Lifestyles have changed over the years and gotten more sedentary and remote or distant in relationships. So we have manically turned to diet and exercise in the quest for a longer healthier life, but we are approaching the idea of living a long, healthy life the wrong way.
Modern thinking of Diet and Rigorous Exercise has been a complete failure and we need to look at cultures that have an inherent longevity to see why the stay healthier for longer... the Blue Zones.
Blue Zone is a name that has been given an area where people commonly live active live past 100 years of age. After a long 10 year study by National Geographic, Scientists and demographers found 5 longevity areas where the inhabitants’ live longer, on average, than anyone else in the world. They do not try to have better health, they are just part of a culture that have a different approach to life.
These five locations are spread around the world in mid latitudes (where extremes in weather are not present). These locations were classified as Blue Zones as they either had the most people to reach 100 years of age, with the lowest rate of mortality among these centenarians.
Loma Linda, CA - Nicoya, Costa Rica - Sardina, Italy - Ikaria, Greece - Okinawa, Japan
They secret is they all share 9 common traits;
When one participant in the study was asked how she thought she was successful in living so long, she stated; "We forget to die". In these areas, residents view old age as a given, as opposed to a goal to strive for, which may be the main key to achieving longevity.
These centenarians maintain closeness to family (something most of modern society has forsaken), where they are not considered burdens, but invaluable wealth of knowledge and experience. This close tie keeps not only them in better health, it also keeps the children in a better lifestyle as well.
According to National Geographic writer and explorer Dan Buettner’s who studied the people of these areas for over 10 years explains:
“Only 25 percent of how long you live is dictated by your genes. The other 75 percent is lifestyle and environment, so what we did working for a decade with National Geographic is essentially reverse-engineer longevity. Find places where we know people are already reaching a healthy age 90, and work backwards from there to figure out exactly what they do.”
“There’s lots of huge, chronic disease problems in this country, and I think we go about solving them in the wrong way.” he said. “When you look around these blue zones ... they never tried to live to 100 ... Longevity happens to them. It’s a residue. They’re part of a culture that makes the right decisions for them, and that’s the big secret: How you set up your life so that longevity ensues rather than being something you’re always trying to chase.”
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Image Credit: huffpost, aarpinternational, blue zone project
