Exploring Epigenetic Age in Response to Intensive Relaxing Training: A Pilot Study to Slow Down Biological Age

Abstract

DNA methylation (DNAm) is an emerging estimator of biological aging, i.e., the often-defined “epigenetic clock”, with a unique accuracy for chronological age estimation (DNAmAge). In this pilot longitudinal study, we examine the hypothesis that intensive relaxing training of 60 days in patients after myocardial infarction and in healthy subjects may influence leucocyte DNAmAge by turning back the epigenetic clock. Moreover, we compare DNAmAge with another mechanism of biological age, leucocyte telomere length (LTL) and telomerase. DNAmAge is reduced after training in healthy subjects (p = 0.053), but not in patients. LTL is preserved after intervention in healthy subjects, while it continues to decrease in patients (p = 0.051). The conventional negative correlation between LTL and chronological age becomes positive after training in both patients (p < 0.01) and healthy subjects (p < 0.05). In our subjects, DNAmAge is not associated with LTL. Our findings would suggest that intensive relaxing practices influence different aging molecular mechanisms, i.e., DNAmAge and LTL, with a rejuvenating effect. Our study reveals that DNAmAge may represent an accurate tool to measure the effectiveness of lifestyle-based interventions in the prevention of age-related diseases.

One-year Mediterranean diet promotes epigenetic rejuvenation with country- and sex-specific effects: a pilot study from the NU-AGE project

“…Only two works have been recently published on this topic. Firstly, Pavanello et al examined the hypothesis that an intensive relaxing training of 60 days may influence epigenetic age by turning back the epigenetic clock (Pavanello et al 2019) (Pavanello et al 2019). They observed a trend to a reduction in DNAm age (estimated with the model proposed by Zbiec-Piekarska et al (Zbieć-Piekarska et al 2015) after training in six healthy subjects, but the effect was not statistically significant (p = 0.053).…”

Reversal of Epigenetic Age with Diet and Lifestyle in a Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial

“…Twice-daily breathing exercises that elicit the Relaxation Response were prescribed for stress reduction. It was recently demonstrated that 60 days of relaxation practice designed to elicit the Relaxation Response, 20 minutes twice per day, could significantly reduce DNAmAge as measured by the Zbieć-Piekarska clock in their group of healthy participants (though not in their 'patient' group) (Pavanello et al, 2019). Almost a quarter of the DNAmAge CpG sites (85/353) are located in glucocorticoid response elements, pointing to a likely relationship between stress and accelerated aging.…”

Sounds Stimulation on In Vitro HL1 Cells: A Pilot Study and a Theoretical Physical Model

“…The possible biophysical and molecular mechanisms underlying the heart–brain correlation have been discussed [ 12 ] and it has been shown [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ] how the practice of relaxation response (RR) improves coronary blood flow, the heart contractility, and determines a favourable variation of inflammation molecules, stress hormones, neurotransmitters, aging markers, and circulating microRNAs, inducing an attenuation of the expression of some inflammatory genes in white blood cell precursors. Remarkably, the physical appearance of the subjects’ serum changes during RR [ 14 , 19 ].…”