The "The Traits You Allegedly Inherited From Your Mom & Dad" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just finished reading about the five traits that I didn't know I inherited from my mother as well as the four traits I inherited from my dad.  I just assumed that I inherited my bald head from my dad and my skinny structure from my mom,  but is that the case?  Seems that the science of genetic inheritance is complicated, much more than we might suspect.  It's almost impossible to figure out from whom you inherited that high IQ or from whom you inherited the curse of sneezing in bright sunlight.  Our traits are influenced by many different genes and you inherit some from each parent.  Then, there are traits that people often assume are inherited, but actually aren't.  So, I'll try and give you a bit of information based on the readings I have done in the past.  First, we probably got most of our intelligence from our mother.  You probably assumed your intelligence came from both parents, but the genes that determine intelligence are located in chromosome X which women have two of and men only one.  About 25 years ago research was done when over 12,000 people were interviewed ranging in age from 14 to 22.  After accounting for the child's IQ, race, education and socio-economic status, the best predictor for intelligence was the mother's IQ.  In most cases, moms play the primary caregiver role and is the architect of their child's environment during the period of critical brain development.  But, scientists estimate that only 40% to 60% of intelligence is hereditary, with environmental factors making up the rest, plus older dads tend to have smarter sons for this reason.  So, just how do you inherit traits?  There are three ways.  First is through a dominate gene; second is through a recessive gene and lastly, there are X-linked traits which are found only on the X chromosome that is passed on to you by your mother.  There are two types of fat in your body: Good brown fat which increases your metabolism and helps you keep a healthy weight and bad white fat that can cause obesity and disease if you have too much of it.  Everyone has some of each, but how much brown fat you have is inherited from your mom.  But, genetics aren't the only thing that controls your weight; lifestyle choices play a much bigger part.  If you mother has low levels of the brain chemical known as serotonin, you are more likely to develop attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder later in life.  The genes passed from mother to child impact serotonin production that influences your ability to focus.  When puberty arrives, with acne, cracking voices, getting your period, etc., both parents' genetics play an equal part in when it will arrive.  A gene mutation inherited from either parent can lead to premature puberty and you will have to deal with all that stuff earlier in life.  How well you age is determined by the accumulation of damage to your mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) which are inherited from your mother.   The part of your brain known as the corticolimbic system controls emotional regulation and plays a role in mood disorders like depression, comes more from the mother's side that the father's side.  As far as the gender of your child, a man with many brothers is more likely to have sons, while a man with many sisters is more likely to have daughters.  It is well known that if your family has a history of Alzheimer's disease, it increases the risk of you developing the illness which comes from your mother.  Alzheimer's is the most common case of dementia later in life so it's good to know your mother's history so you can start taking steps to protect your brain health as soon as possible.  A woman's fertility may be impacted by a gene she inherited from her father.  I was unable to get anymore information on this subject.  As far as your hairline, it is said that for men...hair loss is due to inheriting the trait from his mother, but that has been found to be untrue with it being inherited from both parents.  So, there you have the science of genetic inheritance in a nutshell.  I'm sure I missed something which I probably inherited from my mother...since it's said we inherit more from our mom that from our dad.   But, my mom seemed to have things under control most times in my household.  And, I'm sure if I had read a different story written by a different person, I may have gotten an entirely different story on inheriting genes from your parents.  So, take what you just read with a grain of salt, as long as you don't eat too much of the salt, since I'm sure it has something to do with how your mom passed along all that salt to you in your evening meal.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.