The i Paper: I took a DNA test to discover my perfect sleep routine - I feel calmer and need less coffee

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The i Paper: I took a DNA test to discover my perfect sleep routine - I feel calmer and need less coffee

I’ve had anxiety for years – could resetting my gut health finally
be the answer?I’ve had anxiety for years – could resetting my gut health finally
be the answer?I’ve had anxiety for years – could resetting my gut health finally
be the answer?

I’ve lived like a lark for years — but my genes say I’m a night owl. Could changing my routine really change my life? 

I thought I was a morning person. I’ve been up by 6am for the past five years. My conversation skills fade around 8pm; I can rarely keep my eyes open for the News at Ten, and I fall asleep during the children’s bedtime at least twice a week.

This isn’t just my life stage. In my early twenties, I’d get up for good sunrises while travelling. At Glastonbury, I was back in my tent by midnight. Apart from my first year at university, when freedom kept me up till dawn, I have lived life as a lark.

So when I had my DNA analysed by Stride, a health platform that tests your genetic blueprint, I was shocked to learn that by nature, I’m a night owl.

Stride is one of a new generation of companies offering internal health tracking so clients can optimise wellness and prevent disease. This summer, it will launch a membership service offering individualised health advice and tailored supplements. By analysing DNA, which remains static, and regularly checking blood, gut microbiome and biological age, clients will be able to track the improvement in their health.

Everyone doing the test will find out about their unique blueprint so they can tweak their lifestyle to live in an optimum way in terms of energy and health for their body.

My DNA test reveals that I handle stress well because I metabolise dopamine quickly. However, I carry a variation in the MTHFR gene, which reduces how efficiently my body converts dietary folate by up to 70 per cent. After getting the result, I started taking a supplement and almost immediately found myself with more energy.

But it was my sleep result that really took me aback: how could I have been so wrong?

The genes that make me a naturally late sleeper

Bianca Van Aswegen, lead expert for Stride, explains that we each have a “chronotype” – our body’s natural preference for being active at different times of day.

“Your DNA results suggest an evening chronotype,” she tells me. A mix of nine main genes all contribute to your chronotype, and the combination of variants within each gene suggests whether overall I’m likely to feel more alert and focused early in the morning or later in the day. It turns out that I carry variations of two key sleep genes called PER3 and PER2, which are strongly associated with staying up late.

“These genes are central to biological clock regulation,” Van Aswegen explains. The net result is that while I might be able to get away with less sleep, I’m likely to be more prone to sleep disturbances.

She also tells me that three other genes affect how my brain responds to light and the sleep hormone melatonin, making me even more of an evening person.

If it all sounds like programming code, that’s because it is: it’s mind-blowing that we can decode our genetic information to discover not just disease risks, but also personality traits. And apparently, my lifelong lark habit goes against my genetic code, meaning I might be snoozing through prime alert hours.

I start getting up later - and feel less tired

I want to find out what happens if I follow nature’s original intentions instead of habit and social conditioning. If I’ve been fighting my chronotype all my life, maybe I’ll discover a hidden genius?

“Living with an earlier schedule doesn’t mean your DNA is wrong; it just means you’ve adapted.” Van Aswegen explains. “Social and work demands often override natural rhythms; your DNA gives a tendency, not a destiny.”

She suggests aligning my schedule to my natural rhythm by shifting demanding tasks later, as I may feel sharper in the afternoon or evening. “Avoid early morning workouts as you might benefit more from exercising at midday or after work,” she suggests. If I were trying to shift my circadian rhythms earlier, she’d suggest using morning light (sun exposure) to help reset my clock.

In the evening, she recommends the following: “Try to avoid blue light and allow time to wind down naturally or make use of a magnesium glycinate or threonate supplement to relax muscles. Prioritise sleep hygiene by creating winding down routines and sticking to a consistent bedtime. Your genetics suggest you may perform better later in the day.”

With three young children who need dropping at school and nursery before nine am, lying in until mid-morning isn’t an option. But instead of getting up between five and six am, I push it back to between seven and seven thirty.

In the evenings, rather than going to bed between nine and ten, I try to stay up until eleven pm.

On day one, staying in bed until 7.30am feels like a huge lie-in. I’m awake as early as usual and lie in bed, trying to doze but feeling restless to begin the day.

When my children wake, we have a cuddle before getting up and then a scramble to get into school on time.

I try working in the evening, but am so tired that I drift into sleep while typing. It’s a strange sensation. I’m hopeful I might have discovered the modern version of W B Yeats’s automatic writing, but realise in the morning that there is no hidden work of brilliance buried in my subconscious.

Still, I carry on with the experiment. I prefer exercise later in the day rather than first thing. And, within three days, I start sleeping until 7am. On the downside, this does mean we’re late into school one day, and my daughter asks me to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

I’m having mixed success with evenings: the invitation to sleep is such an enticing one that I fall asleep cuddling the children. I suspect the ingrained sleep deprivation of eight years of parenthood will take months, rather than a week, to catch up on, so I’m not giving my experiment a fair chance.

Still, I notice that getting up later means I’ve dropped a cup of sugary coffee in the morning – something I’ve been trying to do for months with little success – and feel more alert and calmer when I’m helping the children get ready for school.

What the children think of my lie-ins

“Nurture often has more impact than nature,” Van Aswegen tells me. “You’ll always have night owl tendencies, but your life experiences have shaped how you respond. Your genetics just show what your body naturally prefers.”

By Sunday morning, my children wake me at 7:30am – the latest I’ve slept all year. It feels indulgent. Within a few minutes, I feel alert, optimistic and ready to start the day, rather than a bit blurry and in need of caffeine top-ups for a couple of hours until 7.30am comes round. The early morning hours are magical for cuddles with my children, but 7.30am might be closer to when my body wants to start the day.

Initial results are encouraging enough that I’m continuing the experiment through the summer holidays to find out if my lifelong lark identity is just a deeply ingrained habit.

What else my DNA revealed

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Read the original article posted on The i Paper.

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