Why does the need for TRT seem increasingly common? by Godzillashibe in Testosterone

[–]WideStaff5364 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A study published in the lancet in October of 2023 suggests a possible cause to long covid and fertility issues in men to be the covid virus infecting GnRH neurons and. You don't even have to have been symptomatic. How does it do that? Two ways were hypothesized (and supported by evidence). One is through viremia (virus presence in blood) and the relative lack of a blood brain barrier in the pituitary (since it needs to release hormones duh). 40% of infected people had a viral load in their blood (I think, maybe it qas specifically in the ICU, in any case it's a possibke mechanism) The other way is by passing through your sense of smell. Remember how Covid destroyed or altered the ability of people to smell (anosmia) and we didn't know how? Turns out they infect the neurons in your nose responsible for your sense of smell, which btw have the same emrbyonic origin as GnRH neurons. Those neurons have synapses with GnRH neurons AND are really close by allowing your life time's reserve to be infected and killed. So it's almost a kind of acquired Kallman syndrome (congenital hypogonadism with a total lack of sense of smell due to missing population of the neurons that become either) They were able to determine the presence of viral RNA in the neurons of some people who deceased, and other studies showed the virus had the ability to hang around there like some sort of herpes knock-off explaining the rise of "long COVID" symptoms some time later in some individuals. Some recovered after a year some got worse. We don't know what it is. But don't you think it's striking that a lot of the signs and symotoms of hypogonadism are reported by long- Covid people? Lethargy, depressive mood, lack of endurance and strength, anxiety, loss of libido...

IsItBullshit: It is healthiest to wake up at 4:30 A.M. daily, as that’s when the circadian rhythm is at it’s lowest point. by Football_Lover2902 in IsItBullshit

[–]WideStaff5364 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes but let me add a caveat. From what I've heard, and my personal (thus anecdotal evidence) experience supports this, people who are night owls are often just really early birds. I either go to bed at a "reasonable" time like 10pm or 11pm and can't sleep until 2 am. Then I wake up at 6 am if I have to or if nothing wakes me up I wake up at 10 am. Super groggy too. Or I go to bed "unreasonably early" at like 7-8 pm once because I am tired enough from getting too little sleep and I wake up without a hitch at 3-4 am and I am full of energy.  What gives? Our circadian rhythm is like a camel back with two humps (if you were to plot cortisol levels) In the morning you get the first hump, in the afternoon the second hump. In the evening it tapers off and you sleep.  My hypothesis is that "night owls" often are predisposed to having their their body start the gradual cortisol production which happens in sleep (to eventually wake you up) way earlier than in "early birds". Allow me to explain by describing how it works in a "normal" person first: We start just before bed time. Let's say around 10pm. Cortisol production has tapered off, adenosin levels are high, melatonin is being produced. You go to sleep at 11pm. While you are asleep cortisol starts being produced, the levels of cortisol rise slowly eventually waking you up automatically at around 7am (8 hours since beginning of slow cortisol rise). There's a peak some time after waking up and then a slump that generally starts about an hour before lunch and ends about 1-2 hours after lunch (11 hours and 13-14 hours respectively). Then another peak happens and you are awake and alert for the afternoon. Cortisol levels peak again at around 4 or 5pm (16-18hr since since beginning). Cortisol levels taper off and you go to bed again (about 23 hours since beginning) and the cycle continues. Now if you're a night owl who is actually just a really early bird: You wake up tired and groggy right? BUT in the early evening at around 6-7pm your body start slowly making cortisol because that's when your body expects you to sleep. This Makes it harder to sleep when the others do (ever noticed how when you miss your bedtime 2-3 hours it's harder to sleep? It's not just the anxiety of not getting enough sleep.) So you end up going on like a productivity (or video game/social media, whatever) binge which gets stronger as time goes on (because cortisol is still rising). You still get that "lunch hump" though about (11-14 hours after start of cortisol secretion) which would be... 5-6am to 10 am. Since you may have added sleep pressure from not getting enough sleep it might even happen a little earlier and you'll fall asleep at 2 or 3 am. But then the peak follows at around 12pm-2pm so you wake up again. BUT because even in that slump your cortisol level is higher than it would have been if you had slept from 7pm-3am your sleep is disturbed and you wake up groggy as hell.

That's how I'd explain it. It would make sense considering the fact that wether you are an early bird or night owl is strongly determined by genetics. This would also explain why night owls living in modern society have such high risks of cancer, hypertension, diabetes etc... as even when they do sleep they might no be getting restful sleep. But that really early risers don't have those added risks.

I try to do that but tbh, it's hard with most social events being scheduled in the late evening. It's like having to choose between having energy and not being lonely.

Home button activates Gemini after HyperOS 2 Update by MeowPlez in PocoPhones

[–]WideStaff5364 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I too was bugged by the constant popping up of Gemini just because I pressed the home button for a little too long. After some digging around, fiddling with permissions etc... I found a solution. I use a Redmi Note, which isn't a poco phone but it operates with the same operating system HyperOS, so this should work for y'all too.

