The naked mole rat is a creature that lives a smarter, healthier, longer life, not as it turns out by hanging out at nudist colonies, an eponymous activity that might lead to more salubrious disasters than benefits. Like us the naked mole rat is a mammal which means it shares a lot of our genetic capabilities but unlike us it has evolved into master of hibernation and fat burning, part of which is achieved by eating less, not out of choice but simply because for him or her food is not freely available. Because of our civilised smarts we’ve made hibernation far less accessible and as a consequence fat burning has become far more difficult.
Aside from taking a quick peek at our girth a blood test which measures our triglyceride levels, a cousin of cholesterol, will immediately tell us how we are doing in the fat burning stakes, high triglycerides not boding well. To then copy the superior survival skills of the naked mole rat we either have to hibernate or actively choose to turn our backs on civilisation and eat less. Back to that old adage, watch what everyone else does and do the opposite.
