I got my DNA Sequenced and Uploaded it to ChatGPT

Turning Genetic Information Into Better Decisions

After telling people I got my DNA sequenced I realized a lot of people just think of this as something to see where you’re ancestors are from, but what interested me much more was what I could learn about health. This was also the reason preventing me from doing it earlier. I wanted to know if there were any possible health conditions I’m likely to get as I get older like increased risk for cardiovascular disease or dementia. Part of my didn’t want to know. If it was bad news I would have to live the rest of my life knowing something is going to happen.

I decided I would rather know and be able to make changes to my lifestyle or take supplements or medication to give me the best possible outcome.

So I got my DNA sequenced by Ancestry, it’s not really expensive to begin with and it’s often on sale. They send you a tub you have to spit in and then mail back. After a few weeks I got the results back. You get a map that shows where your ancestors come from, and then a list of traits both physical and mental. For instance how likely I am to prefer sweet vs savory, how likely I am to play an instrument, how full my beard would be, etc. It is a big list and I would say it’s about 95% accurate. In addition to this information it allows you to download the raw genome information to do with it as you will.

There are sites out there that will let you upload your DNA and analyze it based more on medical attributes but I decided to just upload the file to ChatGPT. I was able to have a very long discussion with it about how I’m made. After uploading the file, ChatGPT gave me a list of things it could tell me about, so I started diving into different branches. Both sides of my family seem to have pretty good longevity so I had a feelings there wouldn’t be too many big surprises, but asking about how my risk of heart disease, or chance of getting dementia later in life gave me some anxiety while I was waiting for the reply.

I am very lucky as most of the news I received was very favorable. The one area where it wasn’t was my sleep. I don’t metabolize norepinephrine aka noradrenaline very well. The prefix “Nor” is what you call it when it’s in your brain instead of your body. This causes me to be in a more alert state basically all the time, which isn’t good for sleep. There are some other genes that that cause more sleep issues like being really bad at metabolizing caffeine. Other issues as well, but I don’t want to bore all of you with minutia. On top of that I also have genes that make it very difficult for me to go without a lot of sleep. This came as no surprise as I’ve had sleeping issues my entire life and they have only gotten worse as I’ve gotten older.

There other thing I learned about was my relationship with alcohol. It turns out alcohol feels a lot better to me than for most people, which I’ve assumed for a long time. I also am really good at metabolizing the toxins that are produced when drinking, so I don’t get any ill effects from drinking. I generally feel pretty good the next day, no headaches, vomiting, etc. I’m also in the 5-10% or the population in which alcohol acts as a stimulant instead of a depressant. This makes me more likely to drink more at once as I stay alert and awake. There’s been a few times in my life where I’ve drank more than usual and I felt like I had had 5 cups of coffee.

I don’t have an addictive personality in general (again thanks to my genes) so as long as I watch my drinking and make sure it doesn’t get out of control I should be ok. Regarding the sleep issues, ChatGPT recommended a supplement to take before bed which has already helped me greatly. I’ve been feeling way more rested now. I’m now realizing I was basically a little bit tired all the time. Now I’m starting to feel what life is like without being tired at all. This alone was worth any effort I put into this.

There were other things I learned which will change decisions and life choices going forward. I have always thought that one day I might try to run a marathon, however I learned that I am not built for endurance at all. I also learned this from life. I will still work on my cardio to maintain health, but a marathon is not in the cards for me. I am very good at putting on muscle however, so why not spend my time at the gym in the weight room instead of the treadmill? Play to my strengths. Pun intended.

Those are just a few examples of what I found. I spent hours talking about different aspects of my DNA. I started to look at life differently. So much of what one might call a personality or preferences are dictated by DNA. I don’t prefer steaks over ice cream because of some decision I made, I am programmed that way. I didn’t earn having a really good memory, it was just given to me. I knew this already but somehow learning the names of the gene that does a specific thing makes it feel more concrete.

I learned from talking to people about this there many of them are really concerned about DNA information being sold or stolen. Ancestry has a very secure system which lets you delete your DNA off of their server. But I don’t see much danger even if it does get out in the world. I don’t think anyone will clone me. Getting exorbitant rates on my health insurance is the most likely realistic concern I can think of but I don’t have a lot of faith in health insurance right now anyway.

I got pretty lucky not having to worry about any undesirable diseases of aging coming down the pike, but let’s say you found out you were very likely to get Alzheimer’s disease. Regular aerobic exercise, deep sleep, and keeping blood sugar stable have all been shown to slow or even prevent the progression of Alzheimer’s in people with the APOE-ε4 gene. Pair that with daily learning, social engagement, omega-3s, creatine, and stress-lowering habits like sauna or meditation and you will have a much better future. Many people have said they don’t want to know what is going to happen, but we know so much about prevention, keeping your head in the sand is just making it more likely your going to spend you old age in poor health.

My DNA results made me realized that we’re really all not having the same experience in life. If your friend likely some particular food you don’t, it probably tastes different to them. How does that one friend have so much energy all the time? Their body works differently than yours.

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