There has actually been evidence for a few years now that meditation and some forms of interpersonal relational experience can increase (or stop the decrease in) telomere length. "A telomere is the region of repetitive nucleotide sequences at each end of a chromatid, which protects the end of the chromosome from deterioration or from fusion with neighbouring chromosomes" (Wikipedia) - the shorter the telomeres, the more "aging" the body has experienced through oxidative stress and other forms of deteriorative processes. Telomere dysfunction or shortening is commonly acquired during the process of tumor development. Other research has found that those with longer telomeres live longer, healthier lives.

I guess this is first time someone has looked at this in terms of breast cancer and meditation.

Meditation, support groups: Clear new evidence for mind-body connection demonstrated in study, researchers show

Date: November 3, 2014
Source: Alberta Health Services

Summary:
For the first time, researchers have shown that practising mindfulness meditation or being involved in a support group has a positive physical impact at the cellular level in breast cancer survivors.

A group working out of Alberta Health Services' Tom Baker Cancer Centre and the University of Calgary Department of Oncology has demonstrated that telomeres -- protein complexes at the end of chromosomes -- maintain their length in breast cancer survivors who practise meditation or are involved in support groups, while they shorten in a comparison group without any intervention.

Although the disease-regulating properties of telomeres aren't fully understood, shortened telomeres are associated with several disease states, as well as cell aging, while longer telomeres are thought to be protective against disease.

"We already know that psychosocial interventions like mindfulness meditation will help you feel better mentally, but now for the first time we have evidence that they can also influence key aspects of your biology," says Dr. Linda E. Carlson, PhD, principal investigator and director of research in the Psychosocial Resources Department at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre.

"It was surprising that we could see any difference in telomere length at all over the three-month period studied," says Dr. Carlson, who is also a U of C professor in the Faculty of Arts and the Cumming School of Medicine, and a member of the Southern Alberta Cancer Institute. "Further research is needed to better quantify these potential health benefits, but this is an exciting discovery that provides encouraging news."

The study was published online in the journal Cancer.

A total of 88 breast cancer survivors who had completed their treatments for at least three months were involved for the duration of the study. The average age was 55 and most participants had ended treatment two years prior. To be eligible, they also had to be experiencing significant levels of emotional distress.

In the Mindfulness-Based Cancer Recovery group, participants attended eight weekly, 90-minute group sessions that provided instruction on mindfulness meditation and gentle Hatha yoga, with the goal of cultivating non-judgmental awareness of the present moment. Participants were also asked to practise meditation and yoga at home for 45 minutes daily.

In the Supportive Expressive Therapy group, participants met for 90 minutes weekly for 12 weeks and were encouraged to talk openly about their concerns and their feelings. The objectives were to build mutual support and to guide women in expressing a wide range of both difficult and positive emotions, rather than suppressing or repressing them.

The participants randomly placed in the control group attended one, six-hour stress management seminar.

All study participants had their blood analysed and telomere length measured before and after the interventions.

Scientists have shown a short-term effect of these interventions on telomere length compared to a control group, but it's not known if the effects are lasting. Dr. Carlson says another avenue for further research is to see if the psychosocial interventions have a positive impact beyond the three months of the study period.

Allison McPherson was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008. When she joined the study, she was placed in the mindfulness-based cancer recovery group. Today, she says that experience has been life-changing.

"I was skeptical at first and thought it was a bunch of hocus-pocus," says McPherson, who underwent a full year of chemotherapy and numerous surgeries. "But I now practise mindfulness throughout the day and it's reminded me to become less reactive and kinder toward myself and others."

Study participant Deanne David was also placed in the mindfulness group.

"Being part of this made a huge difference to me," she says. "I think people involved in their own cancer journey would benefit from learning more about mindfulness and connecting with others who are going through the same things."


Story Source:
The above story is based on materials provided by Alberta Health Services. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Journal Reference:
Linda E. Carlson, Tara L. Beattie, Janine Giese-Davis, Peter Faris, Rie Tamagawa, Laura J. Fick, Erin S. Degelman, Michael Speca. (2014, Nov 3). Mindfulness-based cancer recovery and supportive-expressive therapy maintain telomere length relative to controls in distressed breast cancer survivors. Cancer; DOI: 10.1002/cncr.29063

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Mindfulness-based cancer recovery and supportive-expressive therapy maintain telomere length relative to controls in distressed breast cancer survivors

Linda E. Carlson, Tara L. Beattie, Janine Giese-Davis, Peter Faris, Rie Tamagawa, Laura J. Fick, Erin S. Degelman, and Michael Speca

BACKGROUND

Group psychosocial interventions including mindfulness-based cancer recovery (MBCR) and supportive-expressive group therapy (SET) can help breast cancer survivors decrease distress and influence cortisol levels. Although telomere length (TL) has been associated with breast cancer prognosis, the impact of these two interventions on TL has not been studied to date.

