Here are the secrets for longevity from the healthiest places on Earth

health

by gavin newsham

In 1999, author Dan Buettner read an article from the World Health Organization that revealed that the people of Okinawa, Japan, had the highest disability-free life expectancy in the world.

Four years later, he read a Danish twin study showing that only 20% of human lifespan is determined by genes.

Intrigued, Butner began searching for a place similar to Okinawa.

“I reasoned that there must be other heterogeneous populations with extremely long lives,” he told the Post.

“We thought if we could find some common ground, we might be able to provide some insight for the rest of us.”

In his latest book, Blue Zone Secrets for a Long Life: Lessons from the Healthiest Places on Earth (Dreamscape Media), Buettner describes five places on Earth he has identified: We are reconsidering “Zone.” Elsewhere on Earth: Nuoro, Sardinia, Italy, Ikaria, Greece, Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica, Okinawa, Japan, and Loma Linda, California.

It’s been a 20-year quest, and the idea has since expanded into a healthy eating and lifestyle book, in an effort to share the secrets of what Buettner calls the “super-seniors” of the Blue Zones.

In conjunction with the new Netflix series, Buettner uncovers the Blue Zones’ “Power 9” behaviors, the key traits that help these people live longer lives.

From a sense of purpose to strong social connections and family priorities to a primarily plant-based diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, it’s a design for a long, healthy life.

But, as Bütner explains, the arrival of ultra-processed foods, high fat, sugar, and salt, and access to convenient modern technology such as cell phones, has changed the fundamental nature of the population, and life in the Blue Zones has also changed. This is said to be changing. ‘ Lifestyle.

In fact, Japan’s Okinawa, one of the original Blue Zones, can no longer be classified as such.

“Most of the blue zone longevity phenomena will disappear within half a generation,” Buettner says.

“But we know the blueprint and it will survive.”

But it’s no coincidence that people in blue zones not only live the longest, they’re also some of the happiest people in the world.

This is evidence that continuing to get older doesn’t necessarily mean a decline in quality of life, Buettner says.

“I’ve interviewed hundreds of 99-year-olds, and I’ve never met anyone who didn’t want to live to 100,” Buettner says.

“All Blue Zones are in the top 20% of happiest places in the world, and Nicoya is in the top 1%.

“Remember, the same things that help you get to 100 are the same things that create happiness along the way.”