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May 6, 2022 · When the two researchers were able to narrow down the general area on a map, they began drawing blue circles around the places that they believed to be areas of extreme longevity, hence "blue zones". Dan Buettner, an author who was fasinated by Pes and Poulains study, expanded greatly on the topic by finding more of these Blue Zones around the ...
Feb 14, 2023 · Physical activity: Blue Zone centenarians maintain high levels of physical activity and frequently engage in manual labor. For example, Sardinia's community of shepherds is known to walk more than ...
The term “blue zones” was first coined by Blue Zones founder Dan Buettner, a National Geographic Explorer and Fellow and journalist, during an exploratory project he led in 2004. After an expedition to Okinawa, Japan in 2000 to investigate the longevity there, he set out to explore other regions of the world with reportedly high longevity ...
- Overview
- What are Blue Zones?
- People who live in Blue Zones eat a diet full of whole plant foods
- They follow the 80% rule
- They consume alcohol in moderation
- Exercise is built into daily life
- They get enough sleep
- Other traits and habits associated with longevity
- The bottom line
“Blue Zones” are geographic areas with lower rates of chronic diseases and a longer life expectancy. Diet, fasting, and exercise are factors associated with Blue Zones. Italy, Greece, Japan, Costa Rica, and the US have a Blue Zone.
Chronic diseases are becoming more and more common in old age.
While genetics somewhat determine your lifespan and susceptibility to these diseases, your lifestyle probably has a greater impact.
A few places in the world are called “Blue Zones.” The term refers to geographic areas in which people have low rates of chronic disease and live longer than anywhere else.
“Blue Zone” is a non-scientific term given to geographic regions that are home to some of the world’s oldest people.
It was first used by the author Dan Buettner, who was studying areas of the world in which people live exceptionally long lives.
They are called Blue Zones because when Buettner and his colleagues were searching for these areas, they drew blue circles around them on a map.
In his book called The Blue Zones, Buettner described five known Blue Zones:
•Icaria (Greece): Icaria is an island in Greece where people eat a Mediterranean diet rich in olive oil, red wine and homegrown vegetables.
•Ogliastra, Sardinia (Italy): The Ogliastra region of Sardinia is home to some of the oldest men in the world. They live in mountainous regions where they typically work on farms and drink lots of red wine.
One thing common to Blue Zones is that those who live there primarily eat a 95% plant-based diet.
Although most groups are not strict vegetarians, they only tend to eat meat around five times per month (7, 8).
A number of studies, including one in over half a million people, have shown that avoiding red meat and processed meat can significantly reduce the risk of death from heart disease, cancer and a number of other different causes (9, 10).
Instead, diets in the Blue Zones are typically rich in the following:
•Vegetables: They’re a great source of fiber and many different vitamins and minerals. Eating more than five servings of fruits and vegetables a day can significantly reduce your risk of heart disease, cancer and death (11).
•Legumes: Legumes include beans, peas, lentils and chickpeas, and they are all rich in fiber and protein. A number of studies have shown that eating legumes is associated with lower mortality (12, 13, 14).
Other habits common to the Blue Zones are a reduced calorie intake and fasting.
Calorie Restriction
Long-term calorie restriction may help longevity.
A large, 25-year study in monkeys found that eating 30% fewer calories than normal led to a significantly longer life (25).
Eating fewer calories may be contributing to the longer lives in some of the Blue Zones.
For example, studies in the Okinawans suggest that before the 1960s, they were in a calorie deficit, meaning that they were eating fewer calories than they required, which may be contributing to their longevity (26).
Another dietary factor common to many of the Blue Zones is moderate alcohol consumption.
There is mixed evidence about whether moderate alcohol consumption reduces the risk of death.
Many studies have shown that drinking one to two alcoholic drinks per day can significantly reduce mortality, particularly from heart disease (31).
However, a very recent study suggested that there is no real effect once you take into consideration other lifestyle factors (32).
