The Blue Zones: 9 Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest

by Dan Buettner

According to the Mayo Clinic, it takes an average of 8 cups of water (along with a healthy diet) to replace what your body uses normally every day. Moderate exercise increases the amount by 1 to 2 cups. Strenuous exercise (lasting an hour or more) ups the average intake by 2 to 3 cups per hour exercised.

EXERCISE TYPES A combination of four types of exercise will keep the body balanced and strong. Endurance: Activities like walking, hiking, swimming, and cycling improve the health of the cardiovascular system. Strength: Lifting weights builds up and maintains muscles. Flexibility: Stretching keeps us limber and flexible. Balance: Practicing balance through activities like yoga will help avoid falls.

Studies have found that a belly laugh a day may keep the doctor away. In 2005, researchers at the University of Maryland showed that laughter helped relax blood vessels, linking it to healthier function and a possible decreased risk of heart attack. Others have found that laughter may lower blood pressure and increase the amount of disease-fighting cells found in the body.

“You know in Latin America, we take marriage very seriously. If you get married, there’s great pressure to stay married your whole life. But here,” he hesitated. “Well, men here have very liberal attitudes toward sex. They tend to have many sexual partners throughout life.”

“But then he showed me these wildly exotic fruits.” There was the marañón, a red-orange fruit five times richer in vitamin C than oranges; anona, which looks like a misshapen, thick-skinned pear known to have selective toxicity against various types of cancer cells; and wild ginger, a great source of vitamin B6, magnesium, and manganese. “All of these are antioxidant powerhouses associated with disease prevention and longer life,” Eliza informed us.

Recent research shows that in high doses maize can reduce bad cholesterol and augment good cholesterol.”

Here, the fact that they use lime—which is calcium hydroxide—to cook the kernels makes all the difference. It infuses the grain with a high concentration of calcium greater than in untreated maize and most other foods, and unlocks certain amino acids for the body to absorb. Nicoyans call the resulting maize dough maíz nixquezado.

The water percolating up from Nicoya’s limestone bedrock was very different than other water in Costa Rica.

“What the atlas showed, specifically, was the mineral content of the water,” he replied. “It revealed that the water hardness, the calcium and magnesium content, was higher in Nicoya than anywhere else in Costa Rica.” To confirm this, Gianni used a water-testing kit; in each of the 20 or so households where he conducted interviews, he tested the drinking water. The result: “The water had such high levels of calcium and magnesium that I had to dilute it by 50 percent with distilled water just so that I could test it.”

Populations with hard water, it found, have up to 25 percent fewer deaths from heart disease than populations with soft water.

CALCIUM Nicoya’s drinking water is richly packed with calcium, giving the locals an easy supply of this important mineral. Calcium is the most abundant mineral found in the human body and vital to keeping bones strong. For those without calcium-rich water, yogurt, milk, and cheese are great natural sources of calcium. For dairy alternatives, try sardines, kale, and broccoli.

On the walk back, I told Elizabeth that I agreed with her observations regarding faith and longevity. Panchita’s faith was amazing—her unwavering belief that no matter how bad things got, God would take care of everything. Indeed, thinking back, I realized that most of the 200 centenarians I had met believed in a similar guiding power. The Seventh-day Adventist faith was rooted in a strong faith tradition; Okinawan elders believed that their deceased ancestors watched over them; and Sardinians were devout Catholics. Panchita was yet another example, it seemed, of the power of faith. I asked Elizabeth if faith really has a profound impact on longevity.

Young families come to Tamarindo in the north for winter vacation; meanwhile the backpacking set heads farther south to beach towns like Montezuma for cheap rooms and excellent surf.

Drink hard water. Nicoyan water has the country’s highest calcium content, perhaps explaining the lower rates of heart disease, as well as stronger bones and fewer hip fractures.

Their traditional diet of fortified maize and beans may be the best nutritional combination for longevity the world has ever known.

HONEY In addition to being a natural sweetener, honey may help control blood sugar levels, studies have found. Eating honey also has been shown to slow the oxidation of the “bad” cholesterol levels in the blood, which is a good thing. Researchers from the University of Illinois found that darker honey had more antioxidants and less water than lighter honey.

Dr. Leriadis mentioned wild marjoram, sage (flas-komilia), a type of mint tea (fliskouni), olive tree leaf infusions, rosemary, and a tea made from boiling dandelion leaves and drinking the water with a little lemon. “People here think they’re drinking a comforting beverage, but they all double as medicine,” he said.

study by the University of Athens Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health found that people who took naps had lower coronary mortality than those who didn’t. The researchers defined “regular” naps as the kind that took place at least three times a week for about 30 minutes.

Humans have succeeded as a species because we are social creatures with the capacity to cooperate. In the same way that we get pleasure from sex and eating, socializing brings us a fundamental satisfaction. But in today’s hectic society, too many of us let TV or “busyness” push face-to-face time out of our lives. Not here.

She was also raised in rural Greece and was inclined to believe that the world’s traditional peoples do things for a reason. She told me that throughout Europe and the Americas, people have been using honey as a medicine for centuries. Until the mid-19th century, Greeks put it directly into wounds as an antibacterial. Several hospitals in Africa used it for its antimicrobial qualities to fight disease and for its healing properties. Dr. Chinou had also proved this when she tested honey in petri dishes. As for the herbal teas, she was familiar with the list of Ikarian teas I read off to her, recognizing them as traditional Greek remedies. Wild mint fought gingivitis and ulcers, rosemary reduced the symptoms of gout, and artemisia improved blood circulations.

It all started when Ancel Keys, a physiologist at the University of Minnesota, studied the diets and habits of people in seven countries in the 1950s (often referred to as the Seven Countries Study), including the United States, Japan, Finland, and Greece. He found that individuals from Greece had the lowest rates of heart disease and lived the longest, even though they had a relatively high intake of fat.

