Choose your own adventure stories?

Hi everyone -

Do you remember the "Choose your own adventure" books? The books where you could choose what happened next and jump to that page in the book.

I remember dissecting those books by going through all the different paths to get to the multiple endings. (Thinking back, it's possible I was a kind of geeky kid...)

Understanding your genes is similar - multiple pathways, multiple adventures. No one's story is the same.

Your journey towards optimal health has twists and turns, connections and links unique to you.

I've been working this week to make the connections on Genetic Lifehacks easier to understand by adding lots of "related article" links. Like the "jump to page 50 if the character goes into the scary cave" options in a choose your own adventure story.

With more than 400 articles with genotype reports, connecting them all is a never-ending story.

In almost every article, I write something about how your genetic variants interact with your environment (diet, lifestyle, sleep, etc). Gene X Environment interactions.

The other half of the picture is that your genetic variants interact with all your other genes. Researchers label these as Gene X Gene interactions.

My goal is to make the paths and connections between topics clear and easy to navigate. You shouldn't have to be Nancy Drew to find the connections.

I'm also working on the overall organization. You'll notice that larger categories are now subdivided for easier navigation.

Take a look at the Brain Function and Mental Health section, as an example. It is now organized into articles about neurotransmitter genes, cognitive function, mood/mental health, and addiction. Within it, everything is interlinked. For example, the Statins and Brain Fog article ties to LDL cholesterol genes, CoQ10 genes, GABA, and APOE type.

Check it out and let me know what you think! I'm always open to suggestions on how to make the content better and more useful.

Stay curious,

~ Debbie

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Latest on Longevity Lifehacks:

Testing my microplastics levels
I recently did a blood test to see if my efforts to reduce plastic had paid off. TLDR - I have low levels of nanoplastics, but yet still have some circulating plastic.

Check out the article if you're interested, and subscribe on substack if you want to get the Longevity Lifehacks articles in your inbox.

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Updated with new SNPs and more information

Opioid Receptors Genetic Variants and Addiction

Key takeaways:
~ Genetic variants in the opioid receptor genes impact your ability to feel pain and to have pain blocked by opioid drugs.
~ Certain genetic variants are known to increase the relative risk of addiction to opioids.

How do opioid receptors work?

Pain helps us to learn not to do something, like touching a hot stove. But we have built-in ways to turn off the pain at some point. One way is through natural opioids the body makes as a way to regulate pain, reward, and addictive behaviors.

Genetic variants, though, mean that we don’t all feel the same amount of pain. Some feel pain more strongly or for longer times than others. These same variants also impact our reactions to opioid-based medications, impacting our susceptibility to opioid addiction.

There are three opioid receptors: mu, delta, and kappa (μ, δ, and κ).

They differ in how they bind with different types of opioid drugs and opioid molecules made in the body, but they all are somewhat similar and related.[ref]

Read the rest of this article here

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What I've been reading:

1.) Glycocalyx dysregulation impairs blood–brain barrier in ageing and disease

More interesting than the title may indicate, this study on the blood-brain barrier explains a lot about what goes on in neurodegenerative diseases and in aging.

I have the study bookmarked to write about on Longevity Lifehacks (and possibly do a Genetic Lifehacks article on it if I can find connected SNPs).

2.) Tattoo ink exposure is associated with lymphoma and skin cancers – a Danish study of twins

This study involving twins answers some questions about the effect of tattoo ink on the body. The case-control study looked at twin pairs where one twin had been diagnosed with lymphoma or skin cancer. The researchers took into account whether or not the twin had a tattoo, the size of the tattoo (small or large), and smoking status - all compared to the sibling without cancer. The results showed a significantly increased risk of skin cancer and increased risk of lymphoma in the twin with the tattoo. Larger tattoos more than doubled the risk of both skin cancer and lymphoma.

Genetic Lifehacks article: Skin Cancer Genetic Risks