What is heredity and human genetics? Three body types of a person How to determine the type of physique.

Scientists who have devoted their lives to gene biology say that 70 percent of our physiology depends on heredity and genes. This statement is reassuring and allows some slimming plump women to find an excuse: “I just inherited such a figure and I can’t do anything about it, oh.”

The female physique has one feature: shape. It can be different: an hourglass, an apple. There are other forms, but for some reason no one has given them a definition. People usually say: flat as a board. It happens. But rarely.

80% of women have a pear-shaped body. For some reason, many suffer from this, but it’s only worth choosing the right clothes for the pear body type. And there will be no problems! Well, of course, if you do not lean hourly on buns, cakes and buns with powdered sugar!

Think celebrities don't have pear-shaped bodies? LTD! Wrong!

Monica Bellucci will never be as slim as Uma Thurman. This is not directly related to obesity - your genetically determined fat "subtext", or, in other words, the features of the figure, does not adversely affect health.

Nevertheless, the same Bellucci needs to make more efforts to keep the weight under control than people with an asthenic physique. If there are overweight people among your relatives, carefully monitor your health, switch to a low-calorie diet and devote at least three hours a week to sports. With these simple precautions, you will be able to conclude a "truce agreement" with your genetics.

We can console all Monica Bellucci: if a thin woman does not follow her diet, relying on her explosive metabolism, health problems cannot be avoided - after all, internal fat and external fat accumulate in different ways.

And the most interesting thing is that the essence of the problem is not at all in the number of calories consumed!

Completeness can be determined by several other factors:

• Warehouse of character (temperamental active people burn much more energy than
• their phlegmatic counterparts)
• lack of sleep
• Ability to deal with stress
• healthy eating
• Age features

After 50 years (or earlier, with the advent of menopause), the immunity laid down by mother nature against obesity disappears. Weight begins to grow despite diets, restrictions and fitness classes. There is an opportunity to get And now it becomes dangerous.

World powerlifting champion Andy Bolton squatted with 227 kg and pulled 272 kg at my first workout.

Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates shrugged 140 kg in the first approach. Then he was still a teenager.

Metroflex gym owner Brian Dobson recalls his first meeting with future Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman. “He had huge hips with veins showing through the fabric of his pants, despite the fact that at that time Ronnie did not use anabolic steroids!”

Arnold Schwarzenegger after a year of training looked more muscular than many athletes later 10 years.

Obviously, some people's muscles respond much better to training than others. What makes the progress of these chosen ones so much more significant than that of us mere mortals?

Genetics: the bitter truth

Most likely, this is not at all what you would like to hear, but your progress depends largely on genetics.
Recent studies have shown that some people respond well to strength training, others barely notice progress, and others do not see it at all. Yes, there is no mistake here. Some people do not have any noticeable results in the rocking chair, regardless of the methods. They are called hardgainers.

Hubal's groundbreaking study involved 585 men and women. After the lapse of 12 weeks of progressive dynamic loading produced strikingly different results. The people with the worst score lost 2% muscle cross-sectional area without increasing strength. In the people with the greatest progress, muscle cross-sectional area increased by 59% , and the strength increased by 250% !!! We remind you that all these people adhered to exactly the same training program.

Hubal's study is not the only study to have found such results. Petrella showed that after 16 weeks of progressive dynamic loads, 26% from 66 people did not experience an increase in muscle mass.

The question logically arises: what mechanism explains all this? Let's look at well-known studies.

How genetics affect muscle growth

There is strong evidence that muscle growth only occurs when satellite cells surrounding the muscle fibers donate their nuclei to the muscles so that they can produce more genetic material to signal the cells to grow.

Petrella found that the difference between people who achieve excellent results in strength training and those who achieve moderate or little progress is predominantly associated with satellite cell activation. People who make significant progress have more satellite cells, as well as a high ability to increase the number of satellite cells in the process of training.

In this study, in subjects who achieved excellent results, the average number of satellite cells at the beginning was 21 on the 100 fibers. TO 16 week of training, this indicator increased to 30 cells on 100 fibers. The average area of ​​muscle fibers increased by 54% . In people who did not receive any effect from exercise, the number of satellite cells at the beginning of the study was on average 10 on the 100 muscle fibres. After training, this indicator did not change, as did the volume of muscle tissue.

