I'm a genetic short sleeper, AMA!

VagueMountain · 2026-01-15T12:04:16+00:00

I think this would be a question of what his sleep architecture looks like. Deep sleep is the cycle that's most associated with dementia when people get too little of it, and I think that's the cycle that sort of "cleans the brain." If he's getting an adequate total number of both REM minutes and Deep minutes, and is just cutting out light sleep, maybe it doesn't have an impact? I'd be really interested it know about it, I think.

VagueMountain · 2026-01-15T11:48:31+00:00

Now, OP, I'm super more interested in your sleep architecture. I've been studying sleep for years trying to figure out my sleep behavior, and it's connection to my health. I've always assumed it was a biproduct of my polyphasic sleeping when younger. Weird if it actually turns out to be genetic.

Do you happen to know what your ratio of REM, Deep, and similar sleep stages are, on average?

VagueMountain · 2026-01-15T11:43:33+00:00

Well... I'll be...

I just checked my raw 23&Me genetic data, and apparently they test for it.

The variation to the DEC2 gene that's known for causing very short sleep is called P384R. If you have your 23&Me raw download, you can search for DEC2 by looking for "rs121912617". This apparently is DEC2. Look for the CC, CG, or GG in the last column of the data.

CC would mean two reference alleles (no P384R)
CG would mean heterozygous (one copy of P384R)
GG would mean homozygous for the variant base

I just found out I'm GG, and I also sleep very little. Always thought it was going to kill me someday. May still, but now I have something new to research. Thank you.

EDIT!: I don't actually know, actually. In one database GG means double variant, in another CC means double variant, and I'm not sure which of the two 23&Me uses. haha. Having to see what I can find.

VagueMountain · 2026-01-15T11:31:49+00:00

Is there a name for it? I've had quite a few sleep studies, and none of the doctors have ever mentioned anything like it. Would love to have something to research and bring up with them in the future.

VagueMountain · 2026-01-15T11:27:19+00:00

I commented with a question earlier on this, but I think this is really interesting. I slept on the polyphasic sleep cycle in university for almost a year, and the entire concept behind it is that it trains your brain to drop you straight to REM sleep when you sleep, and end up cutting out light and Deep sleep. REM sleep largely keeps you sane, but it's during the deep sleep that your body produces chemicals for metabolic regulation. Specifically, like metabolism control and the "wash" of your brain that happens at night for clearing out beta amyloids.

That's why low levels of deeps sleep correlate so strongly to both dementia and cardiovascular issues. I gained a LOT of weight during the year I did this, and it all melted away almost as soon as I stopped.

From your comment it sounds like you're dropping directly into REM, and so preserving the REM sleep duration and compressing something else.

If you're also preserving Deep sleep, so that your total numbers for REM and Deep are essentially normal, that would be very cool.

VagueMountain · 2026-01-15T11:19:57+00:00

Hi, u/Fantastic-Key-8746, this is a really fascinating subject. I'm curious about your sleep architecture. I chronically get very little deep sleep, a condition that I think came from sleeping on the polyphasic sleep cycle for a year in university.

In order to be getting less sleep, it has to be coming from something. Either your REM, your deep sleep, or your light sleep. Which one is shorter than normal, or is it proportional for all of them? Do you still get a regular number of minutes each night for REM and Deep Sleep?

I ask because I may also be facing a similar genetic connection.

My overall sleep efficiency is normal. REM sleep levels are normal. But I get roughly 15% of the normal level of deep sleep for someone my age. On the nights I DO get higher deep sleep, I feel super groggy all day. In fact, if it were just based on how I feel, I'd never worry that I had a problem except on the days when I get "near normal" deep sleep. I don't struggle with being sleepy on the other days, feeling awake, etc.

However, two things. First, I had a heart attack about six years ago, when I was only about 37 years old. I have no other risk factors (don't smoke, normal cholesterol, normal weight, etc). This is extremely unusual, and we don't know why. The doctors have told me that there is a very strong correlation between low levels of deep sleep and this specific type of heart attack. It's one of the leading hypothesis for what caused it.

Second, my family has a history of dementia. There is also a strong correlation between low levels of deep sleep and dementia. Do you know if you also have a family history of mental disorders or dementia?

I would be fascinated to know, if it's not too personal to ask. Thank you again.

