Trauma in Childhood Damages DNA
“A new Tulane University School of Medicine study finds that the more fractured families are by domestic violence or trauma, the more likely that children will bear the scars down to their DNA.”
This is where science and spirituality meet. Interestingly and synchronistically, the article I wrote yesterday was about the effects of stress, and how meditation could address this.
If this finding is true, then we must also consider the effects of violent computer games, watching violent films, witnessing parents arguing…what cumulative effect do these have? Trauma can be very subtle, and can take the guise of righteousness.
Buddhism is well aware of suffering. In one prayer it says, “…from time without beginning, wandering in samsara, beings experience unendurable suffering”.
The point is, that this research is about children...and we were all children!
http://tulane.edu/news/releases/family-violence-leaves-genetic-imprint.cfm
“Children who witness domestic violence often bear emotional scars, but now a study has found that seeing family members being hurt can also scar a child’s DNA.
Young people in homes affected by domestic violence or suicide have significantly shorter telomeres – or ‘caps’ on their genes – than those in stable households.
Such genetic damage could also increase the child’s risk of heart disease, obesity and other problems as they grow up.”
“Telomeres are the caps at the end of chromosomes that keep them from shrinking when cells replicate.
Their role is to protect the end of the chromosome from deterioration or from fusion with neighbouring chromosomes.
Over time, due to the division of cells, the telomere ends become shorter, but they are replenished by an enzyme.
Shorter telomeres are a cellular marker of ageing.
Shorter telomeres are also linked to higher risks for heart disease, obesity, cognitive decline, diabetes and mental illness.”
Here I have to say that I have a problem with Buddhists. They know that suffering exists, and that the cause of suffering is in our own minds. However, there is no discussion about the evil environment in which we live: when governments create poverty and war, and at the same time allow uncontrolled immigration, there is bound to be tension in society because people find they can’t cope. This has an effect on family life. My contention is that governments and psychologists know all this – and I believe it’s done on purpose: the more stress people are under, the easier it is to control them. As shown in the research above, this stress can result in physical and mental illness.
The reason this is important is that people need to realise that the struggles they may be encountering are not all their fault.
BUDDHA IN THE MUD is a blog - a living book based on the Dzogchen teachings. Our teacher is life, and life is karma. We are all Buddhas in the mud of concepts. 
Makes sense to me…I’ve spent last 40 years trying to understand the who,what,where, and why, constantly trying to overcome and undo the damage done to me in the first ten years !