In another article written by Bamman, with the participation of the same researchers and on the basis of the same experiment, it was revealed that from 66 participants, at 17 the person with the highest scores 58% increase in the cross-sectional area of ​​the muscles. At 32 "experimental" with average achievements, the increase in cross-sectional area reached 28% , in people with the least progress, the cross-sectional area of ​​the muscle did not change. Moreover:
Mechanical Growth Factor (MGF) changed to 126% at 17 the person with the best results. Other's 17 the person with the lowest score had no change in MGF.
Myogenin increased by 65% 17 people with the maximum result. At 17 the person with the lowest result he remained at the same level.
IGF-IEa increased to 105% at 17 the person with the best results. At 44% with the lowest result, the increase was only 44%.

Another study by Timmons showed that there are several highly expressed miRNA genes that are selectively upregulated in 20% the people with the least achievement.

Dennis's study showed that people with a strong expression of the main genes responsible for gaining muscle mass have a clear advantage in adaptation compared to ordinary people. Individuals with less expression of key genes showed lower adaptation to strength training, despite the fact that training increased the level of gene expression.

Some get excellent genes, others have to be content with little. If we talk about it in terms of genetics, anything that negatively affects the ability of muscle fibers to increase the number of cores in response to physical activity leads to a decrease in muscle mass and strength potential.

This includes the number of signaling molecules, the sensitivity of cells to these signals, the presence of satellite cells, the cumulative expansion of satellite cells, up to the regulation of miRNAs. Of course, nutrition and an optimal training schedule play an important role in increasing muscle mass. In addition, the growth of muscle fibers may also be associated with certain genotypes.

Genetics and body fat percentage

Genes can influence the deposition and burning of fat, determining the degree of energy expenditure, as well as the distribution of nutrients. Researchers have coined the term "obesity-producing environment" to describe how lifestyle changes over the past century have led to the activation of genetic risk factors for obesity.

Natural selection favored those who had genes for a frugal metabolism, which ensured survival during a period of lack of nutrition. Now that most of the population is living a lifestyle characterized by minimal mobility and excessive calorie intake, these same genes contribute to poor health and obesity.

Bouchard included twelve pairs of twins in his study and within 84 from 100 days provided them with food, the calorie content of which is 1000 calories exceeded the daily requirement. As a result, the subjects received 84000 extra calories. During this time, the subjects of the study led a sedentary lifestyle. The average weight gain was 8.1 kg, with a break from 4.3 to 13.3 kg! Even though all subjects followed the same meal plan, slow metabolizers experienced three times the weight gain of fast metabolizers. In the tissues of these people, almost 100% excess calories (in people with a fast metabolism, this figure was only 40% ), and the amount of internal fat in the abdomen increased by 200% (in people with a fast metabolism, this figure was 0%).

Similar differences were noted by Bouchard in twins with consistent energy intake during frequent exercise.

Perusse discovered that the level of subcutaneous fat is 42% dependent on genes, and visceral fat is 56%. This means that genetics largely influences where exactly and how much fat is deposited in the body. Many people have an alarming predisposition to store fat in the abdomen.

Bouchard and Tremblay determined that basal metabolic rate, thermic effect of nutrition, and energy expenditure during moderate-to-low-intensity exercise at 40% depend on genetics.

Loos and Bouchard proposed that obesity is a genetic disorder, with changes in the sequence of adrenoreceptors, uncoupling proteins, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors, and lepton receptor genes being of greatest importance.

O'Reilly (O "Rahilly) and Farooqi (Farooqi) added that obesity can also be associated with tandem repeats with a variable number of insulin units and IGF-1 SNP, and Cotsapas showed 16 different loci (locations on the chromosome) that affect the body mass index, which also lead to severe obesity.

Rankinen has identified hundreds of candidate genes with the potential to cause obesity.

Fawcett and Barroso determined that the gene associated with fat mass and obesity (FTO) is the first generally accepted locus unequivocally associated with obesity. Deficiency of this gene protects against obesity, and elevated levels lead to obesity, most likely due to increased appetite and reduced energy expenditure.

