Can Trauma Be Inherited? [Watching Science YouTube]

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[The Financial News] Trauma may also be passed down across generations. However, it is explained that trauma can be healed through exercise, diet, and social connection.
According to the science YouTube channel "New Mind" on the 13th, a study published in Nature reported that when mice were exposed to a sweet cherry scent and then given an electric shock, they developed trauma in which the sweet cherry scent was soon perceived as a signal for an electric shock. Over time, this response appeared even in third-generation mice that had never actually experienced an electric shock after the cherry scent. In other words, trauma in which the cherry scent was perceived as fear was observed, and this was found to be tied to changes in the DNA structure of the grandparents’ sperm.
On this basis, researchers have suggested that traumatic memories may have the potential to be inherited across multiple generations.
For example, one study of survivors of The Holocaust found that their children, even though they had not directly experienced The Holocaust, carried the trauma as both a psychological and a biological legacy. This suggests that our experiences may affect our future descendants.
In fact, in the case of worms, it is explained that ancestral traumatic memories can persist for as many as 14 generations.
However, in humans as mammals, large-scale biological resetting takes place, which is thought to limit the extent to which trauma can be inherited.
In this context, New Mind said that ways for humans to overcome trauma include reducing exposure to traumatic experiences while engaging in appropriate exercise, following a nature-friendly diet, and maintaining social interaction.
Moderate exercise regularly stimulates neurogenesis and helps reactivate the brain’s regulatory circuits, and the condition of the body and gut has a direct impact on mental health. In particular, the most powerful form of healing is described as the healing capacity of collective intelligence: just as one receives comfort from many mourners at a funeral, it is explained that the human brain can evolve and heal through social connection.
jiany@fnnews.com Yeon Ji-an Reporter