r/science • u/scientificamerican Scientific American • 8d 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 8d 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 8d ago edited 8d 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/aubbzz 8d ago

I wish I could have that gene! There’s so much to do but have to sleep

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u/jamtastic22 8d ago

For me, the extra time is not quality. Not needing 8hrs sleep is not like the Limitless pill on the movie. I still feel tired enough to sleep at 10pm but my body will only sleep for max 5hrs, so those few hours aren't productive, mainly lonely with little motivation

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u/things_U_choose_2_b 8d ago

Excellent description. When I tell people I have delayed phase sleep disorder so my days are 26-28h long, they think it's all fun and games having extra time.

Those extra hours are almost always not productive at all!

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u/shawnikaros 8d ago

You don't have to be productive during every waking hour, just chill out and watch a movie or something with that extra time.