Tercjak found that FTO can also influence insulin resistance. The scientist suggested that about 100 genes affect the development of obesity.
Herrerra and Lindgren listed 23 genes that cause obesity. They assumed that heredity determines the body mass index by 40-70%!

Faith has found evidence of genetic influence on the need for extra calories. Similar conclusions were reached by Choquette, who studied eating habits 836 humans and identified six genetic associations with increased calorie and macronutrient intake, including the adiponectin gene.

What does all this mean? This means that some people are genetically predisposed to obesity.

But does this mean that someone is born to be a great athlete, while others are left to sit on the sidelines? Let's find out.

Genetics and athleticism

We still have a lot to learn about genetics and how it relates to human abilities. However, we already know that many different genes can influence the physical performance of athletes.

Scientist Bray and colleagues in 2009 found that the current level of knowledge about human genes that affect human abilities remains at the level of 2007. The scientist came to the conclusion that fitness and athletic ability are determined by 214 autosomal genes and loci, as well as 18 mitochondrial genes.

The most well-known performance-enhancing gene is ACTN3, also known as alpha-actin-3.

There are two types of alpha actin protein: ACTN2 and ACTN3. Alpha actins are structural proteins of the z-tracks of muscle fibers, ACTN2 is expressed in all types of fibers, and ACTN3 expression occurs predominantly in type IIb fibers. These fibers are involved in increasing the strength of muscle fibers. This is why ACTN3 is associated with a significant increase in strength.

About 18% of people (or 1 billion worldwide) do not have ACTN3. Their bodies produce more ACTN2 to make up for the ACTN3 deficiency. These people cannot progress as fast as those who have alpha-actin-3 in their bodies. Top sprinters are almost never deficient in alpha-actin-3.

Athletes' abilities are also determined by the ACE gene, known as an angiotensin-converting enzyme. The high prevalence of ACE D alleles is typical for strength athletes, while the high frequency of the ACE I allele is typical for endurance athletes (Nazarov).

Cauci found that the IL-1RN VNTR gene, in different variants, enhances human athletic performance. This gene affects cytokines of the interleukin family, increasing the inflammatory response and repair process after exercise. The results of this study are confirmed by the work of Reichman. The scientist and his colleagues found that the protein and the interleukin-15 receptor are associated with an increased increase in muscle mass.

Many other genes have the potential to improve athletic performance, such as the myostatin gene. However, there is no conclusive evidence for this.

Scientists do not yet have a clear idea of ​​what this whole mosaic of genes looks like as a whole.

Genes are not a sentence!

While the research in this article is quite intimidating, let's try to cheer you up.
First, we all have certain genetic problems that need to be worked on. Someone is predisposed to being overweight, while others, with general thinness, have areas where fat is stubbornly deposited. Some have problems with increasing muscle volume, others are muscular, however, they have other weaknesses in the body. Some have it all in one. Ideal genetics practically does not exist!

Secondly, the research protocols did not allow any experiments, adjustments in training and nutrition. Hardgainers need to adjust variable parameters and determine their individual optimal training methodology.

Some respond better to a variety of loads, others to volume, others to intensity, others to frequency, and so on. You need to find the optimal stimuli for your body, which develops over time.

Any coach with experience will confirm that no matter what shape you are, after a couple of months of training you will look much better.
Even if you are a hardgainer, you can and will still get results if you persist and keep experimenting. Of course, genetics largely affects the speed and degree of adaptation, but the result of training is also largely determined by a reasonable approach.

No matter how difficult progress in training goes, in a few months or even years you will stand out from the crowd with your athletic figure!

Gerontology - a science that studies the problems of aging and life extension - claims that when working in a normal rhythm, the human body at birth receives guarantees for 100-150 years of life without repair. With the exception of rare congenital diseases, then everyone gets a completely normal, but not the same organism. Similar are usually only identical twins. And, interestingly, scientists see a connection between the physique and the character of a person.

First of all, at birth, there is a division according to gender: male type and female.

We will not delve into the study of human appearance, highlighting the color of hair or eyes, since, first of all, the growth and physique of a person are striking - thin or full.

It most often depends on heredity. Believe me, not all people are satisfied with their appearance: thin people tend to gain a few kilograms, especially women - to give certain shapes in the right places, and fat ones - to part with kilograms. Both of them spend nerve cells to change the gift of nature.

