For years, we’ve been told that our genes dictate our health—our risk for disease, how we age, and even our longevity. But what if that’s not entirely true? What if you had the power to influence how your genes behave, steering them toward health rather than disease?

Welcome to the fascinating world of epigenetics—where science is proving that your daily choices shape your genetic destiny far more than you might think. As a Health Coach with a specialist background in Molecular Genetics and Epigenetics, this is an area that I’m passionate about and one in which I draw on with my clients to help them to achieve incredible results.

Epigenetics is the study of how external factors—such as diet, lifestyle, stress, and environmental exposures—affect gene expression without altering the DNA sequence itself. Think of your DNA as the hardware of a computer and epigenetics as the software that tells it what to do. The code remains the same, but the way it functions depends on the instructions it receives.

So, while you may have inherited certain genetic predispositions from your parents, your lifestyle largely determines whether those genes remain dormant or become activated—for better or worse.

For years, we’ve been told that ageing is inevitable—that our genetics determine how we grow older and what diseases we’ll face. But exciting new research is proving otherwise. Scientists now understand that our biological age (bio age)—how old our body actually functions at a cellular level—doesn’t have to match our chronological age. In fact, your bio age can move in reverse with the right lifestyle interventions.

This shift in understanding comes down to epigenetics—the study of how our environment and behaviors influence gene expression. While we inherit a set of genes from our parents, it’s our daily choices that determine how those genes are turned on or off. Through epigenetic processes like DNA methylation, we have the power to influence how our bodies age and whether we remain vibrant and disease-free as we grow older.