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Artificial biosensor can better measure the body's main stress hormone

medicalxpress.com

31–33 of 33 posts

Re: Artificial biosensor can better measure the body's main stress hormone

#31
post #3

This is certainly an improvement over a lab test, but a continuous monitoring solution would dramatically expand the utility. You could rate employers on the median cortisol levels of their employees during and after the work day. At an individual level, those of us that are not very self-aware of our stress levels could monitor it objectively and determine stressors and implement and monitor interventions to reduce…

This would end up having effects like causing employers to discourage their employees from drinking coffee or exercising, both of which acutely raise cortisol levels.

Re: Artificial biosensor can better measure the body's main stress hormone

#32

I wonder if a similar technique could be used for Melatonin in saliva so that noninvasive circadian phase testing could be performed outside of the lab. I'm convinced that if we actually looked at the circadian phase of the general population more closely we'd find A LOT of people with wonky clocks [1][2]. I've come to realize in recent months that I'm rocking a ~3h phase advance. Not terrible but it can sometimes ma…

> I've come to realize in recent months that I'm rocking a ~3h phase advance.

How did you figure that out? And having a phase advance should just mean that you could shift your bedtime and waking time forward but still get a similar amount of sleep compared to someone with a "neutral" phase, whatever that means.

Re: Artificial biosensor can better measure the body's main stress hormone

#33
post #32

I wonder if a similar technique could be used for Melatonin in saliva so that noninvasive circadian phase testing could be performed outside of the lab. I'm convinced that if we actually looked at the circadian phase of the general population more closely we'd find A LOT of people with wonky clocks [1][2]. I've come to realize in recent months that I'm rocking a ~3h phase advance. Not terrible but it can sometimes ma…

> I've come to realize in recent months that I'm rocking a ~3h phase advance. How did you figure that out? And having a phase advance should just mean that you could shift your bedtime and waking time forward but still get a similar amount of sleep compared to someone with a "neutral" phase, whatever that means.

Shifting waking time forwards is straightforward but getting into bed early enough can be tough.

As for the phase shift, I've always had what I thought was maintenance insomnia but at some point I realized I always waking at exactly 4:30am. Going to bed early resolves the maintenance insomnia (also travelling eastward more than a few hours or so). My father and brother are the same.

I'd love to get a DLMO done to confirm. Thinking about experimenting with tracking core body temperature monitoring soon.

FWIW a 24h ambulatory blood pressure study actually showed a phase advanced nocturnal dip.

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