Telomere Length Important for Health
Elizabeth Blackburn (who won the Nobel Prize for medicine in 2009) gave a spectacular plenary lecture at the 2013 meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, in which she described the role of telomeres in psychiatric and other medical disorders. Telomeres are the strands of DNA at the end of each chromosome that protect the integrity of the DNA each time the cell replicates. The end is capped to prevent damage, degeneration, and genetic instability. A minimum length must be maintained for the protection of the cells.
Telomeres shorten with aging and with each cell replication. They also shorten as a function of childhood adversity, stressors in adulthood, and number of episodes of depression. When a cell’s telomeres get too short, the cell enters a period of senescence, meaning it no longer replicates. Senescence is associated with a variety of adverse events, including the possibility of apoptosis (cell death), pro-inflammatory effects, and pro-tumor effects. The cell can begin to resemble a rotten apple that spreads its ill effects to others nearby. These effects can predispose a person to diseases such as diabetes, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety disorders, pulmonary fibrosis, aplastic anemia, cardiovascular disorders (stroke and heart attack), osteoarthritis, immune abnormalities, dementia (in women), and premature aging.
Certain lifestyle alterations can increase telomere length, such as mindfulness/yoga training, exercise, sleep, omega-3 fatty acids, and having a positive purpose or meaning in life. Telomeres can also be lengthened by a synthetic enzyme called telomerase.
Other lifestyle factors can shorten telomeres or make telomerase less effective. Chronic stress can decrease the activity of telomerase by 50%. For people serving as the caregiver of a loved one, the longer the duration of this stress, the shorter the length of telomeres. High levels of what Blackburn described as cynical hostility also decrease telomere length.
Editor’s Note: Here we have more evidence that stress can affect our genes. We have written before about epigenetics, the study of the process by which environmental events such as stress can leave behind methyl and acetyl groups on DNA and histones that affect how easily DNA is turned on or off. Now it seems that stress can also have profound effects on the telomeres that cap each strand of DNA and keep it stable. An overly high proportion of short chromosomes is associated with a range of psychiatric and medical illnesses. This type of non-hereditary influence on genes could mediate some of the long-term effects of the environment on health. The good news for patients with bipolar disorder is that M. Schalling et al. found that treatment with lithium lengthened telomeres. Perhaps the bottom line of this whole collection of fascinating data is: Take good care of your telomeres, and they will take care of you.
Proven Treatments for Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
At the 2012 meeting of the Collegium Internationale Neuro-Psychopharmacologicum (CINP), a symposium was held to discuss fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, two illnesses that remain mysterious.
Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia is more common in women than in men and is characterized by aching all over, decreased sleep, stiffness upon waking, and most prominently, being tired all day, as well as a host of other symptoms including headache, dizziness, and gastrointestinal upset. Researcher Siegried Kasper suggested that treating fibromyalgia requires more than just medication. His approach is known as MESS, which stands for medication, exercise, sleep management, and stress management.
Medications to treat the illness include milnacipran (not available in the US), duloxetine (Cymbalta, a serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor or SNRI), or pregabalin (Lyrica), and if tolerated, low doses of the tricyclic amitriptyline (Elavil).
According to Kasper, SSRIs and anti-inflammatory drugs don’t work, and benzodiazepines decrease the deepest phase of sleep (stage 4) and can exacerbate the syndrome.
Recommended exercise is moderate, graded (to a pulse of about 120, or at a level where the patient can still talk, but can’t sing), and should be done in the early morning rather than the late afternoon where it might interfere with sleep.
Good sleep hygiene is recommended, such as keeping the same sleep schedule every day and abstaining from caffeine (even in the morning).
Working on developing active coping strategies for stressors that are likely to occur is a good idea. Mindfulness and other meditative techniques may also be helpful. Joining a support group (that encourages exercise rather than discouraging it) was also recommended.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
At the CINP meeting researcher Simon Wessely discussed chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), which has many overlaps with fibromyalgia. He reported that careful controlled study of more than 15,000 individuals has not indicated that the illness is associated with a viral infection. Just as many people with and without chronic fatigue syndrome were found to be infected with a virus.
However, like the myth that vaccines cause autism, the myth that chronic fatigue is associated with a virus remains popular despite the lack of evidence. A large randomized study validated Wessely’s treatment techniques, but he has continued to be vilified for the position that the illness is not virally based. The study showed that patients who participated in cognitive behavior therapy and graded exercise improved more than those who received conventional medical management.
Wessely thought the most important cognitive change to make was accepting that exercise is not harmful for patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, and is in fact helpful and therapeutic. Many older treatment approaches had advocated rest, rest, and more rest, or even “intensive rest.” However, Wessely indicated that this would be counter-productive, as the patient would lose muscle mass and cardiovascular conditioning, and would become even more tired and chronically fatigued.
Meditation Improves Mood and White Matter Integrity
New research shows that regular meditation in the form of mindfulness training improves both mood and measures of white matter (axon tract) integrity and plasticity in the anterior cingulate cortex (a key node in the brain network modulating self-regulation).
This research by Tang et al. published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2012 was a continuation of the same research group’s investigation of integrative mind-body training (IMBT), a type of mindfulness training that incorporates increased awareness of body, breathing, and attention to external instructions meant to induce a state of balanced relaxation and focused attention. In a previous Tang et al. study comparing participants who received IMBT training with a control group who spent the same amount of time doing relaxation training, the participants who practiced IMBT for five days (20 minutes/day) had better scores on measures of attention, anxiety, depression, anger, fatigue, and energy. In another study the researchers found that four weeks of IMBT (30 minutes/day) increased fractional anisotrophy (FA) in white matter areas involving the anterior cingulate cortex, while four weeks of relaxation training did not bring about any effect on white matter. Decrease in FA is a part of aging. The four weeks of IMBT also decreased axial and radial diffusivity, suggesting better alignment of axons along white matter tracts.
In the most recent study, two weeks of IMBT (30 minutes/day) produced a reduction in axial diffusivity, but not effects on fractional anisotrophy or radial diffusivity, suggesting that the reduced axial diffusivity leads to the other changes seen with longer IMBT.
Editor’s Note: In those with unresolved problems with anxiety and depression, regular 20-30 minutes/day mindfulness practice may have beneficial effects not only on mood, but also on central nervous system structures. Mindfulness training involves focused attention on sequentially different parts of the body leading to exclusive focus on the physical aspects of breathing in and out. Intruding thoughts are recognized, but let go as trivial, passing interruptions, and focus is returned to the body and breathing. The aim is to clear the mind of its usual ideas, thoughts, and worries by continually refocusing on breathing. It takes practice to achieve, but regular mindfulness training can be a helpful addition to pharmaco- and psychotherapy.
It is also noteworthy that mindfulness training is one of the processes that helps elongate the ends of each strand of DNA, called telomeres. Telomeres shorten with aging, stress, and episodes of depression, and short telomeres lead to a variety of adverse medical consequences.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy Effective for Adolescents with Bipolar Disorder
As we posted yesterday, therapeutic approaches appear necessary for childhood-onset bipolar disorder. In a poster at the Pediatric Bipolar Conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts in March, Tina Goldstein of Western Psychiatric Institute in Pittsburgh presented an open study indicating that dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) was effective for adolescents with bipolar disorder. This is the second study that has produced these results. In DBT, patients are taught coping skills and mindfulness in order to break the cycle of responding to dysregulated emotions with problematic behaviors.
