. With the help of an HRV device such as Emwave, you can either turn up, turn down or change the rhythm of your HRV as the environment necessitates it. This can help reduce harmful behaviors that are induced by anxiety, stress, anger, etc.
Overcoming Alcohol Struggles
For those struggling with alcohol addiction, the moment that you take your first sip of alcohol your body reacts to the behavior. Oftentimes, you feel relieved from the moment the first sip touches your tongue. But that’s not the alcohol talking, it’s the response your body has developed overtime to the effects alcohol will deliver later. Luckily, there are things you can do to intervene such as making sure you stock your refrigerator with nonalcoholic beverages that you really enjoy drinking. You need to find something that replaces the euphoric feeling you get from pouring a glass of your go-to alcoholic drink. Some of my favorite alternatives to alcohol that taste amazing and give you the same joy from the first sip are Tost, Amass , and Damrak Gin. Replacing alcoholic drinks with these healthier alternatives is a way to intervene with the biological effect that these substances have when they enter your body. While in recovery, it’s so important to replace the substance (or behavior) with something that reinforces a new, healthier, habit.
Ruling Out Hormonal Imbalance
After many years of meth use and other abuse to my body I had low energy and was fatigued all the time. No matter how much I worked out I couldn’t get into shape and no matter how much I slept I still had no energy - my body was a complete mess. After years of feeling awful, I finally went to my physician where they did bloodwork. It was there that I learned my thyroid gland hadn’t been functioning properly causing a lot of my hormones to be imbalanced. If you’re experiencing low energy, weight gain, weight loss, or any changes in your libido, focus, or motivation, you might have a hormone imbalance.
Instead of going on antidepressants or other medications, the usual route doctors want you to take, I used Helix to help me get to the root cause of my problems. Helix provides at-home visits and full hormone reports. After I dove deeper into my reports, I was able to incorporate supplements and diet changes in order to lose weight, get my energy back and start feeling like myself again.
You’re Never Stuck
You may not be able to change the color of your eyes, your height, or your bone structure, but you can certainly change how they function by intervening on a biological level.
Here’s what we are not going to do though...continue to blame your Uncle Frank for your struggles with alcohol thus giving up all hope of ever overcoming them. Because the truth of the matter is that you are never stuck with your “addictive genes.” You absolutely have the power to engage in behaviors TODAY that will help you not only change your current state but also your future traits.
If you or a loved one is struggling with addiction and wants a shame-free approach to break free, the IGNTD Hero Program is here to help with a free 14 day trial.
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