I recently dated a woman with astonishing vitality. For years on end, she had been sleeping for about five to six hours per night. She is an emergency surgeon and her energy & mood probably had a major say in why she chose that profession in the first place. Our first date was after one of her night shifts, after sleeping for only about four hours.
As soon as we met, I was blown away by her refreshing nature. She was lively, emotional, and very smart. After talking for some time, I was probing about her mental health – specifically, I wanted to know whether bipolar disorder ran in her family – so I asked gently about “the worst year in her life”. Reportedly, she has never had a depressive episode and was (and is) always quite happy and energetic.
Her vitality did not come down to her lifestyle, quite the contrary – the lifestyle she was living would burn out normal mortals quite fast.
I do think of myself as someone with decent energy levels, which are probably helped by my interventions, including lifestyle, hormones, and pharmaceuticals. However, there was no chance I could keep up with her. No intervention in the world (other than perhaps gene therapies) will ever allow me to sustainably improve my vitality to a degree matching hers.
Sure, I can hop on the amphetamine bandwagon and perhaps temporarily enjoy a similar energy. However, I am in for the long game and I do not want to potentially wreck my brain and neither do I think that amphetamines are a sustainable solution – many people are back to square one (potentially even minus one) after a couple of months, years at most.
There is a saying “What comes up, must also come down”. While this may be true in terms of neuropharmaceuticals, this does not hold for genes because people with the “right” combination of genes never came “up” but were born this way.
Vitality ultimately comes down, at least partly, to gene expression in the central nervous system, which is related to lifestyle, hormones, brain wiring, and genetics. I guess that the woman I was dating was one of the natural “short sleepers”, which are thought to comprise about 1% of the population. A handful of genes have been identified though research is still in its infancy.
Similar to intelligence (which has a huge genetic component – though nobody seems to know which genes exactly), the genetic underpinnings of vitality may be more due to the right combination of genes than single genes. Also similar to intelligence, there are probably many different combinations of genes that all lead to a similar phenotype.
Whatever the cause, these so-called short sleepers only need about 5-6 hours of sleep, have an increased ability to recall memories (presumably because they are above-average alert all the time), generally have an outgoing personality, greater stress and pain resilience, are often diagnosed with hypomania (particularly during puberty), and also have a lower body mass index (presumably because weight regulation in part comes down to the brain).
Known short-sleepers are Elon Musk, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump. It is also thought that some notable historical figures were short sleepers, including Thomas Edison, Nicola Telsa, and Margaret Thatcher. If one always feels alert, energetic, and motivated, compounded over time, this will obviously be reflected in one’s life situation eventually. I discuss the importance of biological factors in “life success” in more detail here.
Relatedly, I can inject all the steroids in the world but I would never be able to look one-fifth of what IFBB professional bodybuilders look like because their genetics are way superior to mine. Below is a picture of Ronnie Coleman and his over 70-year-old (presumably natty) mother.
Relatedly, many of the supercentenarians (above 110 years of age) made it to this age not because of their lifestyle. Some of them had been drinking or smoking for decades. Their longevity mostly comes down to impeccable genes.
People with two copies of the ApoE2 allele are pretty much immune to Alzheimer’s disease, and people with genetic PCSK9 hypofunction are pretty much immune to cardiovascular disease, the latter of which kills about 50% of the population. People with certain versions of FOXO3 are three times more likely to make it to 100 years.
In terms of vitality, I may be doing many things right in the lifestyle department (e.g., diet, sleep, exercise, supplements) plus being on a number of pharmaceutical interventions but may still feel and function worse than someone with “only” good genes.
Some people are just born lucky.
Biohacking can’t beat genetics and the single best thing one can do to have great energy, mood, motivation, metabolism, cognition, physique, longevity, etc. is to pick the right parents. (This is not to say that lifestyle, hormones, and pharmaceuticals aren’t helpful – only that they are inferior to genes.)
What happened to the women? I was dating her for a short time but eventually, it did not work out, perhaps in part because the energy levels of partners should be in the same vicinity and if they aren’t then things get exhausting for both partners quite fast.
Disclaimer
The content available on this website is based on the author’s individual research, opinions, and personal experiences. It is intended solely for informational and entertainment purposes and does not constitute medical advice. The author does not endorse the use of supplements, pharmaceutical drugs, or hormones without the direct oversight of a qualified physician. People should never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something they have read on the internet.