Body Types

• Ectomorph.

People who are trying to lose weight look at them with great envy: they eat and do not get fat at all. The proverb is also referred to this type of people: “Do not feed the horse.”

This type of physique has a narrow-shouldered skeleton, strongly elongated in length with rather long limbs, an oblong and small chest, weak muscles, a flat stomach and the almost complete absence of subcutaneous fat. Even with strong physical exertion, muscle growth is very slow.

The rate of metabolic processes in this type of person is increased.

There is a saying: "While the fat one loses weight, the thin legs will stretch."

Ectomorphs are more enduring, easier to tolerate physical activity. To restore strength, they need up to 8 hours of sleep per day, which also depends on the type of higher nervous activity.

• Mesomorph.

This body type is a born bodybuilder. With an average height, the mesomorph has an almost perfect physique with a wide chest, broad shoulders and a slightly narrow pelvis. The muscular system is well developed by nature with a relatively small amount of subcutaneous fat layer.

This is an average type, one might say, of an ideal physique. But here it should be noted that people with a mesomorphic body type with physical inactivity and excess nutrition often join the ranks of fat people.

People of this body type are quite hardy, and to rest per day they need at least 7.5 hours, but not more than 9 hours of sleep.

• Endomorph.

It must be said that, unlike the mesomorph, there is an assimilation of all food products, which is expressed in obesity. To maintain a good shape of the endomorph, sleep-rest is recommended for no more than 7.5 hours a day with an early rise. But this is in theory, but in life more often endomorphs are couch potatoes.

This type of physique is characterized by a rather wide skeleton with a round head, a small neck, increased fat deposition on the sides, abdomen, buttocks. In general, it refers to the type of closed people who are overweight due to lack of diet and exercise. These people have a slow metabolism.

All these body types are the so-called extreme types and in reality they are very rare. As a result, there is another type of physique that is often found in everyday life: the average intermediate type, which combines to varying degrees the different features of all other extreme body types.

There is no clear relationship between body type, blood group and type of higher nervous activity.

But in conclusion of the analysis of the type of physique, we can say: learn to love your body with all its advantages and disadvantages, learn to live in peace with nature and yourself.

It is difficult to explain the increased attention to plastic surgery. By and large, it is designed to correct congenital or injury-related defects. In fact, she has become a kind of hobby for women suffering from an excess of free time and money, another extra reason to flaunt each other in front of a girlfriend.

Note that usually the matter is not limited to one plastic surgery, and all this is an additional, not at all obligatory, stress in our life.

Let's continue.

Skinny, fat, crazy, boring ...

In everyday life, we do not talk about a person, naming his body type, but more often we say whether he is fat or thin. Even doctors in the medical records write: "Proper physique, normal (high or low) nutrition."

But the type of human nervous activity in the scientific sense of the word is usually not mentioned anywhere. More often, to characterize a person in life, you can hear: “crazy”, “bore”, this is a characteristic of the most pronounced traits of a person’s character.

Types of higher nervous activity

At the same time, the types of higher nervous activity have been known for a long time. Hippocrates also proposed dividing people according to their temperament into the following groups, depending on the main body fluids:

• sanguine (the influence of blood comes to the fore in a person’s temperament);
• choleric (bile comes first);
• phlegmatic (in the first place is the influence of the mucus of the body);
• melancholic (in this case, the temperament of a person is determined by the influence of black bile).

At the modern scientific level, the types of higher nervous activity of a person are determined by the totality of the basic properties of the higher parts of the central nervous system, the strength of nervous processes, their mobility and mutual balancing.

Pavlov's observations

This concept itself was introduced by I.P. Pavlov, believing that the strength of nervous processes depends on the level of performance of nerve cells.

According to I.P. Pavlov identified the following 4 types of activity of the higher nervous system, which correspond to the four "temperaments" proposed by Hippocrates:

• I type - sanguine.

This type is mobile, strong, balanced

People of this type can quickly and easily get used to any changes in life and the environment.

They easily find a common language with others, become "their own" in any company. Teaching them is easy.

We can say that this is the type of born leaders who are able to objectively assess the achievements and shortcomings of their subordinates.