METHODS

The objective of the current study was to compare the effects of MBCR and SET with a minimal intervention control condition (a 1-day stress management seminar) on TL in distressed breast cancer survivors in a randomized controlled trial. MBCR focused on training in mindfulness meditation and gentle Hatha yoga whereas SET focused on emotional expression and group support. The primary outcome measure was relative TL, the telomere/single-copy gene ratio, assessed before and after each intervention. Secondary outcomes were self-reported mood and stress symptoms.

RESULTS

Eighty-eight distressed breast cancer survivors with a diagnosis of stage I to III cancer (using the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) TNM staging system) who had completed treatment at least 3 months prior participated. Using analyses of covariance on a per-protocol sample, there were no differences noted between the MBCR and SET groups with regard to the telomere/single-copy gene ratio, but a trend effect was observed between the combined intervention group and controls (F [1,84], 3.82; P = .054; η²  = .043); TL in the intervention group was maintained whereas it was found to decrease for control participants. There were no associations noted between changes in TL and changes in mood or stress scores over time.

CONCLUSIONS

Psychosocial interventions providing stress reduction and emotional support resulted in trends toward TL maintenance in distressed breast cancer survivors, compared with decreases in usual care. 

Early Childhood Stress and Adult Mental Illness - New Research

The title above is closely related to a project I have been working on for the past several weeks, whenever I have a little bit of free time. Nearly ALL mental illness can be traced to environmental stress and relational traumas. Finally, researchers are beginning to look into these relationships.

Below are pieces of four recent studies on the impact of chronic stress in children that have made it into the press. These articles are mostly looking at the physical health outcomes, but we know beyond a doubt that a whole spectrum of adverse childhood events leads to physical health issues as well as mental health issues.

As always, follow the links to read the whole article.

Chronic stress in early life causes anxiety, aggression in adulthood, neurobiologists find

Date: March 27, 2014
Source: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Summary:
In experiments to assess the impacts of social stress upon adolescent mice, both at the time they are experienced and during adulthood, a laboratory team conducted many different kinds of stress tests and means of measuring their impacts. The research indicates that a 'hostile environment in adolescence disturbs psychoemotional state and social behaviors of animals in adult life,' the team says.

Full Citation:
Irina L. Kovalenko, Anna G. Galyamina, Dmitry A. Smagin, Tatyana V. Michurina, Natalia N. Kudryavtseva, Grigori Enikolopov. Extended Effect of Chronic Social Defeat Stress in Childhood on Behaviors in Adulthood. PLoS ONE, 2014; 9 (3): e91762 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0091762

The above article is open access.

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Stress alters children's genomes

Poverty and unstable family environments shorten chromosome-protecting telomeres in nine-year-olds.

Jyoti Madhusoodanan
07 April 2014


Telomeres (shown in red) protect the ends of chromosomes from fraying over time. Pasieka/Science Photo Library

Growing up in a stressful social environment leaves lasting marks on young chromosomes, a study of African American boys has revealed. Telomeres, repetitive DNA sequences that protect the ends of chromosomes from fraying over time, are shorter in children from poor and unstable homes than in children from more nurturing families.

When researchers examined the DNA of 40 boys from major US cities at age 9, they found that the telomeres of children from harsh home environments were 19% shorter than those of children from advantaged backgrounds. The length of telomeres is often considered to be a biomarker of chronic stress.

The study, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences1, brings researchers closer to understanding how social conditions in childhood can influence long-term health, says Elissa Epel, a health psychologist at the University of California, San Francisco, who was not involved in the research.

Full Citation:
Mitchell, C. et al. (2014). Social disadvantage, genetic sensitivity, and children’s telomere length. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1404293111

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This number was 25% a couple of decades ago, and now it is 40%? What is happening with parenting that so many children lack secure parental bonds?

Four in 10 infants lack strong parental attachments

Date: March 27, 2014
Source: Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs

Summary:
In a study of 14,000 US children, 40 percent lack strong emotional bonds -- what psychologists call 'secure attachment' -- with their parents that are crucial to success later in life, according to a new report. The researchers found that these children are more likely to face educational and behavioral problems.

Full Citation:
The above story is based on materials provided by Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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This article is basically a review of the current research, although not an in-depth one, but it offers another glimpse into the ways environment impacts children - from Live Science.

The Truth About How Mom's Stress Affects Baby's Brain

By Stephanie Pappas, Senior Writer | February 24, 2014


A dancing robot is used to test babies' temperaments at the University of Denver lab of Elysia Poggi Davis. Credit: Stephanie Pappas for LiveScience

DENVER — My daughter is sitting in a high chair, watching a black-and-white robot almost as big as she is bust a move.

A Vegas floor show this is not, but for a 7-month-old, a dancing robot is either fascinating or terrifying. How my daughter (or any baby) responds to such a display can reveal the child's temperament. And that, among other things, is what brought us here to this cheerful neurodevelopment lab decorated with cartoons of zebras and giraffes.

Here at the University of Denver, psychologists are working to understand how the early environment affects a child's life course — but the environment that researchers Elysia Poggi Davis and Pilyoung Kim are interested in isn't just the home or the neighborhood, but also the womb.

Stress hormones (and medications that mimic them) may have long-lasting effects on infants, Davis and Kim have found. And exposure in the womb is where it all begins.