NVL health & wellness
Blue Zones Project Launches in the Upper Napa Valley Adventist Health and Blue Zones, LLC Partner Up for a Healthier Community
What are the Blue Zones? In 2004, longevity expert, best-selling author, and National Geographic Fellow, Dan Buettner teamed with National Geographic, the National Institute on Aging, and the world's best longevity researchers to identify pockets worldwide where people lived measurably better, longer. In these five areas, dubbed blue zones, researchers found that people reach age 100 at a ten times greater rate than in the United States and with lower rates of chronic disease. After locating the world's blue zones areas, Buettner and National Geographic took teams of scientists to each location to 106
NAPAVALLEYLIFE.COM
pinpoint lifestyle characteristics that might explain the unusual longevity. They found that though the blue zones communities are located in vastly different parts of the world, their residents share nine specific traits – referred to as the Power 9® – that lead to longer, healthier, happier lives. They also discovered these residents made healthy choices because they were easy— even unavoidable—in their surroundings. The Blue Zones Project® is a community-led initiative that incorporates Buettner's findings. It’s designed to make healthy choices easier through permanent changes to the built environment, policy,
and social networks that will move a community toward optimal health and wellbeing. That's why the Blue Zones Project focuses on influencing the Life Radius®, the area close to home in which people spend 80 percent of their lives. When individuals and organizations participate, the small changes contribute to huge benefits such as lowered healthcare costs, improved productivity, and a higher quality of life. Since the first pilot in 2009, more than 60 communities have joined the Blue Zones Project® movement, impacting more than 3.8 million citizens and helping more people live longer, better.
