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Poor sleep drove me insane, and my long path to recovery

writing.samsonhu.com

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Re: Poor sleep drove me insane, and my long path to recovery

#151
post #149
post #146

I recently discovered that I’m a slow metabolizer of caffeine. Via my raw 23andme data. https://you.23andme.com/tools/data/?query=rs762551 C/C genotype. https://www.geneticlifehacks.com/liver-detox-genes-cyp1a2/#C... Instead of coffee being a net positive, it actually takes caffeine 4X the time to process through my body and increases my cardiac event risk by 2X. I can drink a cup of coffee at 8am and it still impact…

Are there any services like 23andme that are more strict when it comes to data privacy or that allow me complete ownership of the data? I would love this type of analysis even at a higher cost but I am scared of what might happen in the future to this data on me and children

I have used Nebula. Did a group buy of the kits with several friends to obfuscate shipping address. Signed up via a protonmail address, and accessed the site only through VPN. Then deleted my data after downloading all of it.

I believe it would be very difficult to tie my identity to my genome because of these steps.

Re: Poor sleep drove me insane, and my long path to recovery

#152
post #146

I recently discovered that I’m a slow metabolizer of caffeine. Via my raw 23andme data. https://you.23andme.com/tools/data/?query=rs762551 C/C genotype. https://www.geneticlifehacks.com/liver-detox-genes-cyp1a2/#C... Instead of coffee being a net positive, it actually takes caffeine 4X the time to process through my body and increases my cardiac event risk by 2X. I can drink a cup of coffee at 8am and it still impact…

How does one figure this out using their DNA.txt file? Is there a Wiki for genes?

Promethease (1) is a great site for doing this. You upload a genome (which they promise to delete), and download an HTML interactive report. The report spans thousands of studies, and it will tell you about any rare genetic disorders or interesting findings.

The cost is about $18, one time, iirc.

(1) https://promethease.com/

Re: Poor sleep drove me insane, and my long path to recovery

#153
post #149
post #146

I recently discovered that I’m a slow metabolizer of caffeine. Via my raw 23andme data. https://you.23andme.com/tools/data/?query=rs762551 C/C genotype. https://www.geneticlifehacks.com/liver-detox-genes-cyp1a2/#C... Instead of coffee being a net positive, it actually takes caffeine 4X the time to process through my body and increases my cardiac event risk by 2X. I can drink a cup of coffee at 8am and it still impact…

Are there any services like 23andme that are more strict when it comes to data privacy or that allow me complete ownership of the data? I would love this type of analysis even at a higher cost but I am scared of what might happen in the future to this data on me and children

Nebula is mentioned below for full DNA sequencing. I've used them for my son.

As for analysis, you could try one of these.

https://geneticgenie.org

https://mthfrsupport.com

https://promethease.com

https://foundmyfitness.com/genetics

Re: Poor sleep drove me insane, and my long path to recovery

#154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can I ask what symptoms you had as a skinny / sporty individual with sleep apnea?

Either sleepy or tired-but-wired feeling. Reflux. Mouth breathing during sleep(dry/stinky mouth), jerking awake while falling asleep, waking up with a headache, breathless or more tired than you went to sleep. Bruxism. ADHD-like and memory problems. Low blood pressure with cold extremities. Nightmares.

I've rationalized that this is a combination of getting older, ADHD, and childhood trauma. Will have to look more into apnea.

Re: Poor sleep drove me insane, and my long path to recovery

#155
post #149
post #146

I recently discovered that I’m a slow metabolizer of caffeine. Via my raw 23andme data. https://you.23andme.com/tools/data/?query=rs762551 C/C genotype. https://www.geneticlifehacks.com/liver-detox-genes-cyp1a2/#C... Instead of coffee being a net positive, it actually takes caffeine 4X the time to process through my body and increases my cardiac event risk by 2X. I can drink a cup of coffee at 8am and it still impact…

Are there any services like 23andme that are more strict when it comes to data privacy or that allow me complete ownership of the data? I would love this type of analysis even at a higher cost but I am scared of what might happen in the future to this data on me and children

> Are there any services like 23andme that are more strict when it comes to data privacy or that allow me complete ownership of the data?

https://familytreedna.com. I used to work for them > 2 years ago.

1. Order a Family Finder kit. When you get the kit but before submitting your swab, sign up for the account but opt-out of _all_ matching services.

2. Send your swab in.

3. When you get your results in (~6 weeks usually), download your raw data from the website.

4. Call their support line and ask for your data to be deleted.

Re: Poor sleep drove me insane, and my long path to recovery

#156
post #146

I recently discovered that I’m a slow metabolizer of caffeine. Via my raw 23andme data. https://you.23andme.com/tools/data/?query=rs762551 C/C genotype. https://www.geneticlifehacks.com/liver-detox-genes-cyp1a2/#C... Instead of coffee being a net positive, it actually takes caffeine 4X the time to process through my body and increases my cardiac event risk by 2X. I can drink a cup of coffee at 8am and it still impact…

How does one figure this out using their DNA.txt file? Is there a Wiki for genes?

