Blue Zones Power 9: Lifestyle Habits of the Worlds Healthiest, Longest-Lived People
Life expectancy of an American born today averages 78.2 years. But this year, over 70,000 Americans have reached their 100th birthday. What are they doing that the average American isn’t
To answer the question, we teamed up with National Geographic to find the worlds longest-lived people and study them. We knew most of the answers lied within their lifestyle and environment (The Danish Twin Study established that only about 20% of how long the average person lives is determined by genes). Then we worked with a team of demographers to find pockets of people around the world with the highest life expectancy, or with the highest proportions of people who reach age 100.
We found five places that met our criteria:
- Barbagia region of Sardinia Mountainous highlands of inner Sardinia with the worlds highest concentration of male centenarians.
- Ikaria, Greece Aegean Island with one of the worlds lowest rates of middle age mortality and the lowest rates of dementia.
- Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica Worlds lowest rates of middle age mortality, second highest concentration of male centenarians.
- Seventh Day Adventists Highest concentration is around Loma Linda, California. They live 10 years longer than their North American counterparts.
- Okinawa, Japan Females over 70 are the longest-lived population in the world.
We then assembled a team of medical researchers, anthropologists, demographers, and epidemiologists to search for evidence-based common denominators among all places.
We found nine:
- Move Naturally: The worlds longest-lived people don’t pump iron, run marathons or join gyms. Instead, they live in environments that constantly nudge them into moving without thinking about it. They grow gardens and don’t have mechanical conveniences for house and yard work.
- Purpose: The Okinawans call it Ikigai and the Nicoyans call it plan de vida; for both it translates to why I wake up in the morning. Knowing your sense of purpose is worth up to seven years of extra life expectancy.
- Down Shift: Even people in the Blue Zones experience stress. Stress leads to chronic inflammation, associated with every major age-related disease. What the worlds longest-lived people have that we don’t are routines to shed that stress. Okinawans take a few moments each day to remember their ancestors, Adventists pray, Ikarians take a nap and Sardinians do happy hour.
- 80% Rule: Hara hachi bu the Okinawan, 2500-year old Confucian mantra said before meals reminds them to stop eating when their stomachs are 80 percent full. The 20% gap between not being hungry and feeling full could be the difference between losing weight or gaining it. People in the blue zones eat their smallest meal in the late afternoon or early evening and then they don’t eat any more the rest of the day.
- Plant Slant: Beans, including fava, black, soy and lentils, are the cornerstone of most centenarian diets. Meat mostly pork is eaten on average only five times per month. Serving sizes are 3-4 oz., about the size of a deck of cards.
- Wine @ 5: People in all blue zones (except Adventists) drink alcohol moderately and regularly. Moderate drinkers outlive non-drinkers. The trick is to drink 1-2 glasses per day (preferably Sardinian Cannonau wine), with friends and/or with food. And no, you can’t save up all week and have 14 drinks on Saturday.
- Belong: All but five of the 263 centenarians we interviewed belonged to some faith-based community. Denomination doesn’t seem to matter. Research shows that attending faith-based services four times per month will add 4-14 years of life expectancy.
- Loved Ones First: Successful centenarians in the blue zones put their families first. This means keeping aging parents and grandparents nearby or in the home (It lowers disease and mortality rates of children in the home too.). They commit to a life partner (which can add up to 3 years of life expectancy) and invest in their children with time and love (They’ll be more likely to care for you when the time comes).
- Right Tribe: The worlds longest lived people chose or were born into social circles that supported healthy behaviors, Okinawans created moais groups of five friends that committed to each other for life. Research from the Framingham Studies shows that smoking, obesity, happiness, and even loneliness are contagious. So the social networks of long-lived people have favorably shaped their health behaviors.
To make it to age 100, you have to have won the genetic lottery. But most of us have the capacity to make it well into our early 90s and largely without chronic disease. As the Adventists demonstrate, the average persons life expectancy could increase by 10-12 years by adopting a Blue Zones lifestyle.
Okinawa, Japan, is one of the 5 blue zones where people live exceptionally long and healthy lives and is home to the worlds longest-lived women. In Okinawa, people traditionally sit on the floor to read, eat, talk, and relax instead of sitting in chairs, though this practice is dying out among younger generations in Asia.
Okinawan centenarians sit and get up from the floor dozens or hundreds of times per day. This exercises their legs, back, and core in a natural way as they get up and down all day long. Sitting on the floor also improves posture and increases overall strength, flexibility, and mobility.Studies correlate the ability to sit and rise from the floor without support with a longer life expectancy. Sitting on the floor also develops musculoskeletal fitness.
The Danish twin study concluded that the average persons lifespan is 20% determined by genetics and 80% determined by environment and lifestyle. Residents in all the blue zones moved all day every 20 minutes because their environments were set up that way. A sedentary lifestyle of sitting throughout the day cannot be fixed by trips to the gym.
By Dan Buettner
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