If you haven’t heard the term Blue Zone before, Blue Zones refer to areas around the globe where people live longer, healthier lives than anywhere else on the planet. It’s no surprise that these regions are also home to the the lowest levels of chronic disease.
I was curious…
What could Blue Zones teach us about longevity and healthy aging? More importantly, was it possible to take the lessons of Blue Zone longevity and apply them to my own life, here in New York. Below is an excerpt from an article I wrote on Blue Zones for Wonderlust Travel where I explore that very question…
Sardinia, Italy
“ I first heard about Blue Zones, distinct geographic regions where people live much longer and healthier lives than anywhere else on the planet, I was more than intrigued.
The first Blue Zone was discovered in 2000 by demographer Dr. Michel Poulain and Dr. Gianni Pes. While recording the number of centenarians living in Sardinia, Italy, they noticed that Sardinia’s oldest residents were all clustered together in the remote, mountainous area of Barbagia, rather than scattered across the Island. The story goes that Poulain, excited by this finding and what it may tell us about longevity, circled the area on the map in bright blue ink, and called it a Blue Zone.
Shortly after, National Geographic writer Dan Buettner and his team of researchers added four more regions of exceptional longevity to the list, including Okinawa, Japan; Ikaria, Greece; Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica; and the Seventh Day Adventist Community of Loma Linda, California, bringing the total number to five. Although not a geographic region, the Seven Day Adventists of Lomo Linda, California follow a strict faith-based lifestyle, and outlive the rest of Americans by nearly a decade. Clearly, they know something we don’t.”
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