What are the main factors of online DNA, hormone and stress testing? See a list of questions answered here. | Persometrics

Updated 12/07/2022.

There are no delays from Persometrics with regards to the time of shipping the kit itself but the ongoing pandemic has added 10 working days to the lead time of hormone analysis (20 in the case of testosterone analyses). This is because our local laboratory is focusing on COVID-19 PCR tests, and saliva samples are being forwarded to our central laboratory. We apologize for this delay.

Our DNA reports (Sports Performance and Weight Loss) are not severely affected by the pandemic: they are analysed within seven working days of the laboratory receiving your saliva samples.

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Leider können wir diesen Service aus rechtlichen Gründen nicht anbieten. Wir können Ihnen aber gerne helfen, ein Testzentrum in der Schweiz zu finden. 

If you have received your kit and no longer wish to partake in the study, simply contact us for a full refund. If you still wish to test your hormone level, you will have to purchase a new kit.

It is true that there is a potential of remains of the wheat straw material after the first sample. However, we chose to use the wheat straw first because salivation is likely to be slower on the second sample and we do not wish to let the wheat stalk material enter the analysis any more than necessary. This is especially relevant since the end goal of the study is to phase out polypropylene plastic.

The stems/stalks of wheat do not in principle contain gluten. However, we do not recommend using them for people with severe gluten intolerance or coeliac disease because we cannot guarantee their safety.

It is all-too-easy to place the emphasis on reuse and/or disposal of a straw, above all landfill and ocean life. Thus, reusable straws, or straws made of "natural" biodegradable material, may appear superior to single-use plastic straws. However, life-cycle studies are required to compare the true environmental impact of a plastic replacement. Such studies look at the full process through the lifespan of a product, including all processes associated with production, supply chains, maintenance, disposal, and degradation. For plastic straws, good life-cycle studies should consider water and ozone depletion, land use, landfill, ocean pollution, and destruction of natural habitats. For instance, paper straws may disintegrate better than plastic, but they require a lot more land use, and water consumption during production. Reusable stainless steel straws may not make it to the ocean, but they need a lot of resources to be created, they require further water and chemicals to clean between uses, and unless proper recycling facilities are available they end up on landfills once they are disposed of. Bamboo pulp straws may appear environmentally friendly but only if they are reused, and they further take a toll on the natural habitat where they are grown. Persometrics has identified edible wheat stem straws as a good replacement for single-use plastic straws. Lifecycle studies show that wheat straw products are environmentally friendly insofar as they are an otherwise discarded byproduct of corn production, and therefore require no land use. They disintegrate in soil and require little water during the production of the wheat straw pulp as compared to other biodegradable materials, such as bamboo and paper. We do not recommend eating our straws, but they are compostable and you can even bury them in your garden or plant pots, where they will disintegrate within 3 months (faster if they are first kept in water overnight).

Our supplier markets our straws as edible, and they are reminiscent of pasta. That said, Persometrics cannot and do not recommend eating these straws. Rather, compost them or dig them into the soil in your garden or plant pot.

Several straws marketed as 'biodegradable' still take a long time to degrade. The wheat straws disintegrate naturally in the soil in as little as 3 months.

If you purchased a study test kit at a promotional rate we cannot provide you with any results unless we have both samples. If there was a problem during the sampling, simply contact us for new tubes and straws.

We try to keep packaging to a minimum. Smaller packaging not only helps save the environment in line with our "Reduce-Reuse-Recycle-Offset" policy, but also means that delivery costs can be kept down. Please do bear this in mind also when you open your parcel, which may not include as much wrapping as you are used to. It is safe for transport but does not include more paper, carton and plastic than is necessary. Incidentally, we try to reuse plastic when we can too!

Plastic has become a global problem, and we do everything we can to avoid it. In fact, we even try to reuse plastic protection tubes. Plastic straws are also an issue. We are currently testing whether paper straws can replace plastic without lowering the validity of the test results. This is done in cooperation with Daacro, which in turn is affiliated with the University of Trier, Germany.

Our algorithm combines data from questionnaires and from saliva samples. These two are combined, because neither can be 100% reliable. In short, then, we measure burnout through analying the interaction of hormonal and psychological factors.

Many behavioural symptoms are the same for PTSD (post-traumatic-stress-disorder), Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome, Depression and Burnout, such as a difficulty getting up in the morning or a lack of motivation in general. However, questionnaires and HPA (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal) reactions allows for a better distinction. Such distinctions further helps identify optimal therapeutic decisions to overcome difficulties (the behavioual symptoms).