The beneficial effect of moderate alcohol consumption may depend on the type of alcohol. Red wine may be the best type of alcohol, given that it contains a number of antioxidants from grapes.
Consuming one to two glasses of red wine per day is particularly common in the Icarian and Sardinian Blue Zones.
Aside from diet, exercise is another extremely important factor in aging (40).
In the Blue Zones, people don’t exercise purposefully by going to the gym. Instead, it is built into their daily lives through gardening, walking, cooking and other daily chores.
A study of men in the Sardinian Blue Zone found that their longer life was associated with raising farm animals, living on steeper slopes in the mountains and walking longer distances to work (41).
The benefits of these habitual activities have been shown previously in a study of more than 13,000 men. The amount of distance they walked or stories of stairs they climbed each day predicted how long they would live (42).
Other studies have shown the benefits of exercise in reducing the risk of cancer, heart disease and overall death.
The current recommendations from the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans suggest a minimum of 75 vigorous-intensity or 150 moderate-intensity minutes of aerobic activity per week.
In addition to exercise, getting adequate rest and a good night’s sleep also seem to be very important for living a long and healthy life.
People in Blue Zones get sufficient sleep and also often take daytime naps.
A number of studies have found that not getting enough sleep, or getting too much sleep, can significantly increase the risk of death, including from heart disease or stroke (45, 46).
A large analysis of 35 studies found that seven hours was the optimal sleep duration. Sleeping a lot less or a lot more than that was associated with an increased risk of death (47).
In the Blue Zones, people tend not to go to sleep, wake up or go to work at set hours. They just sleep as much as their body tells them to.
In certain Blue Zones, such as Icaria and Sardinia, daytime napping is also common.
Aside from diet, exercise and rest, a number of other social and lifestyle factors are common to the Blue Zones, and they may contribute to the longevity of the people living there.
These include:
•Being religious or spiritual: Blue Zones are typically religious communities. A number of studies have shown that being religious is associated with a lower risk of death. This may be due to social support and reduced rates of depression (50).
•Having a life purpose: People in Blue Zones tend to have a life purpose, known as “ikigai” in Okinawa or “plan de vida” in Nicoya. This is associated with a reduced risk of death, possibly through psychological well-being (51, 52, 53).
•Older and younger people living together: In many Blue Zones, grandparents often live with their families. Studies have shown that grandparents who look after their grandchildren have a lower risk of death (54).
•A healthy social network: Your social network, called “moai” in Okinawa, can affect your health. For example, if your friends are obese, you have a greater risk of being obese, possibly through social acceptance of weight gain (55).
The Blue Zone regions are home to some of the oldest and healthiest people in the world.
Although their lifestyles differ slightly, they mostly eat a plant-based diet, exercise regularly, drink moderate amounts of alcohol, get enough sleep and have good spiritual, family and social networks.
Each of these lifestyle factors has been shown to be associated with a longer life.
By incorporating them into your lifestyle, it may be possible for you to add a few years to your life.
- Ruairi Robertson, Phd
Mar 21, 2016 · Abstract. What began as a National Geographic expedition, lead by Dan Buettner, to uncover the secrets of longevity, evolved into the discovery of the 5 places around the world where people consistently live over 100 years old, dubbed the Blue Zones. Dan and his team of demographers, scientist and anthropologists were able to distill the ...
- Dan Buettner, Sam Skemp
- 2016
Jun 26, 2017 · 4. 80% Rule. People in Blue Zones areas stop eating when their stomachs are 80% full and eat their smallest meal in the early evening. 5. Plant Slant. Beans are the cornerstone of most centenarian diets. Vegetables, fruit, and whole grains round out the rest of the diet and meat is eaten in small amounts. 6. Wine @ 5.
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Apr 3, 2024 · These are the blue zones. A Danish twin study determined that environmental factors are up to 80 percent more influential on a person’s lifespan than their genetics, and these environments can teach us a lot about how to care for the world as a whole. The term “Blue Zones” was first coined in 2004 by Dan Buettner, a journalist and ...
