Blue Zones (#167)
In 1513, the Spanish explorer Ponce de León traveled to Florida to search for the fabled Fountain of Youth. Sailing along the Atlantic and Gulf Coast of Florida, he searched valiantly, but was unable to locate it. Even 500 years later, the story is captivating. Who doesn’t want to live longer?
Recently, I listened to a podcast that interviewed Dan Buettner, who helped develop the term and do the research that identified “Blue Zones.” For those that aren’t familiar with the concept, Blue Zones are regions of the world where a higher than normal number of people live much longer than the average lifespan. Buettner has published a National Geographic article (Link here), three books, and a blog on Blue Zones. Today’s post complements the Fast After 50 article I did as Post #131.
The concept of Blue Zones grew out of demographic work done by Gianni Pes and Michel Poulain. The two researchers discovered that Sardinia's Nuoro Province had the highest concentration of male centenarians on the planet. Since then, Buettner has broadened the term, so that Blue Zones are defined as having a population that includes a higher than normal rate of centenarians, suffers a fraction of the diseases that commonly kill people in other parts of the developed world, and enjoy more years of good health. There are four other Blue Zones: Okinawa, Japan; among the Seventh-day Adventists in Loma Linda, California: Nicoya, Costa Rica; and Icaria, Greece.
Buettner identifies nine things that people in a Blue Zone do in order to live healthier and longer lives:
Pursue moderate, regular physical activity
Have a life purpose
Reduced stress
Have a moderate caloric intake
Follow a plant-based diet
Consume a moderate amount of alcohol, especially wine
Engage in spirituality or religion
Engage in family life
Engage in social life
Walk your dog
Blue Zones, and long life, are created out of a life-time of healthy habits. Habits, are of course, “a behavior that starts as a choice, and then become a nearly unconscious pattern.” Here are several habits from the Blue Zones that you can start doing today:
Know and grow your purpose. You can use the personal purpose exercise in Post #96
Get a dog — it encourages more walking and provides companionship (Samantha, my dog, endorses this habit. See Post #62 for more on the benefits of a dog)
Change your plate from 12” to 10” — it will cause you to eat 23% less food and lose weight!
Do your best to get 7.5 hours of sleep a night
Eat seven or more portions of fruit and veggies per day
Eat more beans
Conclusion
Use Buettner’s research on Blue Zones to inspire you to go on the offense and adopt more healthy habits this year and in 2022 so you can live a long and fulfilling life.