Take a look at this report.

https://www.geneticlifehacks.com/liver-detox-genes-cyp1a2/#C...

The newsletter above is fantastic BTW.

Re: Poor sleep drove me insane, and my long path to recovery

#157
post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there any services like 23andme that are more strict when it comes to data privacy or that allow me complete ownership of the data? I would love this type of analysis even at a higher cost but I am scared of what might happen in the future to this data on me and children

I have used Nebula. Did a group buy of the kits with several friends to obfuscate shipping address. Signed up via a protonmail address, and accessed the site only through VPN. Then deleted my data after downloading all of it. I believe it would be very difficult to tie my identity to my genome because of these steps.

> I believe it would be very difficult to tie my identity to my genome because of these steps.

That probably depends on the closest relatively of yours that they have in their database.

If you only have one sibling and they're in the database, you're probably boned no matter the precautions you take.

Re: Poor sleep drove me insane, and my long path to recovery

#158

Thank you for sharing! Skimmed for now, but saving this to read later. I've had a history as well of never getting good sleep so I'm curious to see what your experience was and the steps you've taken. A few things I've done that have helped a bunch: - Using BreatheRight nasal strips every night - Latex earplugs ("Mack's Pillow Soft Silicone Earplugs"). I could never sleep with foam earplugs in my ears but these are g…

I bought an Aranet recently and at night, it can go as high as 1600. I figured not wasn't as important at night but this article has me wondering. I will say that I've been going to the office 2-3 days a week and I've been sleeping a whole lot better lately. I don't recall when horrific sleep started but I'm fairly certain it was pre pandemic.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26452168/

> “Objectively measured sleep quality and the perceived freshness of bedroom air improved significantly when the CO2 level was [below 900ppm], as did next-day reported sleepiness and ability to concentrate and the subjects' performance of a test of logical thinking.“

1600ppm is definitely impacting your cognitive abilities and it's something you need to fix ASAP.

Re: Poor sleep drove me insane, and my long path to recovery

#159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. I bet close to all young skinny people with sleep apnea must remain undiagnosed. My generalist doc basically said "if you really insist we can do a polysomnography, but I'm pretty sure you don't have it, you're young, skinny and sporty. There isn't really much that helps that you can do about it anyway". I did insist and it turned out that I do have it. The changes in life I experienced are similar to yo…

The intensity of my sleep apnea varies from night to night, and you might be similar? Based on oxygen levels, mine also varies from subclinial to "medium" apnea. I was deemed not to have sleep apnea based on the take-home test or the in-hospital test... but I wore my oxygen-logging ring during the in-hospital test to check it was calibrated to the hospital's equipment (it was), and the specialist then diagnosed me ba…

What are O2 levels that suggest sleep apnea?

Re: Poor sleep drove me insane, and my long path to recovery

#160
I get insomnia. I've been doing CBT-i for a month. It's been transformational. Throughout this experience, I've learned a lot about sleep that I wouldn't have learned otherwise.

8 hours of sleep per day is generally a myth. The amount of sleep people need varies from person to person. Ironically, fixating on getting eight hours can cause some people to get insomnia.

Insomnia is a condition that is often caused by something (like work stress for the author) but drastically overstays its welcome. My CBT-i program emphasizes that trying to determine the root cause of the insomnia is pointless because of this phenomenon. This theory of how insomnia develops is called the 3P model and was developed by Dr. Arthur Spielman in the NINE TEEN EIGHTIES. (We've been sleeping for thousands and thousands of years!) https://insomnia.sleep-disorders.net/clinical/three-factors-...

Sleep apnea is super duper common. But the world (well at least the US) prides itself on working harder and sleeping less. I've met tons of people who start work at 6am but "get to sleep" (usually means "get to bed") at 10pm or later, partially because they wrap up work at home.

There is an over-fixation on the long-term degenerative effects of sleep. However, those effects are poorly understood because sleep in itself is poorly understood.

You can't really control sleep. That blew my mind. You can train yourself to get sleepy on a schedule, but actually falling asleep isn't up to you. This is why a lot of common sleep hygiene advice isn't that effective (or is actually regressive) long-term. CBT-i focuses a lot on this in particular.

Alcohol and sleeping pills DESTROY sleep. That is one of the few things about sleep that is extremely well understood. These things help people get to stage 1 sleep but inhibit the deeper sleep stages that start recovery processes. (The author took antihistamines for years. Antihistamines are used as sleep aids, though they are habit-forming and can cause gnarly insomnia when you get off of them without weaning off.)

So I agree with the author. I strongly believe that ALMOST EVERYONE in the US struggles with sleep, but, like sex, talking about that is taboo and drugging your way through the solution is socially acceptable.

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