“When you go back, do a cross-section of dietary surveys and pay more attention to how they prepare their food, not just what they eat,” she said.

HERBAL TEAS Ikarians drink herbal teas made from wild oregano, sage, and rosemary—all of which lower blood pressure. How they drink them is important too: They drink these teas daily but rotate flavors—to not get too much of any one compound. Researchers have also found that chamomile tea contains properties that guard against platelet clumping; peppermint tea exhibits antiviral properties; and hibiscus tea may lower blood pressure.

All of the herbal teas showed strong antioxidant properties as rich sources of polyphenols. But the big finding: Most of these herbs are also mild diuretics; they make you pee. They help flush our bodies of natural waste products. (If you don’t pee enough, toxic nitrogen-based compounds from our cells build up and cause damage over time, which also may induce higher blood pressure.) More interesting—and more likely to explain Ikaria’s greater life expectancy—diuretics lower and control blood pressure.

“Do you know there’s no word in Greek for privacy?”

The problem is, as habits they don’t last. It’s said that diets fail for 98 percent of the people who start them; gym memberships last on average nine months; and people only take pills for about three years before they get bored with the habit. After studying Blue Zones for nearly a decade, the big aha for me is how the agents of longevity reinforce one another for the long term. If you want people to adopt a healthy lifestyle, you need to build an ecosystem around them. As soon as you take culture, belonging, purpose, or religion out of the picture, the foundation collapses.

Drink some goat’s milk.

Stock up on herbal. People in Ikaria enjoy drinking herbal teas with family and friends, and scientists have found that they pack an antioxidant punch. Wild rosemary, sage, and oregano teas also act as a diuretic, which can keep blood pressure in check by ridding the body of excess sodium and water. The key is to drink herbal teas every day and rotate varieties.

To begin, go to the Blue Zones website at www.bluezones.com. There, you’ll find the Vitality Compass™, a tool that asks you 33 questions and, based on your answers, calculates 1) your potential life expectancy at your current age, 2) your healthy life expectancy—the number of good years you can expect to live, 3) the number of extra years you’re likely to gain if you optimize your lifestyle, and 4) a customized list of suggestions to help you with that plan.

The second step is to create a pro-longevity environment—your own personal Blue Zone—in your home.

Research shows that if you dedicate yourself to a new practice for as little as five weeks, the practice is more likely to become a habit. (Another school of thought, called Relapse Prevention, suggests that for indulgent or addictive behaviors—overeating, gambling, drug use—the first three months of the initial change in behavior are crucial. If you make it past those first 12 weeks, your chances of relapse are greatly reduced.)

Dr. Leslie Lytle of the University of Minnesota, a registered dietitian with a Ph.D. in health behavior, says that all of the habits we’re recommending are relatively easy to adopt once you commit to making them work. She offers this advice to help you succeed: Pick the low-hanging fruit. All nine lessons offer the chance to gain more good years, so pick the ones that are easiest to do first. For example, try something you may have been successful at doing in the past. If you could do it then, focusing on it now might be easier. Another tip: Don’t try more than three secrets at a time. If you work on all nine once, you’ll be more likely to fail. Start with three that have the best chance of success, and then gradually add more as a pattern of success emerges. Lytle also recommends that you enlist a friend or family member in your program. If you hold each other accountable to a 12-week goal, you’ll have a greater chance of succeeding. Remember to reward yourself, she says. Don’t focus on your slip-ups; behavior change is hard at first. Focus on your small victories and celebrate them!

We overeat because of circumstances—friends, family, packages, plates, names, numbers, labels, lights, colors, candles, shapes, smells, distractions, cupboards, and containers.

Wansink asserts that we can eat about 20 percent more or 20 percent less without really being aware of it. And that 20 percent swing is the difference between losing weight and gaining it.

Beans, whole grains, and garden vegetables are the cornerstones of all these longevity diets.

Nuts are perhaps the most impressive of all “longevity foods.” Recent findings from a large study of Seventh-day Adventists show that those who ate nuts at least five times a week had a rate of heart disease that was half that of those who rarely ate nuts. A health claim about nuts is among the first qualified claims permitted by the Food and Drug Administration. In 2003, the FDA allowed a “qualified health claim” that read: “Scientific evidence suggests but does not prove that eating 1.5 ounces per day of most nuts as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease.”

The best nuts are almonds, peanuts, pecans, pistachios, hazelnuts, walnuts, and some pine nuts. Brazil nuts, cashews, and macadamias have a little more saturated fat and are less desirable. But all nuts are good.

For an extra antioxidant bump, choose a Sardinian Cannonau.

A new activity can give you purpose as well. Learning a musical instrument or a new language gives you a double bonus, since both have been shown to help keep your brain sharper longer.

LESSON FIVE STRATEGIES To realize your purpose, try the following tips. Craft a personal mission statement. If you don’t have a sense of purpose, how do you find it? Articulating your personal mission statement can be a good start. Begin by answering this question in a single, memorable sentence: Why do you get up in the morning? Consider what you’re passionate about, how you enjoy using your talents, and what is truly important to you. Find a partner. Find someone to whom you can communicate your life purpose, along with a plan for realizing it. It can be a friend, a family member, a spouse, a colleague—as long as it’s someone who can help you honestly assess your plan and your successes. Learn something new. Take up a musical instrument or learn a new language. Both activities are among the most powerful things you can do to preserve your mental sharpness.

Be early. Plan to arrive 15 minutes early to every appointment. This one practice minimizes the stress that arises from traffic, getting lost, or underestimating travel time. It allows you to slow down and focus before a meeting or event.

To a certain extent, adherence to a religion allows them to relinquish the stresses of everyday life to a higher power.