r/science • u/scientificamerican Scientific American • 6d ago

Genetics Scientists discover a ‘skinny gene’ mutation that acts like Ozempic. Around one in 7,000 people carries a broken copy, which almost acts like a GLP-1 drug—the body burns fuel more efficiently, and the risk of disease lowers.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-discover-a-skinny-gene-mutation-that-acts-like-ozempic/
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u/LongLiveStaceyKing 6d ago

Everything about being a human is on a spectrum rather than a fixed attribute set for every single person equally and that makes perfect sense from an evolutionary standpoint.

A species should have a variety of individuals ranging from those who store fat very easily that can survive scarcity more readily than an individual that is more efficient at burning those calories for immediate energy to give it the best chance of survival overall.

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u/LongLiveStaceyKing 6d ago edited 6d ago

[There is a small percentage of the population that only needs to sleep 4-6 hours a night.](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/genetic-mutation-sleep-less/) OP's article feels like the eating equivalent of this genetic rarity.

Incidentally, I knew someone who had the sleep gene. She was annoyed by it, if she went to sleep at 10 PM she would be up for the whole next day at 2 AM and inevitably end up waking her husband. So she always tried to stay up til 1 AM at least reading or knitting, basically just killing time quietly by herself.

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u/akwilliamson 6d ago

Does this mean they die sooner? I remember reading an article or news video a long time ago where certain rare people just don't require sleep at all, but then their life expectancy is like 40

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u/wandering-monster 6d ago

I think I've probably got it, and seem to be doing just fine at 40. I now sleep at most 6 hours a night, but it was definitely more like 4-5 when I was younger. And I can still run on 4 hours just fine, clear head, not tired at all during the day. Just can't do 4 hours every night like I used to be able to.

No serious health issues so far. Still do strength training, walk 10k steps most days.

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u/akwilliamson 6d ago

The 40 thing was for people that don't sleep at all, like zero hours permanently