Living the Blue Zone Way
In an earlier blog post I had mentioned that healthspan is more important than lifespan. However, if we want to set our sights on a long healthspan that also translates to a long lifespan, we can learn from the people of the Barbagia region in Sardinia, Okinawa in Japan, Loma Linda in California, the Nicoya peninsula in Costa Rica, and Ikaria in Greece. Demographers refer to these areas as Blue Zones. These populations not only manage to avoid many of the debilitating diseases afflicting people in other parts of the world, they also boast a significantly higher percentage of people living to the age of one hundred or beyond.
Dr. Gianni Pes, the scientist who first researched the Blue Zones, was of the opinion that environment and lifestyle might be more important than genetics to explain the longevity of certain people.
Let’s now start looking at some of the changes you can incorporate into your daily lives to create your own personal Blue Zone. Don’t try doing them all at once as that might overwhelm you and set you up for failure. Start with the ones that you feel most comfortable with and gradually introduce more as you see a pattern of success emerging.
● Move. Engage in regular, low intensity physical activity everyday. Male centenarians in Sardinia were shepherds most of their lives hiking many miles everyday. Okinawans grow their own food, gardening many hours each day. An ideal routine should have a combination of aerobic, balancing and muscle strengthening activities. However, if you don’t enjoy a structured, formal way of being active, try and adopt an active lifestyle like walking to the store instead of driving, taking the stairs instead of the elevator or even planting your own garden. Gardening in particular requires a full range of low intensity motions and is also a great stress buster. The added bonus of course is the joy of harvesting your own produce!
● Moderate intake of calories. The Okinawan elders follow the Confucian inspired way of eating - hara hachi bu - a reminder to stop eating when their stomachs are three fourths full. This simple but powerful practice leads to caloric restriction which has been shown to improve heart health in humans. The benefits of cutting calories apart from weight loss are reduced cellular damage from free radicals, slower aging and longer lifespan. Losing even 10 percent of your body weight helps to lower blood pressure and cholesterol, which reduces the risk of heart disease. Some of the strategies that you can follow to reduce caloric intake are portion control (using smaller plates to eat) , eating more slowly (the stomach needs about 20 minutes to communicate to the brain when to stop eating), mindful eating (people who watch television while eating are more likely to eat foods high in sugar and fat) and serve and store. People who serve themselves and then put away the food before taking their plates back to the table are likely to eat less than when they take smaller amounts and keep going back for more.
● Plant based diet. Avoid processed foods and limit your intake of meat. Most centenarians in Nicoya, Sardinia and Okinawa never had the chance to develop the taste for processed foods and except on rare occasions did not have access to meat. Beans, whole grains, nuts, and garden vegetables are the mainstay of the longevity diet. Aim to eat at least four to six portions of vegetables and fruits daily. Most vegetables provide the added perk of being filling yet being low in calories.
● Drink alcohol in moderation. Epidemiological studies have shown that drinking in moderation (one drink per day for women and two for men) is associated with lower risks of heart disease, reducing stress and the damaging effects of chronic inflammation. However, overdoing it can negate any health benefits you might enjoy as alcohol use has been shown to increase the risk of diseases like breast cancer for example. So like the Okinawans who drink a daily glass of sake with friends or the Sardinians who drink red wine everyday, treat yourself to a glass of red wine and make an occasion out of it by drinking it with friends or your partner but not alone.
● Have a sense of purpose. When people have a clear goal in life, it may act as a buffer against stress and help reduce their chances of suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis or stroke. This sense of purpose need not be anything grand. It can be even something as simple as seeing that your children or grandchildren grow up well. Okinawans call it ikigai, and Nicoyans call it plan de vida. A goal can also come from a job, a hobby or even a new activity like learning a musical instrument. Doing something complex and novel is good for the brain and has been associated with decreased cognitive decline.
● Make family a priority. The most successful centenarians put their family first. There is a deep sense of familial duty, ritual and an emphasis on togetherness. The Okinawans' sense of family is so ingrained that older Okinawans begin each day by honouring their ancestors' memories. This deep rooted sense of togetherness forms strong bonds which make the younger generation readily welcome the older generations to come and live with them when they are unable to care for themselves. Elders who live with their children are less susceptible to disease, eat healthier foods, have lower levels of stress and much lower incidence of serious accidents. All these factors greatly contribute to longevity. In order to build strong familial ties, always prioritise your family by investing time and energy in your children, your spouse and your parents. Establish a tradition for a family vacation and make it a point to celebrate a few special occasions purposefully.
● Engage in spiritual life. All the centenarians in the Blue Zones have some form of spiritual anchor. The Sardinians and Nicoyans are mostly catholic, the Ikarians have been Greek Orthodox and the Loma Linda centenarians are Seventh-day Adventists. People who have a strong sense of faith have been shown to have lower rates of cardiovascular disease, stress, depression and suicide. They are also less likely to engage in risky behaviours as most faith based worship has prescriptive codes of behaviour . The act of going for a religious service also instills a strong sense of belonging to a community. If subscribing to a specific faith doesn’t apply to you, you may want to explore a belief that is not very dogmatic.
● Socialize. Higher social connectedness has been linked to longevity. Sardinians meet their friends over a drink every evening and Okinawans have moais where groups of people with common interests meet. Lisa Berkman, director of the Harvard Centre for Population and Development Studies, has investigated how marital status, ties with friends and relatives, and level of volunteerism and club memberships impact how well older people age. Over a period of nine years she observed that those with the most social ties lived longest. (L.F Berkman et al. Am J Epidemiol.1979 Feb). In fact one of the reasons women live longer than men is because they have better and stronger support systems than men and are more helpful and engaged with one another. Similarly, affable seniors are likely to have stronger social ties which might explain why they live fuller lives. Building a strong social foundation requires time and effort but it is something well worth committing to as it will add many meaningful years to your life.
Aging is a complex process but ultimately our diet and lifestyle choices determine how long and well we live. While many of our body’s genes begin to deteriorate once we hit 40, “Science shows we aren’t at the mercy of Genetics,” says longevity expert and pharmacist Farid Wassef, author of Breaking the Age Barrier.
Good habits are the cornerstone of a long and healthy life. Geriatric specialists (Hodes, R.J.,Longoria, et al. (2008).Healthy Aging: Lessons from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging.) estimate that our longevity genes (the genes that we have inherited from our parents and grandparents) only account for how long you live by less than 33%, when compared to other factors. The rest is up to us.
If you would like to learn how simple changes in Lifestyle, Exercise, Attitude and Nutrition can help you live the Blue Zone way, reach out to me by filling out the contact form at www.rimabhealth.com.
