The Los Angeles Times reported on Friday an interesting study about the effects of sleep deprivation on genetics. Essentially, lack of sleep caused some genes, such as those involved in stress reactions, to be amplified. Others, such as those involved in healing, were turned down. Read:
Sleep deprivation has genetic consequences, study finds, on LATimes.com.
I found this study interesting for two reasons. First of all, some sociopaths actively try to prevent their partners from getting enough sleep, and the study points to the real health consequences of this subtle form of abuse.
Secondly, the study highlights the fact that genes can change. Here’s a key concept: We are all born with a package of genes, but for the genes to influence our bodies or personalities they have to “express,” or be activated. And whether or not genes express can depend on our life experiences.
This may provide hope for people who discover that they’ve had a child with a sociopath. Even though the child may be at risk of inheriting the disorder because of genetics, it’s not necessarily a done deal.
dorothy2
Seems like spaths and menopause go hand in hand. I think it’s the Spath stress. A friend of mine lives in Florida and that one year they had the multiple hurricanes she stopped getting her period and it never came back.
Spath took mine…..
Seems like they will take anything of ours they can.
Louise
dorothy2:
I think you are exactly right. I was only 47 when I started. It was three months after I left my job. It was a WTF? moment. All the stress of the job and of him and OW. I had a few periods since then, but am now 11 months without one and the definition of menopause is one full year without a period so I am almost there!
dorothy2
Louise, I was in no hurry to loose mine but, hey….it was bound to happen anyhow. I’m 53 and past the one year mark so it’s official.
?? yea ??
That really went something I saw as a positive…..
Good luck with the one year mark! Your almost there girl !
dorothy2
Louise!! I forgot to mention getting shingles. Thanks Spath!
Yeah…..I was a little stressed. Couldn’t sleep, couldn’t poop……
His high blood pressure went down, my low blood pressure went up….
What a guy!!
Imarriedit
My husband needed very little sleep. He stayed up till the wee hours on the Internet. He liked to start an argument before I went to bed and I’d lay awake upset most of the night. I felt miserable and it affected my job performance. After awhile I saw the doctor for my “sleep disorder.” I was so tired and confused half the time that I did whatever Spathy said because I was worn out. I was uneasy about going to sleep with him in the house too, like I was on guard. I had wierd dreams when I did sleep. Now that he’s gone I sleep normally. It was a combination of him getting me upset on purpose at bedtime so I wouldn’t sleep and my own subconscious feeling wary of going to sleep around this person. But there was a pattern: every Sunday night he’d pick a fight, and every Monday I was a wreck at work. When I told him about this pattern he smirked.
dorothy2
Imariedit, They are truely sick puppies. OMG. I’m putting more and more together. Spath used to start doing things that he knew upset me, or not doing things, or whatever. If he didn’t get a response he would turn up the volume and frequency till I’d confront him and then he would become indignant. I would then be accused of not being able to go a week, or two weeks, or whatever the time period was, with out being upset about something. WTF???
It appears that when I was immersed in it I just didn’t have the where with all to continually call him out on this crap. I SAW it….I can remember thinking, WTF? But it’s so bizarre in the moment and I knew he would spin it back on me and there I’d be…..
Unreal.
Tea Light
My abuser would punish me for any dissent during the day by waiting for me to show signs of being asleep and then molesting me to make me react/ awaken. Then I’d be on alert unable to sleep all night. I’d weep with exhaustion. He also would scratch my legs with his toenails if I turned my back to him and he’d push me to the edge of the bed. Again to punish me and wake me. Oh how I miss him. Not. Obviously.
bluemosaic
This is an interesting article, I too developed sleep problems during my time with spath. He would sometimes come home late and wake me to do intimate things to me…even though he knew I had to get up at 4am to get ready for work. I did fitness work for a living and this became a serious problem in being able to function. The biggest problem was that I felt so unstable inside ( maybe from the emotionally charged situations with him during day ? ! ) that I would wake on my own, not be able to fall back asleep and still have to get up and function. The worst day in my recollection was one in which I had less than 3 hrs. sleep and upon waking , knowing I was facing 4 hrs. of hard physical training early in my day, just layed there and cried….he rolled over and said…”I feel so sorry for you baby.” Sure he did…LOL. Throughout any given day, he put demands on my time that would lead to too little sleep for me…I should have said no to his chain-jerking for my support of his life that compromised my schedule and time for sleep…I did not.
This pattern took a huge toll on my mental and physical performance at work. Thankfully, I left him before I lost all my jobs. I am still struggling with normal sleep, but now I think it is greif and anger….time will heal this, hopefully.
dorothy2
TeaLight,,,,,thanks for reminding me! Heh! Yes…Spath would take the entire bed, I’d be squished into a corner with no covers. He’d be stretched out on his back….comfy comfy……IN MY BED! In MY home!! Not our bed, not our home. MINE MINE MINE! Oh, I could go on and on about the fact that it was my home and all that went along with that topic.
Louise
Tea Light:
Scratching your legs with his toenails? Oh, gross…so sorry for you…UGGHH. 🙁