• II type - phlegmatic.

This type is also strong and balanced, but unlike people with type I nervous activity, it is not mobile, but inert. In the activity of the nervous system in such people, the processes of excitation and inhibition balance each other, but these processes do not proceed actively, but slowly. The reaction of this type of people is somewhat slow. In some cases, it can be said of such that they “get it like a giraffe.” But the knowledge and skills acquired by them remain until the end of days. Calm, self-confident people, usually achieving a lot in life. Under certain conditions, this type of people make good research scientists and administrators.

• III type - choleric.

A highly unbalanced and unrestrained type. In the nervous system of such people, processes of excitation quickly arise, which usually prevail over the processes of inhibition.

This type of people grasps everything on the fly, but they do not always have the patience to finish what they started. The quarrelsome character leaves much to be desired: they are prone to sharp, sometimes not entirely objective statements, to talking in raised tones, scandals.

In the experiments of I.P. Pavlova, animals with a similar type of nervous activity easily earned experimental neurosis, and in life such people often become clients of neurologists and psychologists.

People of this type are able to speak with conviction, to be fiery speakers, leading the crowd.

Summing up, we can say that such people cannot be assessed unambiguously, and the environment plays a big role in their fate.

• IV type - melancholic.

This type is characterized by the weakness of the processes of excitation and inhibition of higher nervous activity.

In everyday life, such people are usually called whiners or bores. These are potential pessimists prone to developing neuroses. But depending on the type of thinking, this type of people can achieve significant success in society.

Like body types, types of higher nervous activity are also practically not found in people in their pure form. In each specific case, there is a greater or lesser prevalence of one of the processes: excitation or inhibition.

"Physicists" and "lyricists"

This classification of types of higher nervous activity was developed by I.P. Pavlov for animals and people. But, taking into account in humans (unlike animals) the first and second signal systems, three more types of higher nervous activity, characteristic only for humans, are additionally distinguished.

If, thanks to the first signal system, the external world is perceived by a person in the form of direct impressions from various stimuli (auditory, gustatory, visual, tactile, olfactory), then the second signal system helps to realize the external world in a verbal-figurative form.

Based on this I.P. Pavlov identified two extreme types of higher nervous activity:

• persons with a predominance of the first signaling system. These are people with a predominance of the artistic type of higher nervous activity, showing a penchant for music, painting, drawing, reading fiction. Such inclinations usually appear from childhood and increase with age, but require their development;
• persons with a predominance of the second signaling system. These are people of the mental type of higher nervous activity, prone to abstract thinking, philosophy.

To put it simply, thanks to the existence of these two extreme types, there has been a debate about “physicists” and “lyricists” for many years, which in the end has no solution. For humanity as a whole, for the development of society, both are important.

But if there are two extreme types, then there must be an intermediate one between them:

• The third type of higher nervous activity is made up of balanced people who combine the influences of the first and second nervous systems in reasonable proportions. Most of these people. Under appropriate conditions, they can become both mediocre "lyricists" and mediocre "physicists", that is, good artisans. It should be added to this that people with an average type of higher nervous activity may have slight deviations in the direction of one of the signaling systems, but this does not allow them to be classified as an extreme type.

So, if we consider all types of higher nervous activity, then we can get a large number of options, which are easier to call individual character traits.

However, there are no rules without exceptions.

Connecting the outside and the inside

And now let's try to draw parallels between external and internal signs and trace the connection between physique and character:

• choleric - it can be assumed that it corresponds to an ectomorphic or ectomesomorphic body type with an increased metabolism;
• sanguine - mostly people of a mesomorphic body type, making a well-deserved career, gaining both weight in society and being overweight;
• phlegmatic - mostly people of the endomorphic type, lovers of delicious food, not in a hurry, even with laziness. Many of them believe that "work is not a wolf, it will not run away into the forest." Although among them there are talented people;
• melancholic - I can’t even approximately name a suitable body type. Bores and whiners can be found among both thin and fat people.

It can be repeated, extremely pronounced types of physique and higher nervous activity are very rare.

Reveal talent - inheritance or special art?

But these characteristics reflect only the innate features of a person's higher nervous activity, which are inherited at birth, which is defined as a person's genotype that does not depend on the external environment.

