Lessons in Longevity From Those In The Blue Zones

We’ve all heard of the Blue Zones, the five regions with the longest living populations spanning Okinawa (Japan), Sardinia (Italy), Nicoya (Costa Rica), Icaria (Greece), and Loma Linda (California) but have we gleaned any lessons from these people?

Identified by researchers studying longevity hotspots, these communities share common lifestyle traits—defined as the ‘Power 9′—including

1. Healthy plant-heavy and wholefood diets.

2. Natural movement incorporated into daily life.

3. Strong social ties and a sense of community.

4. A downshift during stressful times so you can manage stress well and grow resilience.

5. Following the 80% rule so they only eat until they’re 80% full not bursting.

6. Drink wine moderately with friends and family to savour it and with food.

7. Faith/ Spirituality so they feel they belong.

8. Putting family first, caring for one another and last but not least.

9. Purpose. For e.g. not retiring after a specific age and simply doing what makes them happy into old age be it gardening, cooking and playing music. 

Each area have brilliant outcomes reflective of their Power 9 lifestyles:

• Okinawa, Japan: Longest-lived women and high consumption of purple sweet potatoes.
• Sardinia, Italy: High concentration of male centenarians in the Ogliastra region with a ‘good carb’ slow releasing heavy diet.
• Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica: High longevity, particularly for those born before 1930.
• Ikaria, Greece: Low rates of middle-age mortality and dementia.
• Loma Linda, California: A community of Seventh-day Adventists with high energy levels. 

I watched the very likeable and inspiring Blue Zones doc recently by Dan Buettner, produced in 2023, and available on Netflix in the UK, and was completely floored by all the brilliantly vibrant elderly folk behaving anything but elderly, dancing, singing, playing games, cooking, gardening and frankly being more active mentally and physically than someone my age (45) who often aches just crawling out of bed on a morning.

My own family are Greek Cypriot with many of my relatives commonly becoming healthy centarians and I’m determined to be my healthiest and strongest self this year.

Their advice was to sit on the floor as much as possible prompting natural squatting, walking up hills outdoors ideally, eating small portions but over longer periods of time and with friends, opting for healthy and seasonal choices )homegrown for extra points) and importantly focusing on plants. Another key takeway was staying close and nurting family and/or a community sticking with 5 friends in particular into old age, looking out for one another.

Loneliness is literally a killer, you see. The WHO found that loneliness and isolation was connected to an estimated 100 deaths every hour and more than 871,000 deaths each year.

Loneliness and social isolation was found to correlate with an increase in disease risk, including stroke and cognitive decline, and also impacted mental health, which is no doubt why so many postnatal mums like myself suffered more extremely from depression, especially with my first child, and more actuely due to being the only one in my friendship group to have a baby at 27.

The Nicoyans from Costa Rica are dedicated to their connections with family and friends, either living with their families and children or grandchildren or nearby, combatting lonliness and providing one another with a support network which works both ways.

We humans need one another not just to survive but in order to thrive in all stages of our lives and most definitely if we hope to live a long life!

Other lessons from the documentary were to focus on mindfulness whether that’s slowing down and nurturing a garden so it blooms to meditating at home even for a short while to boost mental health. The Ikirians in Greece would often have power naps which do just that: provide you with energy afterwards.

Day napping helps to combat stress and gives the heart a break.

Speaking of sleep, all of the blue zone residents aimed for 8-10 hours of sleep a night, something we parents can only dream of (if we achieve enough quality sleep in order to dream) but we’re all aware of the benefits: physical and mental repair, reduction of stress, weight management and more. Another whammy for parents struggling on little sleep in bodies and minds we don’t recognise, unable to break the cycle because shut eye is eluding us.

Another point which stood out was eating with family and friends where possible as it encourages us to eat more slowly which is both mindful and relates back to having a community, connecting us to others, as well as being less stressful on our digestion. It is commonplace in the Greek culture, even today to eat slowly and over hours, and is no doubt why Meze (small plates) are favoured over three courses.

There’s really so much to learn from these communities!

Which lessons will you be adopting?