Five spectacular destinations and nine rules to live by to be healthy at 100 | Travel News | Travel
Blue Zones founder Dan Buettne, during an exploratory research project, discovered five regions of the world where people live the longest and healthiest lives.
Wanting to know how centenarians (aged 100 or more, and in good health) lived differently from others, Dan interviewed the longest-living humans around the globe.
Sardinia, Italy
First, Sardinia in Italy was established as the region with the highest concentration of male centenarians. The island in the Mediterranean Sea offers stunning beaches, spectacular walking trails, and cultural traditions.
One such tradition is on January 17, the streets of Mamoiada come alive during the Festa di Sant’Antonio Abate.
Men clad in shaggy sheepskins and hand-carved black masks parade through town with copper cowbells clanging rhythmically on their backs.
The festivity alone, however, can not explain why the Italian men enjoy a good, long life. In Dan’s search of the Blue Zones, he identified four other regions where living a full, long and healthy life was normal.
The Blue Zones
- Sardinia, Italy
- Ikaria, Greece
- Okinawa, Japan
- Nicoya, Costa Rica
- Loma Linda, United States
While Ikaria, Greece, is rich in hot springs, and Okinawa in Japan is known for its tropical climate, what do these areas have in common with each other?
Dan, alongside other researchers, identified nine key denominators that positively impacted longevity. These included a sense of purpose, a feeling of belonging, to move naturally, and to connect with loved ones.
Additional factors included finding your “right tribe”, a plant-rich diet, wine at 5pm, the 80 percent rule where to only eat when 80 percent full, and to embrace down time.
Living in environments where movement is necessary in everyday life contributes to a life well led.
Finding out why you wake up in the morning – your sense of purpose – can add on an extraordinary seven years onto your lifespan.
And taking time in your day to destress is super important, as too much stress is associated with disease.
“Beans, including fava, black, soy and lentils, are the cornerstone of most centenarian diets,” Dan pointed out.
As for finding your tribe, Okinawans created ”moais”–groups of five friends that committed to each other for life.
