Epigenetics and generational curses/blessings. Are they one in the same?

What I love most about the field of epigenetics is its vitality.

When a question pops into my mind concerning most other scientific disciplines, a quick Google search can usually provide the answer.

But epigenetics is different. A branch of science less than 100 years old is fertile ground for the wandering mind. For developing intriguing grant proposals and memorable sci-fi films.

Today, I made a quasi-philosophical inquiry that may take a decade wide collaboration of philosophers and geneticists to resolve:

Are generational blessings/curses merely manifestations of epigenetic heritage?

Generational curses/blessings being those same patterns (for better or worse!) which played out in our ancestral lineage now playing out in our own lives.

And epigenetics being, well until recently, something I’ve only known just the bare minimum about.

Epi = outside, beyond. Genetics = the study of how of hereditary information is transferred from parent to offspring.

So, logically, epigenetics must mean going beyond the general study of how hereditary information is passed from parent to offspring. Traits are inherited during meiotic events where the process of genetic recombination is responsible for much of the genetic diversity we observe today. Epigenetics looks beyond changes in the DNA sequence itself to other factors which can modulate gene expression.

The way we talk to ourselves, the serenity or lack thereof of the environments we live in, the food we eat, our sleep patterns……

And not necessarily just our own habits, but those of our ancestors.

I mean at some level, we all knew that those habits had effects on our health, but to think that they could lead to the turning on or turning off of the different parts of our genome. To a fundamental restructuring of how our body operates day to day.

Epigenetics is fascinating, and I can’t help but wonder if when philosophers gather however they do, they unknowingly use the term “generational blessings/curses” as a parallel of the same concept.

Bright minds gazing at the night sky upon the same star but seeing different aspects of its halo.

I won’t get into the three primary mechanisms for epigenetic modification (DNA methylation, histone modification, and noncoding RNA action). There’s a plethora of information available online that can break down those topics exhaustively.

Right now, it’s enough to understand that environmental factors can prompt changes to surface of our DNA strands and thereby influence the type, number and nature of the proteins our cells produce. This is turn can influence our moods, behavioral and social patterns and likes/dislikes.

If my ancestors endured chronic stress throughout their lifetime and were used to navigating the world in a heightened state of fight or flight, then I too may have tendencies towards anxiety even when no immediate danger is presented.

This is a downside of epigenetics. On the other hand, epigenetics also represents power.

Because with consciousness of our body’s impressionability comes the option to reverse those patterns if we so choose. Especially now in first world society, we can control our diet, the social circles we choose to surround ourselves with, and pave a better quality of life for oursevles and our descendants through education and grit.

So what do you think? Are epigenetics and generational curses one in the same? Or…

Is equating these terms a gross conflation of ideas in two very different scientific genres?