I was wrong, once again.
Last year, when I wrote about Ozempic, I was thinking that users would lose weight but would still have psychological problems and would look for a substitute behavior to fill the void that overeating once did.
I believed they would be “addicted” to the dopamine driven good feelings that came with a sugar rush and would crave that feeling, like I once had with alcohol (and still have today with food to a lesser extent).
Instead, I am now hearing of reports from Ozempic users that not only has their appetite diminished but so has their “appetite” for alcohol, social media and other addictive-like behaviors. I’ve even heard some therapists and researchers report it might help curb other addictions like porn, smoking and gambling.
Alcohol consumption has gone down. Soda manufacturers, snack food companies and fast food companies all have reported lower sales which they attribute, in part, to Ozempic. (I suspect inflationary prices and artificially pumping up prices have something to do with this too).
But still – Holy Shit Batman!
Maybe GLP-1s will enable a large portion of society to live in relative ease and comfort instead of depression, anxiety and longing.
For thousands of years, humans have been trying to address the issues of dissatisfaction, fear and worry about life with philosophy, religion, mediation, work, money, relationships, “rules”, routines and other methods.
Is taking an injection a “cheat”? Who cares? As long as it isn’t causing harm, I’m in full support.
It will be interesting to see what happens over the next few years as more people take this drug.
Will I take it? At present – no. My life is pretty good and I feel like I have my obsessions under control. Perhaps sometime in the future, we’ll discover there are other benefits that would make it worthwhile for me to try.
However, if it made me look like Brad Pitt or give me the body composition of a lightweight MMA champion or Abercrombie & Fitch model, I’d immediately reconsider.