During their kids’ infancy, parents lose sleep over their minor infections and allergies, only to gleefully realise that they outgrow them soon. Then, the day they start attending kindergarten or even playschool, focus shifts to their performance.
But with each passing year, parents realise that their kids aren’t competing in a sprint, but in the marathon of life. Here are 5 ways to personalise your parenting according to your child’s genetic or DNA level traits, for their healthier future.
Personalised nutrition
Is there any home where siblings are served different foods? Not occasionally, but regularly? Maybe not, because parents don’t even realise such a need. Yet, it makes immense sense genetically. Siblings—unless they are identical twins—often carry genetic susceptibilities for different diseases, like type 2 diabetes, hypertension, obesity, ADHD, etc. To prevent these diseases from getting triggered, children ideally need personalised nutrition, based on a genetic test.
Personalised fitness and sports
When siblings start playing, their parents themselves realise that their physical strengths and weaknesses are quite different. Some can sustain a full 90-minute football match, while others can only play tennis with its frequent game breaks. But realising differences at this level is never enough. Genetic studies show that pursuing sports and fitness programmes without regard for one’s genetic suitability for them can lead to passing out events or even death.
Personalised sleep
Kids need sound sleep for 10 hours or more, and most parents allow it too, at least in their primary school years. But when entering middle school, this mindless sleep style becomes a problem.
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While parents desire their kids to rise early and study, some kids may find it quite tough, as their genetic chronotype, which is a part of their circadian rhythm or body clock, is not the ‘morning lark’ but the ‘night owl’ type, which means it is better to encourage them to study at night.
Personalised meditation
Meditation is a great biohack for kids’ wellbeing and performance, and many parents, schools and tuition centres encourage mindfulness methods like body scan meditations before study sessions.
However, it won’t have the intended effect, or will even evoke undesirable effects, in some kids. This is because the genetic traits of children vary, and what is good for kids prone to ADHD won’t work for children who suffer from its antithesis, the Cognitive Disengagement Syndrome (CDS).
Personalised yoga and breathwork
Yoga and pranayama are also powerful biohacks suitable for children to stay healthy and energetic. But here too, genetics-based personalisation can ensure that the postures and breathwork that kids do really benefit them and not harm them.
For instance, happy baby pose, tree pose, alternate nostril breath, etc., are more suitable for kids having ADHD traits or risks, while energising poses like sun salute, chair pose, bellows breath, etc., are best for kids with the opposite CDS traits.
How to pursue personalised parenting
Since your kid’s genetics or DNA already embeds the susceptibilities for various diseases and performance issues, true personalisation is only possible via a genetic test.
A genomic lifestyle management solution like Eplimo includes this test, which detects 275+ genetic roots responsible for almost all lifestyle diseases and performance issues. Plus, it offers personalised versions of nutrition, fitness, sleep, meditation, yoga, breathwork, etc., that can keep these detected risks and performance issues at bay.
The author is founder-chairman of Bengaluru-based health-tech startup, Vieroots, and Chief Curator, World Biohack Summit Dubai.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of THE WEEK.