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“Blue Zones” these are areas of the world where people live much longer. In these territories, we are able to meet octogenarians, those that are not younger, and lots of centenarians, and even some supercentenarians (individuals who have reached the age of 110).
These regions were named “blue zones” after the Belgian demographer Michel Poulain and an Italian doctor Gianni Pes discovered a population with these characteristics in the Barbaglia region (Sardinia, Italy) and marked the area with blue ink.
Demographic studies conducted at the starting of this century showed that one in 196 people born between 1880 and 1890 lived to the age of 100.
Later an American researcher Dan Buettner began the project which aimed to discover other areas with high longevity rates. He found 4 additional regions. They have also been called “blue zones”: Okinawa (Japan), Icaria (Greece), Loma Linda (California) and the Nicoya Peninsula (Costa Rica). All of these territories have a high percentage of long-lived people, and every area has specific characteristics that relate to this condition.
Marissa Strniste/Flickr, CC BY
The Barbaglia region, situated in the mountainous area of Sardinia, has the largest concentration of centenarians in the world. The oldest women on Earth live to tell the tale the island of Okinawa. Icaria – an island situated in the Aegean Sea – has a long-lived population, with the lowest level of senile dementia. Loma Linda is home to a Seventh-day Adventist community whose life expectancy is 10 years greater than the average life expectancy in the United States. And in Nicoya we are able to find the second largest community of centenarians in the world.
What is the secret to this glorious longevity; the secret of the blue zones where so many centenarians live?
A team of several specialists (doctors, anthropologists, demographers, dieticians, epidemiologists) – led by Dan Buettner himself – traveled to various blue zones over and over. They identified the following nine general longevity aspects that are related to weight-reduction plan and lifestyle:
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intense and regular physical activity while performing every day duties. The concept of a sedentary lifestyle shouldn’t be known to the inhabitants of these regions
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having “ikigai” – a Japanese word (Okinawa) that’s used to describe our own “reasons for existence”, or more precisely, the the explanation why we get up every morning
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reducing stress, an element closely linked to just about all aging-related diseases. Reducing stress means interrupting the normal pace of our every day lives to allow time for other activities that are a part of normal social habits. For example, napping in Mediterranean societies, prayer in Adventists, tea ceremony amongst women in Okinawa, and so forth.
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“Hara hachi bu” – a Confucian teaching which means we should always not eat until we are full, but only up to 80% of our dietary capability
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priority is a weight-reduction plan wealthy in plant-based products. You can eat meat, fish and dairy products, but in smaller quantities
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moderate consumption of alcoholic beverages, which confirms the belief that moderate drinkers live longer than non-drinkers
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engaging in community groups that promote healthy habits
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engaging in religious communities with shared religious practices
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constructing and maintaining lasting relationships between members of the family: parents, siblings, grandparents and others.
In summary, the above nine longevity aspects could be synthesized into just two.
First, leading a healthy lifestyle – which suggests regular, intense exercise, including routines that allow you to “break away” from on a regular basis stress, in addition to including mainly plant foods in your weight-reduction plan, eating without feeling full and never drinking excessive amounts.
Secondly, integrating into groups that promote and support these “good practices”: family, religious communities, social groups and so forth – and all this should have its own “ikigai”, or its own “reason for living”. There is a private “ikigai”, but there’s also a collective “ikigai” that sets goals for every community, in addition to the challenges that should be overcome to achieve them.
Living this fashion means living higher and longer. Longevity could also be determined by genetics, but it may even be trained, as could be seen in the example of residents of blue zones.
