What Can We Learn from the Blue Zones?

What Can We Learn from the Blue Zones?

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there were places where people routinely lived longer, healthier lives—and we could learn something from them?

That is the idea behind the Blue Zones, a term used to describe several areas of the world noted for unusually high numbers of people living into their 90s and even beyond 100. These areas have included Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Ikaria, Greece; the Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica; and Loma Linda, California.

There has been some scientific debate about exactly how unusual these populations are and how accurately extreme longevity has been documented in every location. But perhaps the more important question for the rest of us is this:

What are these people doing that might contribute to a longer—and healthier—life?

Interestingly, there is no single miracle food, supplement, exercise program, or medical treatment. Instead, several simple lifestyle habits appear again and again.

Eat Mostly Real Food

Traditional Blue Zone diets vary considerably, but they tend to emphasize whole, minimally processed foods, particularly:

• Vegetables and fruits

• Beans and other legumes

• Whole grains

• Nuts and seeds

• Healthy fats

Meat is generally eaten less frequently than in the typical American diet, while highly processed foods and foods containing large amounts of added sugar are limited.

These diets also tend to be naturally high in fiber, which benefits the intestinal microbiome, bowel function, blood sugar control, cholesterol, and cardiovascular health.

The lesson isn't that everyone must become a vegetarian. It is that we can benefit from making plants and minimally processed foods a much larger part of what we eat.

Keep Moving

People in traditional Blue Zone communities generally don't spend an hour exercising and then sit for the remaining 15 waking hours.

Movement is built into their day.

They walk. They garden. They cook. They climb stairs. They perform household chores. They continue doing things for themselves as they age.

Regular exercise is important, but so is simply being an active person.

A daily walk may be one of the simplest longevity tools available to us.

Maintain a Healthy Weight

Blue Zone lifestyles generally discourage the combination that has become common in modern societies: abundant high-calorie food coupled with very little physical activity.

Maintaining a healthy weight reduces the risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, sleep apnea, joint problems, fatty liver disease, and several other chronic illnesses.

We don't need to be extremely thin. The goal is to avoid carrying excessive body fat, particularly around the abdomen.

Don't Smoke

This isn't as glamorous as discovering a new longevity supplement, but avoiding tobacco remains one of the most powerful things we can do to improve our chances of living a longer and healthier life.

Sometimes the most effective health advice is also the simplest.

Develop Strong Relationships

One of the most fascinating lessons from long-lived populations has little to do with medicine.

People need people.

Strong family relationships, friendships, community involvement, and regular social interaction are repeatedly associated with better health and longevity.

Social isolation, on the other hand, is increasingly recognized as a health risk.

Having lunch with a friend, attending church, joining a group, volunteering, or regularly spending time with family may be doing more for your health than you realize.

Have a Reason to Get Up in the Morning

Long-lived people often retain a sense of purpose well into old age.

That purpose doesn't have to involve a career. It might be caring for a spouse, helping grandchildren, volunteering, serving at church, tending a garden, mentoring someone younger, pursuing a hobby, or simply being available to people who need you.

Retirement from a job should not mean retirement from having a purpose.

We all need a reason to get out of bed in the morning.

Manage Stress

Nobody lives a stress-free life—not even people in Blue Zones.

The difference may be partly in how stress is handled.

Prayer, quiet time, family meals, social gatherings, walking, rest, and other regular opportunities to slow down can help prevent temporary stress from becoming chronic stress.

We cannot eliminate every stressful circumstance, but we can develop healthier ways of responding to them.

Get Enough Sleep

Adequate, restorative sleep is another fundamental part of healthy aging.

Sleep affects memory, immune function, metabolism, hormones, cardiovascular health, mood, and even appetite.

We sometimes treat sleep as the part of our day that can be shortened whenever we become busy. Our bodies don't see it that way.

Sleep is not wasted time. It is essential maintenance.

Stay Connected to Something Larger Than Yourself

Religious and spiritual involvement is common in several of the traditional Blue Zone populations.

It is difficult to separate the potential effects of faith itself from the benefits of community, relationships, purpose, prayer, service, and stress reduction. But taken together, these are important components of a healthy life.

For many people, faith also provides something that medicine cannot prescribe: a framework for meaning, hope, gratitude, and purpose.

What About Wine?

Wine—particularly red wine—has sometimes been included in descriptions of the Blue Zone lifestyle.

I would not recommend that someone begin drinking alcohol in an effort to live longer. Current evidence does not justify prescribing alcohol as a health or longevity strategy.

If you don't drink, there is no health reason to start.

The Big Lesson

Perhaps the most encouraging lesson from the Blue Zones is that healthy aging doesn't appear to depend upon doing one extraordinary thing.

It is more likely the result of doing many ordinary things consistently:

Eat mostly whole foods.Eat plenty of plants and fiber.Keep moving.Maintain a healthy weight.Don't smoke.Sleep well.Manage stress.Stay connected to other people.Maintain a sense of purpose.Nurture your spiritual life.

None of these guarantees that we will live to 100. Genetics, environment, medical care, and plain good fortune also play important roles.

But these are factors over which we have considerable control.

And perhaps that is the most useful lesson from the world's long-lived populations:

Don't simply try to add more years to your life. Build a lifestyle that gives you the best opportunity to add more healthy life to your years.