The Stress in Your Genes
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How Your Body Adapts for Survival
The winter of 1944-45 was brutal for people living in the western Netherlands. World War II was raging across Europe and German soldiers had taken control of their country.
Not only was the weather bitterly cold, the Germans restricted access to food in hopes that starvation would weaken the Dutch resistance. Known as the Dutch Hunger Winter, people struggled to survive on a third of their normal amount of food. More than 20,000 people died in those six frigid months.
Years later, doctors noticed something puzzling about the babies conceived that winter. Not only were they fatter than the other members of their families, it was very hard for them to lose weight. When these babies grew up and had children of their own, those children were also overweight.
Eventually, researchers figured out why. While these babies had been developing inside their malnourished mothers, the stress of starvation prepared their bodies for life in a world where food was scarce. The famine did not change the babies’ genes; it modified how they were expressed.
As a result, the babies of the Dutch Hunger Winter had a lower metabolism to optimize fat storage. By the time they were born, however, food was plentiful so these children struggled with obesity all their lives.
Despite never experiencing starvation directly, Dutch Hunger Winter babies passed these biological adaptations along to subsequent generations. Their descendants also had low metabolism and were prone to obesity.
What is Gene Expression?
The houses in my neighborhood share the same basic design but each one is slightly different. Some houses have a garage while others have a front porch. The blueprint is the same for every house, but the builder chooses to include or omit certain parts of the blueprint based on external factors such as the shape of the lot.
Like the blueprint for a house, your genes provide the building plan for your body. Characteristics like the color of your eyes and the texture of your hair are encoded in your genes.
Every cell in your body contains a copy of your entire genetic blueprint. But like the builder, your body varies how it follows the plan. Genetic expression is the process of determining which sections of our genetic blueprint are used—or expressed.
Your body relies on cues from the environment to decide which genes to express. This is why a woman with the BRCA1 gene mutation for breast cancer may never develop the disease. Although she is at higher risk for breast cancer, environmental influences determine whether it will be expressed…or not.
Environmental influences on gene expression include your persistent thoughts and emotions, as well as lifestyle factors such as exercise, nutrition, stress management, and exposure to toxins such as nicotine and alcohol. Cancer researchers estimate that 90 percent of cancer cases result from lifestyle factors.
Lifestyle choices don’t change our genes…just how they are expressed.
The Stress in Your Genes
Survival is your body’s highest priority. For the babies conceived during the Dutch Hunger Winter, the stress of starvation prepared them to survive on less food. But there are other stressors that influence genetic expression.
Children are particularly vulnerable. Research has discovered genetic adaptations in children exposed to:
Abuse (physical, verbal, or sexual)
High stress and uncertainty
Financial insecurity
Bullying or social isolation
Separation from parents through circumstances such as death, divorce, or placement in the foster care system
These children’s bodies adapted for life in a world that feels dangerous and unpredictable. Studies have revealed the following impacts of stress-induced gene expression in these children:
Hypersensitivity to perceived threats: imagine a malfunctioning fire alarm that blares when just the tiniest increase in temperature is detected. For some children, life can feel like living in a house where the fire alarm rings all the time. The ‘all clear’ signal never comes. As a result, they are at a higher risk for depression, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Serotonin imbalance: they have lower levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin, nicknamed the “happiness chemical” for its role in regulating mood, sleep, digestion, and wound healing. Symptoms of low serotonin include irritability, sadness, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, and panic attacks.
Chronic inflammation: their cells have more inflammation “on” switches and less “off” switches. Chronic inflammation increases our risk for diseases affecting the heart, lungs, weight gain, and digestive issues such as inflammatory bowel disease. Rheumatoid arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, and cancer are also associated with inflammation in overdrive.
As with the children of the Dutch Hunger Winter, these genetic adaptations can occur before a baby is born if mom experienced violence or other forms of extreme stress while pregnant.
Children do not outgrow these genetic adaptations. Instead, they persist into adulthood unless environmental cues of safety prompt the body to express genes differently.
How to Enhance Gene Expression
The good news is that—unlike your genetic blueprint—gene expression can change. As we have learned, your body adapts the expression of genes in response to environmental cues.
Here are some ideas for encouraging healthful gene expression. For more practical tips, check out my book, Eight Intentions for Self-Healing.
Lifestyle Medicine: The six pillars of lifestyle medicine provide natural ways to support healthy gene expression. This article describes the six pillars and offers suggestions for integrating lifestyle medicine into your daily routine.
Energy Medicine: techniques such as breathing exercises, tapping, and humming are also helpful. Practice along with me with videos from this playlist.
Intentional Focus: Pay attention to your inner dialogue and how it makes you feel. Notice when worry, doubt, or anxiety take center stage and gently redirect your focus to your blessings. I begin every day with the mantra, I am the keeper of my body and my mind. I choose what to let in.
Whether the stress arises from famine, childhood adversity, or other hardships, gene expression is one way our body protects itself. Unfortunately, our health is compromised when those survival adaptations persist past when they are needed. By intentionally cultivating an environment of health and safety, we can lessen the impact of stress on gene expression.
Eight Intentions for Self-Healing
References
Zimmer, Carl. “The Famine Ended 70 Years Ago, but Dutch Genes Still Bear Scars.” The New York Times. Jan 21 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/31/science/dutch-famine-genes.html
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“Cancer Mythbusters: Cancer Genetics and Prevention.” Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Accessed May 22, 2026. https://www.dana-farber.org/health-library/cancer-mythbusters-cancer-genetics-prevention
Slopen N, Kubzansky LD, McLaughlin KA, Koenen KC. “Childhood adversity and inflammatory processes in youth: a prospective study.” Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2013 Feb;38(2):188-200. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2012.05.013. Epub 2012 Jun 21. PMID: 22727478; PMCID: PMC3632283
Slopen, Natalie et al. “Early origins of inflammation: An examination of prenatal and childhood social adversity in a prospective cohort study.” Psychoneuroendocrinology vol. 51 (2015): 403-13. doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2014.10.016
Cunliffe, Vincent E. “The Epigenetic Impacts of Social Stress: How Does Social Adversity Become Biologically Embedded?” Epigenomics, Nov 21, 2016. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5289034/
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Tyrka, Audrey R et al. “Childhood adversity and epigenetic regulation of glucocorticoid signaling genes: Associations in children and adults.” Development and psychopathology vol. 28,4pt2 (2016): 1319-1331. doi:10.1017/S0954579416000870
Slavich, G. M. (in press). Psychoneuroimmunology of stress and mental health. In K. Harkness & E. P. Hayden (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of stress and mental health. New York: Oxford University Press.
Slavich, George M, and Michael R Irwin. “From stress to inflammation and major depressive disorder: a social signal transduction theory of depression.” Psychological bulletin vol. 140,3 (2014): 774-815. doi:10.1037/a0035302
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