New research shows that a holiday can boost wellbeing genes – and that benefits are even greater when wellness programmes are added to the mix. Katie Barnes reports

While it’s known that having a holiday can help us switch off mentally, the physical benefits of getting away from it all aren’t so well documented. A study released this August*, however, has found that a vacation of just six days sets off genetic changes which can reduce stress, boost the immune system and decrease symptoms of depression and dementia.

What’s more, trips that include wellness programmes such as meditation, yoga and self-reflection increase our wellbeing even more – and the effects last for up to one month.

“It’s intuitive that taking a vacation reduces biological processes related to stress,” says the study’s first author, Dr Elissa Epel of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). “However, it was still impressive to see the large changes in gene expression as a result of being away from the busy pace of life, in a relaxing environment, in such a short period of time.”

Chopra retreat
The study – conducted by scientists from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai UCSF and Harvard Medical School, and published in Translational Psychiatry in August – involved 94 healthy women aged between 30 and 60 years.

Half of the participants were selected at random to join a meditation retreat at the Chopra Centre for Wellbeing in California for six days, while the other half simply holidayed there. The programme included training in mantra meditation, yoga and self-reflection exercises.

Sixty-four women in the study were new to meditation, while 30 others regularly practised the discipline. For greater insight into the long-term effects of what scientists dubbed the ‘meditation effect’ compared to the ‘vacation effect’, the team also observed a group of 30 experienced meditators who were enrolled on the Chopra programme that week.

The researchers collected blood samples for genetic analysis and self-reported surveys on wellbeing before and directly after the holiday, as well as a month and 10 months later.

Gene activity
The results from the study show that all groups – novice meditators, experienced meditators and vacationers – had significant changes in molecular patterns after a week at the resort. The most notable changes in gene activity were related to stress response and immune function.

However, the wellbeing surveys showed that novice meditators had fewer symptoms of depression and less stress for far longer than those who were just on holiday. They reported significantly more positive effects in both the one-month and 10-month follow up data.

More research is needed to determine whether similar effects can occur at home compared to a resort setting.

Expert insight
Epel – a professor of psychiatry at UCSF, and an expert on the subject of telomeres and cellular ageing – says the effects on mental health lasted longer in the group trained in meditation because “it leaves you with more than a residue of peace and calm”. Meditation enables people to observe their thoughts without getting sucked into them, she adds.

However, Epel also believes the benefits aren’t restricted just to meditation. She explains: “There are many other activities – mainly mind-body ones – that can produce this enhanced state and leave people with a new practice or daily discipline.”

The findings of the study, which was part-funded by The Chopra Foundation, align neatly with the growing body of evidence which shows that genes can be altered by healthy lifestyle changes.

In an exclusive interview with HCM’s sister magazine Spa Business last year, alternative health guru Dr Deepak Chopra said: “Even though we all have genetic dispositions, it’s now known that biological ageing is influenced by lifestyle habits and daily activities such as exercise, diet, meditation, stress management and quality of sleep.

“By making conscious choices and focused awareness, we choose to have a joyful energetic body, a restful alert mind and lightness of being.”

*Epel, ES and Schadt EE et al. Meditation and vacation effects have an impact on disease-associated molecular phenotypes.

Translational Psychiatry. 30 August 2016