Blue Zones: A Lifestyle for Longevity
Have you heard of the Blue Zones?
Great places to hang out if you want to live a long time.
According to Dan Buetner, author and expert on the topic, there are five Blue Zones - places where people live long and happy lives, and where we find more centenarians than anywhere else in the world.
So, where are they and when do we go?
The five Blue Zones are:
Ikaria, Greece
Loma Linda, USA
Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica
Okinawa, Japan
Sardinia, Italy
When do we leave? Well, maybe we don’t need to. To live a long, healthy, and happy life, we can simply emulate the people of the Blue Zones. A lifestyle that Buetner summarizes in what he calls the Power of Nine.
Move naturally. Exercise, walk, just move.
Have a purpose. In Okinawa the call it Ikagai, which loosely translates to “A reason to rise in the morning.”
Downshift. Find a way to manage stress.
Hara Hachi Bu. Stop eating when you are 80% full.
Plant slant. Minimize the meat (eat beans).
Wine after 5. Preferably Sardinian wine made from the Cannonau grape.
Spirituality. Enjoy some faith based community.
Loved ones first. I like this.
Be social. The world’s longest living people spend time with friends.
So we don’t need to move to a Blue Zone, although Sardinia does look very appealing. We can “Blue Zone” our life wherever we live - eat beans, hang out with friends, have a purpose in life and maybe just take a short nap in the afternoon.
As Dan Buetner summed it up “You add years to your life and life to your years not by trying harder, but by making the right things part of your living.”
Enjoy your day,
Just a little extra-
There is so much we can learn and adapt for our life from the people in the Blue Zones. I would encourage you to read more. I do provide a more in depth discussion in my book, conversation #14, for those of you who are interested.
I close the conversation in the book with a story of Stamatis Moraitis - a man who left his home in Ikaria for a life as a painter in the United States. At age 66 he developed lung cancer so he moved back to Ikaria. After a few months, he planted a garden with no expectations of harvesting his vegetables. Thirty-seven years later he had a vineyard producing 200 liters of wine a year. When asked about his secret to living, he responded “I just forgot to die.”
References
Cole, Garry. February 2024. Are We Old Yet? (Yes, I used my book as a reference)