r/tibet • u/Pyramaniac • 19d ago

Is Epigenetics a big thing in the Tibetan Community?

Tashi Delek!

I'm 1/4 Tibetan (3/4 Indian), but found out I'm 1/4 Tibetan when my dad ancestry tested last year and got half, and we have zero cultural connection to Tibet. Although the ancestry test lacks specificity beyond Tibetan, it is almost certain that his Tibetan biological parent came to India in the 1959 exile, as the part of India my dad is from is nowhere close to the himalayas, so it's unlikely to be Ladakhi etc. The Indian ancestry is from Gujurat.

Having that said, I've been reading about epigenetics and how very traumatic events in someone's life can change the gene expression in descendants, especially with things like stress responses. I also found this paper on the mental health state of Tibetan refugees in India:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1308816/

I've always felt like my nervous system is always low key in danger mode, and get unusually triggered by people who repeatedly cross my boundaries, and my dad used to have unusually intense anger towards seemingly small OCD type things, like his nervous system goes straight to threat mode (as opposed to just angry mode) when stress is induced. Interestingly, the ancestry test result has calmed it down big time.

Is this just us? Or is stuff like this a thing in the Tibetan community?

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3

u/Rugged-Mongol 18d ago

100% stress can be passed down generationally from stressful external environment that wears down our biology

2

u/Rugged-Mongol 18d ago

That's why Vietnamese ppl are so short still, their famines still stunt their growth.

4

u/maverick_gyatso 19d ago

Except for few, most of mental health related has little or non genetic based. Environmental factors certainly shape behavior but I doubt's it can be inherited because that means it's genetic. Generation trauma can be extended but unless you specifically experience it, i would doubt your dad experiences have effects on you. With neuroplasty on your side, your brain and behavior can always shape, change and its not static. That just my thoughts process not necessarily fact.

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u/Pyramaniac 19d ago

Thanks for the input, I'll consider that, although there are papers on epigenetics.

I think it's possible that the epigenetic foundation from whatever happened to my Tibetan grandparent could have been overcome or watered down with neuroplasty, but something in my dad's childhood triggered it and made it worse, which then lead him to alcohol problems when I was a kid, which then made mine worse instead of better.

I suspect that because he didn't know he was half Tibetan and grew up feeling different from his family etc whilst thinking he was just indian, the epigenetics wasn't overcome with neuroplasticity via input from a parent that could relate or sooth it out. Or something like that.

That, or whatever happened to my Tibetan grandparent was particularly bad.

I hope that wasn't oversharing.

1

u/timboneda 18d ago

Idk if this is what you’re asking but I have ADHD, and from what I can tell it’s likely that my entire mother’s side of the family also have it.