Longevity Lessons From the World’s Happiest People

Dan Buettner introduced the world to Blue Zones in his cover story for National Geographic magazine’s November 2005 The Secrets of Long Life edition. The issue became the third-biggest seller in the magazine’s history.

In 2008, Buettner shared his statistically derived findings in his book The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who’ve Lived the Longest. It became a New York Times best seller and led to a 2009 TED Talk, which has more than 4 million views.

He then continued to write successful Blue Zones books and initiated the Blue Zones Project, which helps American cities create environments that nurture habits that promote longevity.

Buettner maintains that the message is clear—creating lasting happiness is achieved through optimizing social and physical environments. The following is excerpted from his 2017 book, The Blue Zones of Happiness.

BY DAN BEUTTNER

In 2002, with a grant from the National Institutes on Aging, I commissioned a team to identify places where people lived the longest. Together with Michel Poulain, a Belgian demographer, and Dr. Gianni Pes, an Italian physician and medical statistician, we identified five areas that we called the world’s Blue Zones.

Next, with a grant from National Geographic, I recruited teams of experts to help me tease out the characteristics of longevity in these Blue Zones. Remarkably, wherever we found long-lived populations, the same healthy practices seemed to be present. About five years into the project, I was struck with an epiphany: In a place like Okinawa, where I met a 100-year-old teaching karate, no one had ever set out to live forever. None of the spry centenarians that I encountered had resolved at age 50 to adopt a better diet, start exercising or begin taking supplements. Longevity had just happened to them.

In other words, instead of seeing a long, healthy life as a goal that required discipline, effort and a prescribed routine, people in the Blue Zones found that it occurred almost naturally; it flowed from their surroundings. In these places, it seemed, the healthy choice wasn’t just the deliberate choice; it was the unavoidable choice. Grains, greens, and beans—which many studies have linked to healthy, long lives—were the least expensive and most accessible foods in these places. People used time-honored recipes to make food tasty, and their kitchens were set up to allow fast and easy preparation. When friends and neighbors got together, they often shared the same healthy meals as part of their regular social activities. Being lonely wasn’t an option. And in all of the Blue Zones, people had a vocabulary for their purpose in life. People knew why they woke up in the morning. They were able to describe their responsibilities, and they pursued their passions into their 10th decade. They lived not only long lives but also rich, happy ones … these recommendations have become a kind of shorthand for the Blue Zones approach to a better life. In a nutshell, here they are:

Move Naturally.

The world’s longest-lived people don’t pump iron or run marathons. They live in environ - ments that constantly nudge them into moving. They grow gardens and don’t have mechanical conveniences for yard work. Every trip to work, to a friend’s house occasions a walk.

Wine @5.

People in all Blue Zones (even some Adventists) drink alcohol moderately and regularly. Moderate drinkers outlive nondrinkers. The trick is to drink one to two glasses per day with friends and/or with food. And no, you can’t save up all week and have 14 drinks on Saturday.

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.” In all the Blue Zones, people had something to live for beyond just work. Research has shown that knowing your sense of purpose is worth up to seven years of extra life expectancy.

Downshift.

Even people in the Blue Zones experience stress, which leads to chronic inflammation, associated with every major age-related disease. The world’s longest-lived people have routines to shed that stress: Okinawans take a few moments each day to remember their ances- tors, Adventists pray, Ikarians take a nap, and Sardinians do happy hour.

Belong.

All but five of the 263 centenar- ians we interviewed belonged to a faith-based community. Denomina- tion doesn’t seem to matter. Research shows that attending faith-based services four times per month will add four to 14 years of life expectancy.

Loved Ones First.

Successful centenarians in the Blue Zones put their families first. They keep aging parents and grand- parents nearby or in the home, which also lowers the disease and mortality rates of their children. They commit to a life partner (which can add up to three years of life expectancy), and they invest in their children with time and love, which makes the children more likely to be caretak- ers when the time comes.

The 80% Rule.

Hara hachi bu—the 2,500-yearold Confucian mantra spoken before meals on Okinawa—reminds people to stop eating when their stomachs are 80% full. The 20% gap between not being hungry and feeling full could be the difference between losing weight and 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 Blue Zones diets. Meat— mostly pork—is eaten on average only five times per month, and in a serving of three to four ounces, about the size of a deck of cards.

Right Tribe.

The world’s longest-lived people choose, or were born into, social circles that support healthy behaviors. Okinawans create moais—groups of five friends who commit to each other for life. Research shows that smoking, obesity, happiness and even lone- liness are contagious. By contrast, the social networks of long-lived people favorably shape their health behaviors.

Following these nine habits won’t guarantee that you’ll make it to age 100, of course. As I often like to say, you have to win the genetic lottery to become a centenarian. But if you use the Power Nine as daily guidelines, you’ll stand an excellent chance of adding happy years to your life.