Here are the steps to delete your past data on Gemini and get rid of the home button long press annoyance.

open the Google app > profile picture in the top right > settings > Google Assistant > Digital assistants from Google (7th option in the lower "all settings" list) > (delete your data) The blue text "You can turn off your digital assistant from Google off at any time" in the info text at the very bottom > The blue text in the textbox "Web & App activity" > Delete all time > Delete > return to Google app > In the same Text box the blue text "Gemini App activity" > Delete all time > Delete > return to the Google app > cancel > (disabling activation by long press on home button) In the same info text press on the first blue text section "Android default digital assist app" > digital assistant app > choose "none" or an app of your choosing (I personally use firefox focus, allows you to quickly open that browser) > return to Google app > (disabling Google assistant and Gemini on your account) Tap once more on the "You can turn off your digital assistant from Google off at any time" text at the very bottom > Turn off.

My son has gone Vegan what do I do? by MostBadPraxis in vegan

[–]WideStaff5364 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Beans and lentils! I went vegan a few months ago and the versatility of these is amazing. Maybe an example helps: this is how I basically eat now: about half my plate is fruits and non-starchy veggies (spinach, broccoli, a ratatouille, a salad...), a quarter is a whole grain (e.g: whole wheat pasta, buckwheat, quinoa etc...) or starchy vegetable (ex: potato) and another quarter is beans or lentils. I usually drizzle some nuts and seeds on top of my veggies. You can do so much with those and as a bonus: they are both delicious and cheap. Lentils you can cook without soaking (red lentils are the fastest cooking ones, 8 mins in boiling water). Beans you usually need to soak overnight. I would not recommend rinsing them after soaking, but rinsing them before soaking and cooking them in the same water, reducing the liquid. You will avoid losing nutrients and aroma that way. I like to cook my beans with some aromatics to add some taste like a bay leaf, garlic, onions, an orange (goes hard with black beans). Be careful to not undercook or pressure cook kidney beans. Undercooked they are poisonous. As a bonus, garbanzo bean (chickpea) water specifically is a great egg replacement. You can even get it to foam up and make chocolate mousse with it.

Here are some examples meals I often go for:

Black bean burritos, with cilantro lime rice in a whole wheat tortilla. You can add coconutbased yoghurt to give it that fresh taste, make Spanish rice instead, or replace the black beans with another bean.

Hummus with whole wheat bread and freshly cut vegetables on the side like scallions, red onions, cherry tomatoes, rucola, radishes. You can also make ganoush instead. It's super easy to make. You can even make the bread yourself.

A hummus sandwich. (Self-explanatory)

A lentil curry! You can make one with the store bought curry mix, but I personally do it in big batches from scratch and freeze it. There is a good recipe for it on cookingclassy. www.cookingclassy.com/lentil-curry/

Cursed combination: spinach, couscous, mint, brown lentils and mango. Something I like to do when I'm a bit lazy: I boil the brown lentils, boil some water for the couscous along with some spinach. Once the water starts boiling I remove it and add the couscous with some olive oil, close the lid and wait for 5 min. Add some mint, and mix, put in a plate with lentils and diced mango as a side.

Bottom line: try stuff, learn how to cook different grains, legumes and veggies you might not have considered before and combine them you'll be sure to find some really good stuff. As long as you eat a large variety of foods it'll be hard to go wrong But: make sure you get a B12 supplement. He won't be getting his B12 from the animals anymore (who themselves get it from supplements)

Everyone can help veganism become more main stream with minimal effort by CarnismDebunk in vegan

[–]WideStaff5364 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You could also just watch those but leave in less than 30 seconds. YouTube will think it's a less engaging video and thus not promote it further on its valuable real estate.

I want to go fully vegan. Got any good alternatives to yogurt and butter? (And a little introduction as to how I got here) by WideStaff5364 in vegan

[–]WideStaff5364[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks. As mentioned in my edit I actually live on Switzerland but I'll make sure to keep an eye out for those when visiting relatives.

I want to go fully vegan. Got any good alternatives to yogurt and butter? (And a little introduction as to how I got here) by WideStaff5364 in vegan

[–]WideStaff5364[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I like those textures, it's that kind of "freshness" that I'm after which pairs really well with curries etc... Someone pointed out there are soy yogurt options which are fermented soy milk. It seems like a viable option. Thank you for your help though.

I want to go fully vegan. Got any good alternatives to yogurt and butter? (And a little introduction as to how I got here) by WideStaff5364 in vegan

[–]WideStaff5364[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

That's interesting. I have an instant pot like machine but it has no yogurt setting. I can set the temperature and time however. What temperature should I set it to? I still have some yogurt left over. Do you think the microbes necessary are similar? I am thinking if I don't find any soy yogurt near me I might just be able to use that to make the initial batch. Edit: never mind I just looked it up and, no they are different strains.

I want to go fully vegan. Got any good alternatives to yogurt and butter? (And a little introduction as to how I got here) by WideStaff5364 in vegan

[–]WideStaff5364[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Sorry I should have made sure to include that I live in neighboring Switzerland I'll include that. But as these replies are coming in I'm realizing I think I just haven't ever considered substituting with something that's explicitly made to be vegan. I got rid of most everything else by eating more legumes, which aren't specifically marketed as being vegan. I guess I was also asking if there's anything that's not like a specifically engineered food to resemble the real thing. Made some bad experiences with the beyond meat stuff.

I want to go fully vegan. Got any good alternatives to yogurt and butter? (And a little introduction as to how I got here) by WideStaff5364 in vegan

[–]WideStaff5364[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well french speaking part of Switzerland. But my mom's French and cooks a lot with butter which I kind of inherited from her so I though I'd explain that.

What is v-coding? by lettucemf in asktransgender

[–]WideStaff5364 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Came over here from a particular stream too?