Tidbit Tuesday - Blue Zones
Hello,
Welcome to another Tidbit Tuesday where we aim to teach you something new about health, nutrition, lifestyle, training, and so much more, every week!
Today we are talking about the Blue Zones!
What are the Blue Zones and why should we care?
Blue Zones consist of only 5 regions in the world. These 5 locations are special because they have the highest concentration of centenarians.
That is, people who live to 100 years old and older!
There was a study conducted called the Danish Twin Study, and they determined that how long you live is about 20% genetic. While the other 80% was based on your daily habits, routines, and how you lived your life.
There is no pill or magic treatment that can stop aging. Despite our best efforts with all the products you could possibly imagine out on the market, surgeries and supplements that promise anti-aging, and endless anti-aging creams you can apply to keep your skin looking young and healthy.
But, what about what is going on inside of our bodies?
Keeping your skin looking healthy with your night cream is great. However, if you suffer from diabetes, cardiovascular disease, substance abuse, mood disorders, or simply lack a purpose to get out of bed every day, then you are not operating optimally.
If you are not operating at your best, you don’t feel your best, you won’t give your best!
So, if 80% of your lifespan is determined by your daily routine, how do you decide what to squeeze into that precious 24 hours?
Is it a specific diet or workout routine?
The short answer is NO!
Even though 5 Blue Zones are spread out across the globe. Loma Linda California, Nicoya Costa Rica, Sardinia Italy, Ikaria Greece, Okinawa Japan. They all share 9 commonalities that lead to their longevity.
And, they probably are not as complex as you might think. They are as follows (found at https://www.bluezones.com/2016/11/power-9/):
1. Move Naturally
The world’s longest-lived people don’t pump iron, run marathons or join gyms. Instead, they live in environments that constantly nudge them into moving without thinking about it. They grow gardens and don’t have mechanical conveniences for house and yard work.
2. 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.” Knowing your sense of purpose is worth up to seven years of extra life expectancy.
3. Down Shift
Even people in the Blue Zones experience stress. Stress leads to chronic inflammation, associated with every major age-related disease. What the world’s longest-lived people have that we don’t are routines to shed that stress. Okinawans take a few moments each day to remember their ancestors, Adventists pray, Ikarians take a nap and Sardinians do happy hour.
4. 80% Rule
“Hara hachi bu” – the Okinawan, 2500-year old Confucian mantra said before meals reminds them to stop eating when their stomachs are 80 percent full. The 20% gap between not being hungry and feeling full could be the difference between losing weight or 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.
5. Plant Slant
Beans, including fava, black, soy and lentils, are the cornerstone of most centenarian diets. Meat—mostly pork—is eaten on average only five times per month. Serving sizes are 3-4 oz., about the size of a deck of cards.
6. Wine @ 5
People in all blue zones (except Adventists) drink alcohol moderately and regularly. Moderate drinkers outlive non-drinkers. The trick is to drink 1-2 glasses per day (preferably Sardinian Cannonau wine), with friends and/or with food. And no, you can’t save up all week and have 14 drinks on Saturday.
7. Belong
All but five of the 263 centenarians we interviewed belonged to some faith-based community. Denomination doesn’t seem to matter. Research shows that attending faith-based services four times per month will add 4-14 years of life expectancy.
8. Loved Ones First
Successful centenarians in the blue zones put their families first. This means keeping aging parents and grandparents nearby or in the home (It lowers disease and mortality rates of children in the home too.). They commit to a life partner (which can add up to 3 years of life expectancy) and invest in their children with time and love (they’ll be more likely to care for you when the time comes).
9. Right Tribe
The world’s longest lived people chose–or were born into–social circles that supported healthy behaviors, Okinawans created ”moais”–groups of five friends that committed to each other for life. Research from the Framingham Studies shows that smoking, obesity, happiness, and even loneliness are contagious. So, the social networks of long-lived people have favorably shaped their health behaviors.
To make it to age 100, you have to have won the genetic lottery. But most of us have the capacity to make it well into our early 90’s and largely without chronic disease. As the Adventists demonstrate, the average person’s life expectancy could increase by 10-12 years by adopting a Blue Zones lifestyle.
I think one of the most helpful things on that list is to have a clear-cut purpose for why you want to get out of bed every day and give your best.
Purpose can help us get through some of the toughest moments in life. Without a purpose we are literally more likely to die at a younger age!
There are 2 years in your life where you are statistically at your most likely to die. The year you are born, congrats you made it past that one, and the second is the year after you retire.
Most of us tend to fall into a career that we at least have SOME passion for. Or, if you’re not passionate about your work, it is a way of paying bills and having a life on the weekends.
But, once you retire, if you have no other purpose to fall back on, our bodies tend to give up on us. We are statistically more likely to develop chronic disease in the first year of retiring than any other year in our life. This comes from a lack of purpose, and a sense of “giving up”.
However, looking at the Blue Zones, most of them don’t know the concept of retirement. Instead, they continue to perform low-level activity all day, every day. This tends to look like caring for children, tending to their farms or gardens, walking instead of driving, and volunteering their time when it gives them joy by assisting others.
They are not slaving away at jobs they hate until the day they day.
They simply remain a part of the community, move often, eat well, and tend to sleep 8 to 9 hours every night. Routine may not be sexy or exciting, but it is the lifeblood of longevity.
To help you find your purpose, ask yourself, where am I going? And how am I making the world a better place?
You don’t have to be operating a multi-million-dollar company or donating thousands of dollars, or hours, to make the world a better place. By simply improving one person’s day you are making the world a better place!
So, develop your routine, social circle, and find your “Ikigai”. Spend time with your family. Live, love, laugh. Move often and eat well.
You may not be the wealthiest person on the planet, but your level of happiness will far surpass any materialistic person stuck in “destination happiness”.
Happy living!
Your friend in health & fitness,
Coach Sean
