The Blue Zones – Book Summary
9 lessons for living longer from the people who’ve lived the longest
Dan Buettner
National Geographic Partners, LLC, Second Edition (2008, 2012)
About The Author:
Dan Buettner is a National Geographic explorer and a longevity expert who has spent recent years travelling around the world, analysing communities where people live long, healthy and happy lives. He founded the Blue Zones project and gathered top scientists to research the world’s best practices in health, longevity, and medicine. Dan also currently leads different projects to actually apply the Blue Zones principles to American cities.
About The Book:
If you have plans to live a long and healthy life – you just must read this book! Dan travelled around the globe to meet the planet’s longest-lived people in unique communities called the Blue Zones. He teamed up with top scientists in the world to crack the longevity secret. In this fantastic book, Dan shares his findings about these people’s lifestyle, diet and outlook so that we can create personal Blue Zones.
Key Insights:
“Scientific studies suggest that only about 25 percent of how long we live is dictated by genes, according to famous studies of Danish twins. The other 75 percent is determined by our lifestyles and everyday choices we make. It follows that if we optimise our lifestyles, we can maximise our life expectancies within our biological limits. When we first set out to investigate the mysteries of human longevity, we teamed up with demographers and scientists to identify pockets around the world where people live the longest, healthiest lives. These are the places where people reach age 100 at rates significantly higher, and on average, live longer, healthier lives than Americans do. They suffer a fraction of the rate of killer diseases that Americans do. We worked with some of the word’s top longevity experts to distill lifestyles into the characteristics that could help explain their extraordinary longevity.”
Dan Buettner has travelled the world to discover the best practices in health and longevity, so we could put them to work in our lives. As it turns out, most of us have more control over how long we live than we think! If we incorporate advice from this book into our day to day life, we can actually add an extra quality decade of life! The book is packed with actionable advice on how to live longer and healthier lives, so let’s start with cool facts about centenarians’ lifestyle in the Blue Zones.
Secrets Of The Blue Zones – How To Live To 100 (Cool Facts)
Sardinia:
– All of the centenarians there drank red wine moderately. “Canonau wine has two to three times the level of artery-scrubbing flavonoids as other wines”. Top it up with bright fruits and vegetables (and chocolate), and you can consider your diet to be high in flavonoids! And research shows that flavonoids reduce the incidence of certain cancers and heart disease!
– “All but one of the 50 or so centenarians I interviewed had a daughter or granddaughter who actively cared for them.” That was also true for other blue zones – the more daughters a man has, the longer he lives. According to one study, “one daughter increases a man’s life expectancy by 75 weeks”. Well, while we envy those parents who have daughters now, we pray for some granddaughters in the future 🙂
Okinawa:
– Here, people have a tradition of forming a moai – the group of lifelong friends who meet regularly. It provides a secure social network, so you know that there is always someone for you no matter what happens. Do you have your squad?
– Ikigai – every older Okinawan can readily articulate the reason they get up in the morning. They all have a purpose in life!
Loma Linda (Adventists):
– Sabbath is an amazing tradition to have a weekly break from your busy life, so you could focus on family, God (or whatever you believe), camaraderie and nature.
– Adventists mostly spend time with other people from the community. “They find well-being by sharing values and supporting each other’s habits.”
Costa Rica:
– Centenarians there drink very hard water. According to research, populations with hard water “have up to 25 per cent fewer deaths from heart disease than population with soft water.” (I do apologise to London water for all what I have said before ☺).
Ikaria:
– Ikarians drink loads of herbal tea (wild oregano, sage, mint, chamomile, rosemary). Is it time to swap your cuppa for a herbal alternative? It lowers blood pressure, is antiviral and offers other health benefits.
– Pretty much everyone there takes an afternoon break. Research showed that “people who nap regularly have up to 35 percent lower chances of dying from heart disease.”
The Power Nine
“The Power Nine covers the following life domains: What to do to optimise your lifestyle for a longer, healthier life; how to think; how to eat; and how to build social relationships that support your good habits.”
All the findings are summarised in powerful 9 lessons:
- Move naturally. “Be active without having to think about it.”
- Hara hachi bu. “Painlessly cut calories by 20 percent.”
- Plant slant. “Avoid meat and processed foods.”
- Grapes of life. “Drink red wine (in moderation).”
- Purpose now. “Take time to see the big picture.”
- Downshift. “Take time to relieve stress.”
- Belong. “Participate in a spiritual community.”
- Loved ones first. “Make family a priority.”
- Right tribe. “Be surrounded by those who share Blue Zones values.”
To figure out where you are on your longevity journey, you can visit Dan’s website www.bluezones.com and go through the Vitality Compass tool. It will help you to assess your potential life expectancy based on your age, your healthy life expectancy (the number of good years you can expect to live), the number of extra years you can potentially gain if you optimise your lifestyle and (importantly) a customised list of suggestions to help you to put a plan into action.
The book is packed with practical and actionable advice. We are sharing below a few of our favourite ideas.
Move Naturally
“Longevity all-stars don’t run marathons or compete in triathlons; they don’t transform themselves into weekend warriors on Sunday morning. Instead, they engage in regular, low-intensity physical activity, often as part of a daily work routine.”
Want to live long – get yourself moving. Your goal should be at least 30 (ideally 60) minutes of exercise a day at least five times a week. Try to incorporate as much movement as possible into your life – take stairs instead of a lift, play with kids, plant a garden, cycle to work, go for a walk, etc. Opportunities are endless ☺ And enrol for a yoga class – it will help you manage your balance over the years.
Eat Mindfully
Here is a good lesson from centenarians from Okinawa – Hara Hachi Bu. You stop eating when you are 80 per cent full. Restricted calories intake has great medical benefits (like reducing cellular damage from free radicals) and also help you to lose weight. So pay attention to what are you eating (reminder – no processed food), eat slowly, focus on food and (our favourite) eat early. Have your biggest meal in the first half of the day.
Additionally, all centenarians consumed limited quantities of meat, and their diet mainly was plant-based. So is it time to limit your meat intake?
Wonder what food would actually help you to live longer? Nuts! The Adventist Health Study showed that regular nuts intake (any nuts) was associated with higher life expectancy.
Have a Purpose in Life
“Dr. Robert Butler and collaborators led an NIH-funded study that looked at the correlation between having a sense of purpose and longevity. His 11-year study followed highly functioning people between the ages of 65 and 92 and found that individuals who expressed a clear goal in life – something to get up for in the morning, something that made a difference – lived longer and were sharper than those who did not.”
Having a clear purpose in life is crucial. Okinawans call it ikigai, Nicoyans call it plan de vida. But action for you – if you don’t have any sense of purpose, try to think of one. You can start with articulating your personal mission statement by answering a question: Why do you get up in the morning? What is really important for you?
Make family a priority
“The most successful centenarians we met in the Blue Zones put their families first. They tend to marry, have children, and build their lives around that core. Their lives were imbued with familial duty, ritual, and a certain emphasis on togetherness.”
And that hard work of their lifelong devotion produced the returns: centenarians’ children reciprocate their love and care, and the young generation welcomes the older one into their homes. Whatever happens in your life, your family got your back. And that boosts your longevity.
So invest your time and energy into your family: play with your children, nurture your marriage, and honour your parents.
5 Action Steps:
- Articulate your purpose in life – why do you get up in the morning?
- Nurture social connections – meet up with your friends, get more involved in the community.
- Spend more time with your family – create family traditions and get closer together.
- Eat plenty of veggies and fruit (and nuts).
- Get 30 minutes of exercise a day.
Quotes From The Book:
