5 Longevity Blue Zones

In this newsletter:
- Longevity and Blue Zones
- 9 Pillars of Well-Being
- Holiday gifts I like to give
- Toni Julian - wellness expert

Longevity and Blue Zones

One of the reasons we went to Ogimi on the island of Okinawa (Japan) last month, was because it's one of the Blue Zones. These are places where people live the longest, happiest lives in the world. 

In the past, I've also traveled to other places where there are Blue Zones. My daughter and I traveled to Costa Rica and I took all four of my kids to Greece.

In case you are not familiar, let me tell you about Blue Zones.

What are Blue Zones?
They are regions in the world where people live longer than average. Researchers have studied these regions to find keys to longevity. 

Dr. Gianni Pes of the University of Sassari (Italy) marked a map of Sardinia with blue dots when he found a high concentration of centenarians (people who live to 100 years old). Clusters of blue dots gave birth to the name Blue Zone. Sardinia is a Blue Zone. 

Dan Buettner identified four additional Blue Zones: Okinawa (Japan), Nicoya (Costa Rica), Ikaria (Greece), and Loma Linda (California). Buettner is an explorer, educator, author, producer, public speaker and holds Guinness World Records for distance cycling. He's an impressive guy.

Here is a link to his documentary on Netflix Live to 100 - Secrets of the Blue Zones.

Buettner's work is focused on finding secrets to longevity from the people living in Blue Zones. In the documentary, here are attributes he identifies in each of the Five Blue Zones:

Ogimi, Okinawa (Japan)

1. Medicinal foods - Okinawans consume an array of foods with medicinal properties.
2. Caloric density - The food they eat is nutritionally dense without a lot of calories. Americans on average consume around 3,600 calories per day with low nutritional density. The FDA recommends 2,000 calories per day.
3. Hara hachi bu - This is a practice that says to stop eating when your stomach is 80% full.
4. Balance - People have less furniture, sit on the floor much of the time, are outside in their gardens, and engage in low-intensity physical activity. In Tokyo, I did my best to look comfortable at dinner while sitting on the floor with friends.
5. Moai - This is a committed social circle of friends. They talk, sing, dance together, and pool their money to help friends in times of hardship.
6. Ikigai - This is having a life-long sense of purpose, a mission. It's a Japanese concept that supports spiritual health, happiness, and a long life. There is no word for "retirement" in Japanese.

Here is a picture of a couple in Ogimi with Ayane. The lady was a complete riot. The way she laughed was hilarious, contagious, warm, genuine, and filled with happiness. Her husband just kind of looked that way the whole time, except when we asked about his artwork (his Ikigai) hanging on the walls there. That is when he was beaming with a huge smile.

Sardinia (Italy)
1. Steepness - The longest living people there live in steep villages. Steepness of a village correlates with longevity. And houses have two, three, or four stories.

2. Good carbs - They consume complex carbohydrates that are nutritionally dense. Lots of minestrone soup.

3. Control stress - Their lives are not surrounded by stress factors, unlike Americans. They live simple lives and take naps. I love naps.

4. Care for elders - There are very few nursing homes. Family members help with elder care. There's a reverence for family. Elders are valued, especially for their wisdom. When people in the US go into nursing homes, they lose 2-6 years of life expectancy, according to the documentary. 

Loma Linda (California)
1. Volunteering - This provides a sense of meaning and purpose. The focus is on someone else other than yourself. Volunteers have higher levels of happiness. And volunteering often involves physical activity.

2. Plant-based diet - In line with their Adventist traditions, there's very little meat and a lot of fruit, vegetables, nuts, legumes and whole grains. The documentary says they have better energy levels and lower cholesterol with vegetarian diets.

3. Faith - They observe Sabbath (sunset Friday to sunset Saturday). It's a sanctuary in time when they shut down, rest, and find contentment. This lowers their stress levels. Life expectancy is higher for people who attend spiritual services more than once a week.

4. Right tribe - They surround themselves with people who share their values, whose idea of recreation is gardening or walking.

Ikaria (Greece)
1. Herbal teas - For centuries they lived off the land without natural ports and found a variety of healthy teas from the island.

2. Raw honey - There is a highly developed system of bee farming that provide a lot of healthy raw honey.

3. Partnership - Their partners and spouses are a priority. They nurture their relationships.

4. Wine - They have been making wine the same natural way for generations. This is so reminiscent of the days my Croatian grandad, dad, and uncles made natural wine in Mountain View, CA when I was a kid in the 1960s. 

5. Dancing and laughter - Being in social circles with a lot of laughter, dancing, music, and fun stimulates their happiness. Partying is healthy. 

Nicoya (Costa Rica)
1. Plan de vida - They have a clear sense of purpose that gives them meaning. It's similar to Ikigai in Japan.

2. Use their hands - They cut grass, chop wood, and grind corn. So much of their activities are outdoors, using their hands.

3. Slow down - Working half as much as Americans, they meet with friends, take naps, and spend time with family. And their happy hours are social activities.

4. The three sisters - These are beans, squash, and corn. The "Mesoamerica trifecta" that's been consumed by people here for over 6,000 years. According to the documentary, when properly combined, this diet provides all the amino acids found in animal products without the cholesterol and saturated fat.

Here is the link to the Blue Zones website.

The website provides a "Blue Zone Test" to calculate your current life expectancy and personalized recommendations on how to live longer. If you are interested, go to the website and under the "Learn & Discover" tab, click on the "Live Better, Longer" from the dropdown menu.

Alternatively, click here and scroll down for the Blue Zones Test.

My Blue Zone Test results reveal a Life Expectancy of 90.3 years old and a Potential Life Expectancy of 97.4 years. I have work to do to boost my life expectancy by 7 years.

But I like red meat (for maintaining muscle mass), enjoy a gin martini (mom said gin has medicinal properties...she was serious), and sometimes my exercise is not so gentle (hot yoga can be brutal and I can get carried away with weights in the gym).

9 Pillars of Well-Being

The attributes that bring longevity to people in Blue Zones align with my Nine Pillars of Well-Being.

When I first started writing last year, I put a lot of thought into my own Well-Being. Especially since I've had my share of ups and downs. 

One thing for sure is Well-Being is our own responsibility. No one will take care of my own Well-Being but me. It's either self-help, or no-help. 

I believe if we want sustainable, healthy, long-term Well-Being the only path is to Actively manage our Nine Pillars.

Here is a link to my newsletter 9 Pillars of Well-Being where I go into more detail on the Pillars.

In summary, here are the Nine Pillars: 

1. Find Meaning and Purpose: Purpose = having Passion + having Expertise + having a Need for our work.

2. Cultivate Connections: Reach out to your friends.

3. Financial Security: Simply knowing your assets, liabilities, income and expenses is calming. And it can take courage to stop earning after you've made enough. 

4. Active Learning: Don't retire, be a learner, use your mind in new ways.

5. Meaningful Intimacy: Share your deepest thoughts with those you love or trust.

6. Manage Thoughts and Emotions: Focus on positive thoughts, not negative ones.

7. Exercise: Everyday do something. Exercise doesn't need to be exhausting to be effective.

8. Nutrition: How many grams of Protein, Carbs, Fat are you roughly consuming? Yes, this matters a lot.

9. Rest: A healthy brain needs the right quantity and quality of sleep.

Holiday gifts I like to give

I think the best gift I can give to anyone is knowledge.

In recent years, I have given these books to many family members and friends for Christmas:

2018 – by Dale Carnegie How to Win Friends & Influence People

2019 – by Viktor E. Frankl Man's Search for Meaning (Viktor is my superhero)

2020 – by James Allen As a Man Thinketh

2021 – by Pema Chodron When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times

2022 – I skipped this year. It took a while to get back on track after losing both my parents in 2022. 

2023 - not sure yet, maybe Meditations by Marcus Aurelius.

Toni Julian - Wellness Expert

Meet my California high school friend and classmate, Toni Julian.

Toni has been working in the wellness world for decades. She's an author, podcaster, speaker, and widely known as an Integrative Wellness expert.

She combines science, nutrition expertise, and intuitive insights to help people improve their overall Well-Being. See her books and learn more about Toni here.

She is also the creator of Soul Potential Institute, LLC specializing in education and transformative experiences in wellness, resiliency, and spirituality.

Here is a link to her Humanity Project event in California next month.

I hope the lessons from the Blue Zones help you lengthen the quality and quantity of your years!

Thank you for reading!

Be well,

Peter Pavlina

P.S. Here is a picture of me and the happy lady in Ogimi. She's a beauty!