Can you truly be a vampire or werewolf?

Okay, so let me start by stating this is NOT a fiction. This crude and poorly written story, is the process of my brain at ridiculous o'clock in the morning when I end up down a rabbit hole of weird and stupid google searches compiled with research papers, all because a question has magically popped in my thoughts and now it will not go away.

So yes, I have been researching whether it is actually possible for someone to be a real life vampire or werewolf. And spoiler alert.... it kind of is.

Vampirism

Although Lycanthropy would be my preferred choice, I feel being a vampire is more plausible so let us start here.

First was to look at the original myth and see where it originated from. Now it would appear that there are two possible variations. The more modern day telling of the vampire and the Upir, which is the Slavic version. Before you go thinking about the Hemlock Grove TV show and their version of a handsome and rich Upir, in historical texts, the Upir was a bloated corpse that feasted on the living, more like a zombie.

However, the other version comes from a blood disorder called Porphyria (also known as Vampyre Disease). This was a blood disorder which caused the body to produce less heme (main component for hemoglobin).

And the side effects as stated by the Queens University:

. Sensitivity to sunlight

. Receding of the gums

. Adverse reaction to garlic due to the sulfur content

. Extremely dark urine which led people to believe that they were drinking blood and it was blood coming out.

My questions then become, can you become a vampire and survive off blood without being a bloated corpse or have a blood disease. Turns out, YES! but only for a short period of time. Unless you can create a unique version of a water filter.

You see, the body needs macro and micronutrients and surprisingly, you can get all of them from human blood. The only issue is cholesterol. Although we now know that having a high cholesterol is actually good for you, and studies show that it is linked with longevity and that our fight over the past 50 years to reduce it has actually been one of the leading causes of age related diseases such as Alzheimer's, there is a case of having too much as with anything your body needs. Blood is rich in cholesterol and to get enough nutrients for you to live healthy, you would need to go waaaayyyy above your bodies cholesterol limits.

So, in answer to the question, yes we could technically live as vampires, however, before you go channeling your inner Dexter, keep in mind that your heart will not like it and you will not be around for long. In the end, I suppose you will end up looking like an Upir!

Lycanthropy

Now, this is a bit of a weird one. The idea of Lycanthropy can be traced back to ancient Greece where apparently, a king annoyed Zeus who turned him into a wolf. Fast forward quite a few centuries and you have the idiotic witch trial period of Europe. What historians seem to miss out from those times is that alongside witches, people where also accused of being werewolves and were hunted and burned alive as well.

As for whether or not a human can physically turn into a werewolf - technically, yes.

To do this, we need to look at a key aspect of human psychology that has always amazed me. The mind, when put under certain situations or with enough willpower, can begin to rewrite parts of your DNA. This was discovered by taking babies, putting half of them into a good home and half into a bad one, and then swapping after a while. Horrible study and should never have been done. With that in mind, they discovered what the mind was capable of doing and they found that grown adults when in abusive relationships also do the same to create defense mechanisms etc. This has also shown on people who are not in a traumatic experience but take time to manifest future ideas as they are also putting themselves into a certain mindset which causes changes at a molecular level.

So lets assume that someone has enough willpower to cause a dramatic DNA change at a fast pace. This is plausible considering what we can do, however, it will take an incredible amount of energy to do so. Which brings us to the problem with becoming a werewolf.

The amount of energy required is vastly greater than what is stored within a human body. We will run out not even half way through and our body would just be a blob of mush with no viable way to attain more energy in time before we perish. This was a let down for me, however, I still hold out hope that Elon Musk develops a chip than can provide an unlimited amount of energy and then I can start manifesting my evolved form.

In conclusion, yes it is possible to be a vampire or werewolf, unfortunately there are a few draw backs to attaining your supernatural goal.

And that is where I will end this weird story and move onto something actually productive, like drinking cream and day dreaming.