Stress isn't equal
COMT and FKBP5 decide how fast your nervous system clears stress. Some bodies clear it in hours. Others take days. If recovery takes you longer, it's chemistry — not weakness.
The same hard week energises one person and flattens another. Most of the gap is not willpower. It is how quickly the nervous system clears the chemistry of stress.
Two genes, two speeds
COMT (Val158Met) controls how quickly catecholamines — adrenaline, noradrenaline, dopamine — are broken down. FKBP5 controls how sensitive your cells stay to cortisol after a stressor. Slow versions of either mean the stress signal lingers.
What the slow-recovery body needs
Aggressively protected sleep. Caffeine pulled to mornings only. Deload weeks scheduled, not optional. A wind-down ritual that is non-negotiable, however small.
The single most useful intervention
Steady, regular sleep. Across the literature, it outperforms every supplement marketed for stress. Genetics sets the speed; sleep restores the runway.