Health Watch: DNA Stress Test
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Are you stressed out? Worried it's affecting your health? Now there's about to be a way to check and fix potential problems before they happen.
Like many working moms, Lisa Aliferis crams a lot into life. Every day starts with a bang.
"Feed 'em breakfast, get 'em dressed, get 'em out the door, get them to school and then I go to work. Stress is a constant part of my life, and mostly it plays out in this feeling of always having to be somewhere exactly on time and having very little leeway," said Lisa.
Stress is known to cause a variety of problems, from headaches to heart disease.
And now scientists have found a way to figure out who's most likely to develop stress related ailments. It's in your DNA, things called telomeres. They're caps at the end of chromosomes that protect your DNA.
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"Telomeres have often been compared to the little plastic tips at the end of a shoe lace," said Dr. Calvin Harley, with Telome Health in California.
And just like the tip of a shoe lace, telomeres fray with age, or stress. Shortened telomeres can put you at a higher risk of cancer, heart disease, even dementia. And stress speeds up the process.
"Chronic stress itself is causing accelerated cellular aging through telomere shortening," said Dr. Harley. He has developed a test that can accurately measure the length of an individual's telomeres.
"Very short telomeres are what are behind a lot of different age related diseases," said Dr. Harley.
The good news, telomeres are the one part of your DNA you can actually change.
"They can shrink or increase in length depending upon your lifestyle and risk exposures," said Dr. Harley.
Simple things like a better diet, or exercise, can reverse stress related DNA damage. For someone like Lisa, it could be a lifesaver.
The DNA stress test, done with saliva or blood, is expected to be available this fall.
RELATED LINK:
Telome Health - http://telomehealth.com/html/faqs/faqs.html#HowCanIGetMyTLtested
Reported by Stephanie Stahl, CBS 3