Our hormone references are based on analysed samples from Persometrics' partner laboratory, Daacro. We rely on research obtained from hundreds of labs across the world, but for the purpose of actual norms we use those obtained from our partner laboratory, because minor variation will exist between labs. The samples used to create the norms were obtained from hundreds of participants, or patients in the Trier area. We report both male and female norms when applicable.

Your medication will not impact on the readings or analysis of your genetic material. If you have had a bone marrow transplant we do, however, recommend you do not carry out testing.

The results are sent to the email address that is provided during the initial questionnaire/consent form. If there is a problem that meant that you could not receive your results on your email address, or for whatever reason you need access to your data again, contact us. You will need your anonymous code (supplied with the kit) to be able to locate your data, so keep this safely.

Yes, you can purchase a testkit on behalf of anyone else. The report is sent to the email address that is entered by the test-user during the initial questionnaire. The name and address of the buyer bears no significance: it is unrelated to whom the report is sent to. However, the anonymous code (provided inside the parcel) must still be kept confidentially, since it can be used to access data at a later stage.

We are a Swiss company, with most of our operations occurring on Swiss territory. Our prices are competitive and in order to ensure the best value to you, we employ Swiss francs as our base-rate. Swiss francs and euros are similar in value, varying by about 5-10% (1 euro is 1.10 francs as of March 1, 2021).

We operate a strict data protection procedure, which means that there is no way of drawing a link between your personal and sensitive data. For this reason, your report cannot be accessed through your personal purchasing account. Once you have received your report by email the only way of re-accessing your data is by your unique anonymous code.

Thank you for this question! We have indeed seen an increase in burnout and boreout symptoms, which is what you would expect during the heightened stress and uncertainty and lowered social contact.

See test kit instructions

Once you purchase your kit online, we aim to ship this within 3 work days. We cannot guarantee transit days for shipping, but customers in Switzerland generally get their kit 1-2 days later, neighbouring countries (France and Germany) 2-3 days, and the rest of Europe 3-5 days. Count the same delays for the return to the lab. Our lab, in turn, has a lead time of 5 days. Once the lab has made their analyses, you get your data electronically within 1 work day. What this means is that (although Persometrics's aim is one week) you should expect up to three weeks from the time you make a purchase until you get a report.

Unfortunately we have had to put sales to the UK on hold until further notice.

A few drops of saliva is enough for binding and subsequently analysing genetic material. The saliva quantity must match the volume of binder liquid that is delivered in the kit. See the animation below.

As per Swiss law on biobanks and retention of human tissue, your samples are destroyed as soon as the intended analyses have been carried out. Further, you can rest assured that the lab has no knowledge of your identity: the information provided we provide to our partner laboratory gives no possibility to trace your material back to you.

DNA analyses: for each gene in our genome, we inherit one allele from each of our parents. Our report will tell you whether you are homozygous (alleles are the same) or heterozygous (the alleles diverge) for all genes we analyze. We further include an explanation of what the gene in question represents, and whether you have a ‘risk allele’ or not..

Hormone analyses: the main output of the reports are based on interactions between hormones as well as secretion patterns across the day. In other words, we do not care as much about the absolute levels. However, we still provide you with absolute data for your own information and entertainment.

Your medication will not impact on the readings or analysis of your genetic material. However, if you have had a bone marrow transplant we recommend you do not carry out our DNA testing.

As per Swiss laws on the gathering, analysis and storage of human tissue for research purposes, your samples are destroyed as soon as the intended analyses have been carried out. Further, you can rest assured that the lab has no knowledge of your identity: the information we pass on to our partner laboratory gives no possibility to trace your material back to you.

For the Persometrics DNA reports we perform analyses of genes that are involved in body physical responses to different foodstuffs or exercise. The test may identify so-called ‘risk’ alleles, but this does not indicate that there is an illness. Rather, it may tell you about tendencies and propensities. For example, we may find that certain types of food or exercise are likely to benefit your body more than other foods and exercise types. While our reports do not diagnose health conditions, they can still give you some information to guide you and even discuss with a health-care practitioner if you desire to do so

Your unique access code is the only way to locate your data in our system. You will need it in order to read instructions and complete questionnaires. You will receive the access code inside your kit, printed on the collection vials. It is composed of a letter string in all CAPS, as depicted below.

Note that you can request a copy of your report using the unique access code. For this reason, we ask that you keep it safe and do not share it with others.

See test kit instructions

Saliva captures the 'free cortisol'. The rest of the compound is biologically inactive. Perhaps for this reason relying on saliva sampling has been shown to be of more relevance in research, with stronger effect sizes in athletic performance. The same holds for Testosterone. In fact, recent research shows that, compared to total testosterone, free testosterone is more strongly associated with systolic blood pressure across a range of studies (Yang et al., 2019).