Build Your Own Blue Zone

Live with a loving partner

Spend 30 minutes of quality time with your kids at least five times a week

Own a dog

Spend less than one hour watching TV or playing video games per day

Have people in your life whom you can confide in after a difficult day

Eat at least six servings of fruits or vegetables daily

Meditate at least once a week

Visit the doctor and dentist at least once per year

Bring good natural light into your home

Live near nature, whether it’s a park close by, houseplants or a fish tank inside, or a window through which you can clearly see outside

Articulate your sense of purpose or life mission

Care for loved ones, such as sick children or aging parents

—Dan Buettner

How Not to Die

In April 2015, Dan Buettner published The Blue Zones Solution: Eating and Living Like the World’s Healthiest People. Four of the zones—the places with the world’s longest life expectancies—are situated in the exotic locales of Ikaria Greece, Okinawa Japan, Sardinia Italy and Costa Rica. The fifth is closer to home in Loma Linda, Calif., where Seventh-Day Adventists “live longer than any other Americans.” The following excerpt reveals part of the regimen of those long-lived Californians—a diet proven to contribute to longevity.

The Longevity Diet of Loma Linda Adventists

Avocados High in potassium and low in salt, avocados may help reduce blood pressure and the risk of stroke. Ounce for ounce, an avocado contains 30% more potassium than a banana, a dietary staple for many people with high blood pressure.

Salmon The longest-lived Adventists are pesco-vegetarians. They eat plant-based food and up to one serving of fish per day, most often salmon, well known for its heart-healthy properties. Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health recently concluded that people who eat one to two 3-ounce servings weekly of fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids—the oil that collects in the fatty tissue of coldwater fish—reduced their chance of dying from a heart attack by a third. To play it on the safest side, look for wild-caught Alaska salmon, which contains the fewest contaminants and the most omega-3 fatty acid–rich oils.

Whole Wheat Bread Like other Americans, Adventists often find themselves eating lunch at school, at work, or on the go. Slices of 100% whole wheat bread are convenient and healthy “packaging” for protein and vegetable fillings, such as avocado or nut butters. True 100% whole wheat breads add only 70 calories per slice to the sandwich, plus small amounts of a wide variety of nutrients. The high fiber content minimizes the need for mid-afternoon snacking, which is often less than healthy.

Beans For vegetarian Adventists, beans and other legumes, such as lentils and peas, represent important daily protein sources. There are at least 70 varieties of beans to choose from and an infinite number of ways to prepare them.

Nuts A study during the 1990s found that Adventists who ate a handful of nuts at least five times a week lived two to three years longer than people who didn’t eat any nuts. More research since then found links between nut-eaters and lower rates of cholesterol, blood pressure, chronic inflammation, diabetes and myriad other troubles that add up to cardiovascular disease.

Oatmeal A staple for Adventists, slow-cooked oatmeal is frequently mentioned as the breakfast for American centenarians everywhere. It provides a balanced portion of fats, complex carbohydrates and plant protein, along with good doses of iron and B vitamins. Its high fiber content makes it filling, and nuts and dried fruits can add fiber, flavor and variety.

Water Ellen G. White, founder of the Adventist Church, prescribed six to eight glasses of water daily. Apart from its well-known hydrating and toxin-flushing benefits, water consumption promotes better blood flow and less chance of clotting, some studies have suggested. Beyond their health value, six glasses of water a day likely pushes diet sodas, fruit juices, and other sugar-sweetened or artificially sweetened beverages out of the diet.

Soy Milk Adventists use real soy milk (not the sweetened, flavored variety) as a topping for breakfast cereals, a whitener for herbal teas, and an allaround healthy alternative to dairy. High in protein and low in fat, soy milk contains phytoestrogens that may protect against certain types of cancer. Because it’s so versatile, it can figure into daily breakfast, lunch and dinner.

ABOUT DAN BUETTNER

Holds three Guinness records for endurance bicycling

Dated supermodel Cheryl Tiegs for eight years

Befriended writer George Plimpton, who became a major influence

Co-produced a documentary that won an Emmy Award

Led expeditions to remote locales and shared them digitally with schools

How to Live to be 100+

Typical Daily Diet of Seventh-Day Adventists

Here’s the average intake of various food groups for the Adventists participating in the Adventist Health Study 2. The data included 513 in the white cohort and 414 in the black cohort. The averages used for this table were weighted proportionally in combining the data to reflect a more accurate average for the total population. Source: Jaceldo-Siegl et al.

2% Added fats

2% Nuts and seeds

1% Each: Fish, Eggs, Added sugars

4% Meat and poultry

33% Vegetables

7% Grains

27% Fruits

10% Dairy

12% Legumes + soy foods

THE POWER OF CHOICE

Think about this for a moment. These are Americans. They live among us. Drive by the same fast-food restaurants, shop in the same grocery stores, breathe the same air and work in the same jobs we do. But they’re living up to a decade longer than the rest of us! —Dan Beuttner

CARELESS EATING HAS CONSEQUENCES

Meat-eaters tend to consume more soda pop, desserts and refined grains than vegetarians. They also tend to be fatter. If you were to take two men of equal height, one a meat-eater and the other a vegan, the meateater was likely to weigh an extra 20 pounds. The meateater was also likely to die sooner. Although vegans tended to weigh less, they didn’t live the longest, the study found. That distinction went to pesco-vegetarians, or pescatarians, those who ate a plant-based diet with up to one serving of fish per day.

—Dan Beuttner