The Blue Zones

The Blue Zones

The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who’ve Lived the Longest by Dan Buettner talks about the author’s research in different places who have people who live into very long years of their life in a few areas of the world who claim to have the highest number of the oldest people. Blue Zone is a concept used to identify a demographic and/or geographic area of the world where people live measurably longer lives, as Dan Buettner describes in his book. The concept had its work done by Gianni Pes and Michel Poulain, who identified Sardinia's Nuoro province as the region with the highest concentration of male centenarians. As the two men closed in on the group of villages with the highest longevity, they drew concentric blue circles on the map and began referring to the area inside the circle as the Blue Zone. Buettner identifies longevity spots in Okinawa (Japan); Sardinia (Italy); Nicoya (Costa Rica); Icaria (Greece); and among the Seventh Day Adventists in Loma Linda, California, and talks about how and what they do, based on data and first hand observations, as to why these populations live healthier and longer lives. Examples of communities with centenarians that we read about include the Barbagia region of Sardinia, Okinawa, and Loma Linda, California.

A long healthy life isn’t something that just happens or is definitely not some accident. It starts off with good genes, but it also depends on good habits you do for yourself. If you decide to live the right lifestyle, experts say, chances are you may live up to about ten years longer. That’s a great deal longer to live. So what’s the key for long successful life? National Geographic Explorer Dan Buettner had lead teams of researchers across the world to find out the secrets of Blue Zones, geographic regions where lots of centenarians are enjoying very long and happy lives.

The three of the five regions identified and talked about by Buettner in the book Blue Zones: Sardinia,...