To be “awake” means that you are fully conscious, you know who and where you are; you are in a state that is clearly different from when you were sleeping even though you may still feel tired. If you wake up during the middle of the night and plan to go back to sleep, do not begin sampling. Please only begin when you are awake for the final time before you plan to get up for the day.

It is ok if you struggled falling asleep; it is above all the hours before waking up that concern us. If you had an uneasy wake-up and do not feel you have a clear time point for when you went from “asleep to awake”), it is better to defer the testing to a different day. The questionnaire will ask you to enter information about sleep quality, which will be taken into account when analysing the data. For hormone stress packs, this is not as important as for stress packs, where the cortisol awakening response is of interest.

Cortisol secretion takes a little time to be detectable in saliva and is therefore forgiving if you miss the first sampling in the morning by a few minutes. However, if more than eight minutes pass after you wake up before you give your first sample, please defer to a different day. For sports testing that requires testing of testosterone in function of your workout, if is important that you time sampling in close relation to the workout, since sampling intervals are smaller. If you have performed sampling and then forget the last samples of the test, you will likely have to discard the samples and start over. If this is the case, contact Persometrics and we will ship a new sample kit to you.

The hormone of interest will keep stable in saliva for up to a week at room temperature. We recommend you put the samples in the fridge (especially during the warm season), until they are shipped (maximum 24 hours later). Full instructions are given inside the pack.

Our norms are based on an average European adult population with no discrimination of profession, but who in average woke up between 6 and 8 and to fell asleep between 22:00 and midnight. Research has shown that the cortisol awakening response is robust in relation to wake-up time. However, since some people follow different diurnal patterns (due to night shifts or jetlags, for instance) we ask that all samples be taken in relation to wake-up time, including the "afternoon" and "evening" samples.

This means that you can still use the diurnal cortisol kits even if your night/day patterns are a little 'off'.

Full instructions are provided with the test packs.

It is important that the first saliva sample provided within the first 8 minutes of waking up. The reason we can allow a few minutes is that it takes time for cortisol to secrete into saliva. Further, we fact that you provide a further 2 (and not just one, as is done by some other labs) gives us some flexibility of the formulae to catch the desired information. However, if you forgot the sampling and it took more than 6-8 minutes we do recommend deferring the testing to a different day.

Our algorithm combines data from questionnaires and from saliva samples. These two are combined, because neither can be 100% reliable. In short, then, we measure burnout through analying the interaction of hormonal and psychological factors.

A high intensity workout leads to increases in both Testosterone and Cortisol in young to middle-aged men. Testosterone is an anabolic hormone, which increases protein synthesis, whereas cortisol is a catabolic hormone that inhibits protein synthesis. For this reason, researchers have hypothesized, tested and shown that the ration between these two hormones affects performance and adaptations of high intensity workout routines, such as a CrossFit (r) sessions and weight lifting sessions. Our tests can help you optimise your intensity, select the time of day for training, and identify other factors that may inhibit muscle adaption, such as diet.

DNA analyses: for each gene in our genome, we inherit one allele from each of our parents. Our report will tell you whether you are homozygous (alleles are the same) or heterozygous (the alleles diverge) for all genes we analyze. We further include an explanation of what the gene in question represents, and whether you have a ‘risk allele’ or not..

Hormone analyses: the main output of the reports are based on interactions between hormones as well as secretion patterns across the day. In other words, we do not care as much about the absolute levels. However, we still provide you with absolute data for your own information and entertainment.

As per Swiss laws on the gathering, analysis and storage of human tissue for research purposes, your samples are destroyed as soon as the intended analyses have been carried out. Further, you can rest assured that the lab has no knowledge of your identity: the information we pass on to our partner laboratory gives no possibility to trace your material back to you.

Your unique access code is the only way to locate your data in our system. You will need it in order to read instructions and complete questionnaires. You will receive the access code inside your kit, printed on the collection vials. It is composed of a letter string in all CAPS, as depicted below.

Note that you can request a copy of your report using the unique access code. For this reason, we ask that you keep it safe and do not share it with others.

See test kit instructions

We have removed the possibility to skip backwards to review responses in the questionnaire. This was done both to comply with psychological testing protocol and for security reasons . If for whatever reason you need to void your results and start over, please contact Persometrics so we can reset the questionnaire for you.

Intra-individual refers to a comparison of two states within the same person. Since everyone is different, and there are often too many factors to control or change, we suggest in our sports kits to do a change before and after an intervention of your own choice. What is best, going low-carb or going high-carb? Vegan or paleo? Perhaps the question is flawed even from the beginning. Do not look for the best diet, but, rather, look for the best diet for you.