Dasanayaka Nirodhi Namika, Sirisena Nirmala Dushyanthi, Samaranayake Nilakshi
Research Promotion and Facilitation Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Department of Anatomy, Genetics & Biomedical Informatics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Front Psychol. 2023 Jul 14;14:1222863. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1222863. eCollection 2023.
Telomeres are protective end caps of chromosomes which naturally shorten with each cell division and thus with age. Short telomeres have been associated with many age-related diseases. Meditation has come to the fore as a mind-body practice which could influence the telomere dynamics underlying these phenomena. We previously reported meditation to be associated with higher telomerase levels, mindfulness and quality of life. Here, reporting on the same study population, we describe associations between long-term meditation and telomere length (TL), expression of and genes and methylation of the promoter region of gene.
Thirty healthy meditators and matched non-meditators were recruited. TL was measured using quantitative PCR, gene expression was assessed using reverse transcriptase PCR, and methylation level was quantified by bisulfite-specific PCR followed by Sanger sequencing. Comparisons between meditators and controls were carried out using t-tests, while Pearson correlation was used to identify correlations, and regression was used to identify predictors.
Males comprised 63.4% of each group with an average age of 43 years. On average, they had meditated daily for 5.82 h (±3.45) for 6.8 years (±3.27). Meditators had longer relative TLs ( = 0.020), and TL decreased with age ( < 0.001) but was not associated with other socio-demographic variables. Regression analysis showed that age ( < 0.001) and duration of meditation ( = 0.003) significantly predicted TL. The meditators showed higher relative expression of ( = 0.020) and ( = 0.029) genes while the methylation level of the promoter region of gene was significantly lower when compared to non-meditators ( < 0.001). Negative correlations were identified between the methylation level of the promoter region of gene and the expression of the gene ( = 0.001) and duration of meditation ( = 0.001).
The findings suggest that meditation as a lifestyle practice has multi-level beneficial effects on telomere dynamics with potential to promote healthy aging.
端粒是染色体的保护性末端帽，随着每次细胞分裂以及年龄增长而自然缩短。短端粒与许多与年龄相关的疾病有关。冥想作为一种身心练习已崭露头角，它可能会影响这些现象背后的端粒动态。我们之前报道过冥想与更高的端粒酶水平、正念和生活质量相关。在此，基于同一研究人群，我们描述长期冥想与端粒长度（TL）、 基因和 基因的表达以及 基因启动子区域甲基化之间的关联。
招募了30名健康的冥想者和匹配的非冥想者。使用定量PCR测量TL，使用逆转录PCR评估基因表达，并通过亚硫酸氢盐特异性PCR随后进行桑格测序来定量甲基化水平。使用t检验对冥想者和对照组进行比较，同时使用皮尔逊相关性来确定相关性，并使用回归来确定预测因素。
每组中男性占63.4%，平均年龄为43岁。平均而言，他们每天冥想5.82小时（±3.45），持续6.8年（±3.27）。冥想者具有更长的相对端粒长度（ = 0.020），端粒长度随年龄下降（ < 0.001），但与其他社会人口统计学变量无关。回归分析表明年龄（ < 0.001）和冥想持续时间（ = 0.003）显著预测端粒长度。与非冥想者相比，冥想者显示出 基因（ = 0.020）和 基因（ = 0.029）的相对表达更高，而 基因启动子区域的甲基化水平显著更低（ < 0.001）。在 基因启动子区域的甲基化水平与 基因的表达（ = 0.001）和冥想持续时间（ = 0.001）之间发现了负相关。
研究结果表明，冥想作为一种生活方式对端粒动态具有多层次的有益影响，具有促进健康衰老的潜力。