At the same time, a person does not live in isolation, but surrounded by the same people. It is these people who, over time, contribute to the acquisition of character traits that are formed under the influence from the outside, which is called the formation of the phenotype.

For example, if the great Beethoven and Mozart had grown up in an environment where there were no musical instruments, and had not been taught musical notation, then for all their genetic talent they would not have left such a legacy.

Only a favorable combination of hereditary qualities with the formation of character in the environment makes it possible to fully reveal the possibilities of a person.

But in everyday life, not everything is simple and unambiguous. Often people have to do not what they want, but what they need. In some cases, people prefer to "go with the flow." In everyday life, people can significantly overestimate or underestimate their abilities. All these "household trifles" lead to the depletion of the nervous system. A good psychologist or psychoanalyst can help solve a number of problems.

What are we like? Body types - video

Numerous factors influence the growth and development of a person, among which endogenous (or hereditary) and exogenous (or environmental) factors can be distinguished.

Exogenous factors - socio-economic, psychological, climatic and environmental determinants of human growth and development. Particular attention is paid to environmental and socio-economic.

Heredity is the transmission of parental traits to children. Some hereditary qualities (nose shape, hair color, eyes, facial contours, ear for music, singing voice, etc.) do not require the use of any devices for their fixation, others associated with the cytoplasm and nuclear DNA (metabolism, blood type, the usefulness of the set of chromosomes, etc.), require quite complex studies.

The growth and development of the child depend on the received hereditary inclinations, but the role of the environment is also great. It is customary to distinguish between favorable and unfavorable (or burdened) heredity. The inclinations that ensure the harmonious development of the abilities and personality of the child belong to favorable heredity. If the appropriate conditions are not created for the development of these inclinations, then they fade away, not reaching the level of development of the giftedness of the parents. For example, a singing voice, ear for music, drawing abilities, etc. do not develop.

A burdened heredity cannot always ensure the normal development of a child, even in a good upbringing environment. Usually it is the cause of anomalies (deviations from the norm) and even deformities, and in some cases the cause of prolonged illness and death. In addition, the cause of anomalies in children may be the alcoholism of parents and the harmfulness of their profession (for example, work related to radioactive substances, pesticides, vibration).

However, heredity, especially unfavorable, should not be considered something inevitable. In some cases, it can be corrected and managed. For example, methods have been developed for the treatment of hemophilia - the introduction of a specific blood protein.

The birth of children with unfavorable heredity can be avoided by consulting geneticists. In particular, such consultations contribute to the prevention of closely related marriages, which are the cause of the birth of abnormal children.

Timely detection of inherited traits in children makes it possible to send some children to special schools for the gifted, and others to auxiliary schools. Children with mental and physical disabilities (mentally retarded, deaf, blind) in auxiliary schools are involved in socially useful work, acquire literacy and improve their intellectual development. A huge merit in correcting unfavorable heredity in children belongs to oligophreno-, deaf- and typhlopedagogy.

Qualified teachers in special schools improve the mathematical, musical and other inclinations of children, which is associated with a huge amount of work for their development. The teacher should be aware that parents often see extraordinary abilities in their child, although in fact he may have very modest inclinations. Therefore, it is very important to tell parents in time how to develop in the child that tendency that is revealed in him and which he, perhaps, inherited from his grandfathers, and not from his parents. Such a manifestation of abilities is associated with the peculiarity of heredity: its long-term stability, when signs are transmitted over many generations and do not always appear in the first generations (this is the so-called recessive heredity).

The relationship of the organism with the environment. The founder of Russian physiology, I.M. Sechenov, wrote that “an organism without an external environment that supports its existence is impossible, therefore, the scientific definition of an organism must also include the environment that affects it.” Consequently, outside of nature and the social environment, in fact, there is no man.

IP Pavlov, developing this position, came to the conclusion that it is necessary to speak of a person as an integral organism, which is closely interconnected with the external environment and exists only as long as a balanced state of him and the environment is maintained. In this regard, all reflexes were considered by Pavlov as reactions of constant adaptation to the outside world (for example, a person's adaptation to different climatic conditions or different habitats).