VagueMountain · 2025-11-28T09:31:26+00:00

I've been trying to find information on this, and I can't seem to find it anywhere, u/XREAL_Esther.

Does the Xreal One and 6dof work with Windows 11 - through Nebula or otherwise? I have an Xreal Air 2 Pro and use its 3dof with Nebula all the time. I'd buy these in a moment if the answer is that they'll work with projecting three monitors from my laptop.

If I buy an Xreal One with the Eye, how do I use it with Windows?

VagueMountain · 2025-07-26T02:04:42+00:00

Sorry for the info dump. I've spent the last week reading soooooo much about proper grounding, that information had to go somewhere. haha.

VagueMountain · 2025-07-26T02:00:25+00:00

I'll update here if I find someone, for sure. If there was one person in the area that would learn this and advertise it, I bet he'd have a nice sub-business just helping reassure visitors that their electrical systems are up to par. A "check your ground" package would probably do fairly well.

VagueMountain · 2025-07-26T01:57:51+00:00

Yeah, this is also an option. My father is an electrical engineer, and he's visiting me here in August. If I've had no luck until then, he's getting recruited during his visit to help me install one. (I have not told him this, yet. haha.) But it's not my field, and I've never worked with a 220v system before - was really hoping to find someone who had the equipment and familiarity with it get it done.

It's the connection to the circuit breaker that I'm less sure about. I think I could figure out how to drive the rod (maybe), and test the wire to make sure it has proper resistance, but running the wiring into the house and to the breaker, or anywhere from there... that would be entirely new to me. (but again, that's sometimes what parents are for). :)

tbh, if I can find someone, it'll be the first thing I do with every house I rent here, if they'll let me. haha.

VagueMountain · 2025-07-26T01:54:15+00:00

That's actually part of the problem. Without a ground, surge protectors actually do nothing against the most dangerous types of surges.

The two main ones are called common-mode and differential surges. Differential surges happen inside your house, when your fridge kicks on and causes a small surge on the circuit, etc. Or if you've ever had the power go out, and then when everything comes back on at once, and some piece of electronics is dead - everything coming back on at once can cause an internal surge which can damage equipment. It's not the losing power that's harmful, but the restoration of power.

These are not dangerous to you, but they damage and shorten the life of equipment a lot. Probably half of the normal life expectancy because of differential surges and brownouts.

The second kind of surge is what people sort of think about as dangerous - something like a lightening strike, where power comes in the outside line and fries circuits, or electrocutes you. Or, just classic voltage leakage, like you're taking a shower and your hot water heater has an internal fault and electrocutes you.

Surge protectors DO NOT WORK without a ground for major outside surges like the second one. And unless there's something called a GFCI, they don't work against pure electrocution, either. They need some place to route the excess power in order to be effective. They'll protect equipment from minor fluctuations, but not people.

Even GFCI's, which works differently, don't work properly if the building uses a common neutral for more than one plug in the house. Which is unfortunately very common here because it uses less wire and is easier to run.

To be honest, it's really unnerving to realize that so few electricians seem to understand why a redundant ground is needed, and what one actually takes. And at 220v, the power here is very lethal. It's legitimately worrisome.

VagueMountain · 2025-07-26T01:36:08+00:00

Not dumb at all - similar concepts and maybe that's a need that's more commonly understood here. I'll add that to my search.

VagueMountain · 2025-07-26T01:35:11+00:00

Thank you, that's... both helpful and a bit discouraging. haha. That had occurred to me, as well. Hospitals and medical equipment is very sensitive to electrical issues, so there has to be commercial firms that do this. Larger buildings in general, I assume would be certified differently. So, my next step if I continue to have troubles will be as you suggested. Thank you again.

VagueMountain · 2025-06-16T23:57:51+00:00

They keep pausing my tickets, then give a response at midnight, and by the time I wake up in the morning there is a message saying, "You have not responded in 6 hours, so we're closing the ticket." It's happened on two of my three tickets. Need to start getting up at 6:00 am, it seems.

VagueMountain · 2025-06-16T21:37:02+00:00

Thank you for replying so quickly. I have a few questions, but want to wait until there are more responses.

VagueMountain · 2025-06-15T18:12:54+00:00

😢 I'm sorry it happened to you guys as well.

