FPL Butchi

I am halting Tirzepatide microdosing because it increased my resting heart rate by 3 bpm, lowered my HRV by 7 and decreased my sleep quality by 10% After 3 weeks of microdosing Tirzepatide, I decided to stop the intervention, here is why: My resting heart rate (RHR) increased by 3 bpm, a relatively large increase of 7% considering my RHR of mid 40s bpm. A review of 5 clinical trials with 4199 total participants found that, despite lowering blood pressure, the lowest dose (5 mg/week) of Tirzepatide increased HR by 1-4 bpm, interesting to see my microdose at 0.5 mg/week showing similar side effects. A lower RHR is foundational to perfect sleep. The increase in my RHR decreased my HRV by 7 points, and decreased sleep quality by 10%. In light of this we had to reevaluate the risk/benefit balance of this intervention: Benefits: immediate benefits are mostly linked to metabolic optimization (I am already metabolically optimized), newer results support metabolic/obesity independent longevity effects especially for reducing dementia risk, but these are very long term with no readily measurable effect. Risks/harms: I measured a 7% increase in RHR leading to an average of ~10% drop in sleep quality. Verdict: the risk/harm outweighs the benefit, for the following reasons 1. Only the non-metabolic longevity benefits are applicable in my case, these were very recently identified, with only a handful of studies supporting them. 2. Even if the longevity benefits (e.g. reduced dementia risk with Tirzepatide) the damage from the long-term reduction in sleep quality is way more likely to outweigh the benefit, than vice versa. 3. For example: a very recent meta-analysis found that diabetics on GLP1-RAs had a 5% reduced risk of neurodegenerative diseases (12% risk reduction for Alzheimer disease), interestingly the same analysis found patients on GLP1-RAs to be at 12% increased risk of developing sleep disturbances. Here we must factor in that having a sleep disorder even for less than 1 year was associated with a 63.8% increase in the odds of developing a neurodegenerative disease, and persistent shorter sleep (6 hours or shorter) in 50s and 60s was associated with a 30% increase in dementia risk by 30%. 4. The former example makes it clear why any potential longevity benefits (mostly applicable to metabolically sick people, including diabetics, and still in need of further data to better confirm and understood), is not worth risking my sleep quality, especially with only 3 weeks on a microdose being enough to start dislodging my perfect sleep. Caveat: This does not apply to everyone. It should be clear that my risk/benefit profile does not apply to most people in need of metabolic optimization or weight-loss, for these the benefits of GLP1-RAs probably outweigh the benefits by far, especially that even short to medium term use might bring measurable benefits, especially if accompanied by exercise and improved nutrition.