Thus, the development of a person cannot be adequately assessed without taking into account the environment in which he lives, is brought up, works, without taking into account those with whom he communicates, and the functions of his body - without taking into account the hygienic requirements for the workplace, home environment, without taking into account the relationship of man with plants, animals, etc.

Man is a social being, the features of his biological development are often determined by socio-economic factors, although often indirectly. Children from more affluent strata of the population are ahead of their peers in a number of anthropometric characteristics throughout their development. One of the most important reasons for morphological and functional differences is nutrition, since malnutrition leads to growth retardation. Stunting in growth is associated with a high incidence of diseases in families with poorer social and hygienic conditions. It is assumed that the body of girls is more "protected" from the effects of many adverse factors.

Adverse psychological influences may cause some growth retardation. Under the influence of emotional stress, there is a delay in the secretion of growth hormone. Such stresses are often experienced by children from disadvantaged families.

Under the influence of various socio-economic conditions, the sexual development of children occurs in different ways: the better the living conditions, the faster the maturation processes proceed. In children from wealthy families, a change of teeth occurs a little earlier.

Puberty of children occurs faster in countries with a temperate climate, and in the north and near the equator its terms are later. Climatic factors have almost no effect on growth and development if habitat conditions are not extreme (tropical zone and highlands). Thus, the Nilotic Negroes at any age had a relatively lower weight in relation to the length of the body than the inhabitants of a temperate and cold climate. Highlands are characterized by slow processes of growth and development.

endogenous factors. An important problem of anthropological research is the assessment of the action of genes regulating ontogeny. A relationship has been established between the body type of a person and the characteristics of skeletal and puberty. Probably, the genes that determine the physique of a person also have an effect on the rate of ontogeny.

There are racial differences that are little influenced by exogenous factors. These include differences between races in skin pigmentation, hair shape, lip thickness, nose shape, which are already manifested in the uterine period. Anthropometric features can also be racial, for example, the ratio of leg length to body length. Blacks are ahead of Caucasians in skeletal maturity, from birth to 3 years. Permanent teeth erupt in Negroids on average a year earlier than in Caucasians. The age of the first menstruation is not related to race. Some secondary sex characteristics (such as tertiary hairline), however, are associated with race.

With small age-related changes in the trait, racial differences cannot change much with age. If the trait varies greatly with age, then the greatest differences between large races are confined to different periods. In Mongoloids and Caucasians, differences in some characteristics decrease with age, while in Caucasians and Negroids they increase.

Along with the genes responsible for the physique, species and race of a person, there are, apparently, genes that are common to members of the same family and determine family resemblance.

Twin method for assessing hereditary influences in ontogenesis. The proportion of the influence of genetic and environmental factors on specific manifestations of the growth and development of the organism varies from trait to trait.

The twin method, discovered in 1875 by F. Galton, makes it possible to establish a measure of the hereditary conditionality of various features of a growing organism.

Twins are identical, or monozygotic (MZ), and dizygotic, or dizygotic (DZ). The former have the same heredity, the latter are genetically distinct like any brothers and sisters within the family. The environmental conditions for both pairs of twins are similar, although not identical. When comparing the degree of intra-pair differences between monozygotic and dizygotic twins, it is possible to establish the proportion of hereditary influences on the manifestation of a particular trait in ontogenesis. In monozygotic sisters, the age of menarche differs by an average of 2 months, and in dizygotic sisters by 10 months. This fact indicates that this trait of development is largely controlled by genes.

Genetic conditionality of growth and development at different stages of ontogenesis. Genetic control operates throughout the entire period of growth. However, not all genes are active at the time of birth, and appear only in subsequent years, under appropriate conditions.

The hereditary conditionality of the growth and development of the organism in the prenatal period is of little significance. In the prenatal period, monozygotic twins can differ significantly in weight and other body parameters. These differences are not due to genetic nature, but are associated with uneven nutrition of twins from the placenta. There are signs that are genetically strictly controlled in newborns.

In the preschool period of life, the length of the body, the width of the pelvis in boys and the width of the shoulders in girls are genetically strictly controlled.

During the school period of life, the level of genetic influences on body length and weight, chest circumference, both in boys and girls, increases with age.

As for functional traits, they are less genetically determined than morphological traits.

The exception is purely human features that determine such qualities as bipedal walking or speech articulation.