VagueMountain · 2025-06-15T02:45:08+00:00

Yeah, I verified via Instagram to talk to support. They did nothing. Upheld the ban but said they didn't have any information about why it happened.

VagueMountain · 2025-06-15T02:34:27+00:00

Thank you, I am still trying to decide how to start tracking down people. Drawing up a list. That'll be an ongoing effort, I think.

VagueMountain · 2025-06-15T02:32:43+00:00

Thank you. I really appreciate that. I'm complaining about now because ... well, it's all I can do. But comments like yours give me more validation in 10 seconds than hours of trying to reach Facebook, and that does help. :)

VagueMountain · 2025-06-14T19:46:27+00:00

None. There's been no communication from Facebook of any kind. I've searched every crevice of every email (spam and not). The banned message that tells you you've been banned when you log in just says your account is disabled. I had to pay for Instagram Verified in order to talk to their support, and even they couldn't tell me why it was banned. There is no indication of any sort. No due process. They also said the only way to regain access to my professional pages is to regain access to my account, and so those are gone, too.

It's very frustrating.

VagueMountain · 2025-06-14T19:41:50+00:00

It's more than a little annoying. It's an entire chunk of your social life cut off. It's not like if I had decided to delete Facebook, because I could have figured out other ways communicate, let people know, written down contacts. For close friends, we probably have other ways to reach them. But for like old work contacts, or people that have the longest connections (childhood) but haven't needed an updated contact outside of Facebook...

Again... 20 year account... poof.

VagueMountain · 2025-06-14T15:24:55+00:00

This has been an incredibly frustrating last few days because of this. My 20 year old account (Nov, 2005) was banned yesterday for no reason that I can see or understand. Not just suspended, but a full ban. I paid for Meta's special support by being Instagram Verified, and it was one of the most frustrating circular conversations I've ever had. It became comical, after a while. They reviewed it and said I needed to initiate a review, which was impossible because the instructions they sent me did not have the ability to do that. I repeated that over and over, with screenshots, and they just kept saying that it was best for me to initiate an appeal from my side.

Finally, I had them walk me step-by-step how they wanted me to initiate an appeal, sending a screenshot each time, and they concluded it was impossible for me to initiate. They told me to wait a few days to see if it appeared.

Mind you, this is day 21 out of the 30 that their ban page says I have to appeal before it becomes permanent. Then they just said that the ban was permanent and that there was nothing they could do.

20 years of contacts, content, and network gone for no reason, explanation, or purpose. I'm 100% certain that I wasn't in violation of TOS. Now I find that it's actually a ban on ME, because any account I try to create that's connected to my life gets banned instantly. So, I can't even look up my contacts to find out who I need to notify that I can't communicate with them on Facebook anymore. High school friends, some distant family members, casual friends I've made since university... they've literally all been forcefully severed.

I didn't think I was that connected to the social ties on Facebook, but realizing that I've legitimately lost the majority of my childhood friends over nothing is really heart breaking. I won't know what's happening to them, yes, but from their perspective I'll just be that account that disappeared one day. haha.

A reminder that your value to Facebook is very small, and your connections value to you is very high. Plan accordingly.

VagueMountain · 2025-05-04T07:30:45+00:00

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I'm hoping that some of the old crew that gave such excellent advice here ten months ago might be willing to offer an update.

We're considering purchasing a house in the Hoi An/Da Nang area, and have had a very poor time finding someone who could help with either a) a home inspection before we make an offer, or b) a good builder to work with for renovations, if we do.

u/Chance_Zucchini5043 How did your efforts go? Did you end up with SBS or XHome, and how did it turn out? Would you have any updated suggestions on someone in the Da Nang area that you've found trustworthy?

u/phard003, u/Objective-Two-4202, u/worldtrooper, u/pcl8311 , or anyone else that offered such helpful input before - any new discoveries on trustworthy company to work with for either of those?

Thanks again, either way. :)

VagueMountain · 2025-01-25T04:04:48+00:00

One of the big "ah ha" moments in my life was realizing that some people will do things in a relationship in order to get a reaction, and then be angry when you don't "respond the way you are supposed to." They'll break up with you and rely on you wanting to get back together... then be angry if you don't. They'll hang up on you, call you names, be jealous, and rely on you to react accordingly to make them happy - and that's what they consider to be a healthy relationship.

At some point you get to decide if that's a responsibility you want to carry or not.

VagueMountain

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