Wellness analytics app Biomesight adds neurotransmitters producers to enable sleep study
One of the most important factors in achieving optimal wellness is without a doubt regularly getting adequate sleep. That is the rationale behind the decision to make sleep the topic of Biomesight’s first machine learning model. Now that the Biomesight dataset has reached an adequate size, they will be adding their first AI-driven section to Biomesight.
It will be a simple model – looking to find the biggest predictors of sleep quality within our microbial communities. They will incorporate existing research as they’ve done in their other sections, but additionally will also be looking to get any strong correlations confirmed from their own data set as well as discover new patterns.
A recent addition to their metabolite producer sections – are neurotransmitters. These neurotransmitter producers will also be explored as a feature of their ML model.
The gut microbiota has been found to communicate with the brain through several different mechanisms. This includes the production of neurotransmitters or modulation of host neurotransmitter catabolism, innervation via the vagus nerve, and activation of the HPA axis. These microbial molecules do not act directly on the brain, which is isolated and protected by a membrane called the blood-brain barrier. It appears that neurotransmitters produced by gut bacteria act on the cells lining the gastrointestinal wall in order to have them transmit their message to the central nervous system through the neurons of the gastrointestinal tract that are connected to the brain.
They have included acetylcholine, dopamine, GABA, serotonin, histamine and norepinephrine as these are the primary neurotransmitters produced by gut bacteria. Many of their users would note that, except for GABA, their levels seem low compared to the average. An average can hide a lot of detail and low levels are more common than high levels.
A chart showing the sample distribution would be more useful, but they wanted to maintain the balance between being informative but still giving a simple to understand interpretation. The best guide to interpreting levels, is to use the rating against each metabolite as this will highlight when values fall outside of the typical ranges.
As the validity of the model is very much determined by the quality of the data, Biomesight would like to request all their users to take a minute to complete their lifestyle profiles. They have 3 questions relating to sleep, so this is a special appeal to complete the last 3 questions – screenshot below. Anything further – especially the rest of the questions in the lifestyle section below would be invaluable.
As a special incentive to increase the size of the dataset, the Biomesight test is available to purchase at a discounted price of only £89 with code SLEEPSTUDY! The promotion is valid till the end of October 2020.