The interaction of hereditary and environmental factors and their influence on the growth and development of the organism.

The nature of electroencephalograms changes in twins in a peculiar way, the hereditary conditionality of which decreases in the fourth-sixth, tenth-twelfth and nineteenth-twenty-first years and increases in intermediate ages. These changes are associated not only with endocrine changes, but also with the action of social factors - education, training, social status.

The level of genetic control of morphological and physiological traits decreases during puberty.

Therefore, it is assumed that in the first year of life and during puberty, the child experiences a strong and decisive influence of the environment, and genetics fades into the background.

This conclusion finds an explanation in the features of anthropogenesis. Fundamentally new conditions of delivery in the most ancient person with a high probability of death of a newborn and an upright mother required maximum "adjustment" of the fetus to the conditions of the mother's body, so genetic control should have been minimal.



There are three body types or somatotypes that affect our appearance. Read more about why some of us tend to gain fat while others tend to be thin in the article.

There is no denying the fact that in addition to our lifestyle, eating habits and exercise, there are other factors that affect how our body looks. It is often called the word "genetics", meaning that some features of the figure are inherent in us hereditarily and we cannot change them. So, there are people who, despite the fact that they eat a lot, remain thin, and often even have unhealthy thinness. Many will say that this is a small problem. But such people cannot gain weight even at the cost of huge efforts. There is another class of people who, even eating moderately, always remain quite full and have excess weight, which is difficult for them to get rid of.

There is also a third group, the rarest, - these are those who always look quite athletic and fit. Even short-term moderate physical activity very quickly affects their appearance. They quickly develop muscle definition and it seems that they are not at all prone to weight gain.

The reason for all of the above is such a thing as body types.

What is body type?

body type- these are the features of the development of body parts and their proportions, characteristic of a particular person.

Speaking of physique, you need to introduce one more concept - somatotype. The somatotype is rather a characteristic of the physique, which determines the genetic features of the development of muscle, bone and adipose tissue. It also determines the features of metabolism. Those. somatotype is the constitutional type of a person.

The difference between body type and somatotype is that body type is mainly an external, visual indicator. Body type can change throughout life. With the help of nutrition and exercise, you can change the proportions of the body, size, amount of fat and muscle tissue, but you cannot change the somatotype. If you are genetically inclined to a greater set of adipose tissue than muscle, to a certain structure of bone tissue, then this tendency will not change throughout life. This characteristic can be influenced, but not completely changed. However, the concepts of physique and somatotype are usually used as synonyms, so in this article I will use them in the same context.

There are different classifications of body types (). The most common is the typology of U.I. Sheldon. In accordance with it, allocate

Three body types

Ectomorph

The ectomorph is fairly easy to recognize. These people are very thin, they have long thin limbs, narrow shoulders and a flat chest. Such people are very resilient. Ectomorph little subcutaneous fat, and at the same time, little muscle mass. Having a very fast metabolism, they not only do not gain fat, which is undoubtedly a plus, but they also face great difficulties in gaining muscle mass. They can eat a lot and still not gain weight at all.

Mesomorph

Mesomorphs are the luckiest. By nature, they have the makings of an athletic physique and have good endurance and high strength performance. The mesomorph has fairly wide shoulders and chest. They have bright pronounced muscles with a low amount of subcutaneous fat. Thanks to a moderate, average metabolic rate, such people can gain lean muscle mass with relative ease and quickly get rid of fat. Unfortunately, this type is the least common.

Endomorph

They usually say about the endomorph: "he has a wide bone." And this is absolutely true, because their bones are really massive and heavy. This body type is characterized increased accumulation of fat due to slow metabolism. Endomorphs have short and massive limbs, wide hips, and no pronounced waist. In general, they have a "rounded" figure. When practicing spores, they show low endurance. Today, this body type, or close to it, is the most common.

It should be noted that somatotypes in a "pure" form are very rare. As a rule, a person simultaneously possesses the properties of several of them. Also, do not forget that the somatotype is a tendency. For example, if you are an endomorph, this does not mean that you cannot be thin. This is quite achievable. But, nevertheless, genetically, your body is still more prone to accumulating fat than gaining muscle mass.

Read this article to learn how to determine your body type.

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