Last Updated 1 year by Lukas
Have you ever wondered if there is a way to live longer? Are there things we can do to extend our lives? Are there people who have done it? And can we do the same? If you are interested in these questions, or if you simply want to do a little more for your health. And be there for your loved ones for a long time to come. Then you are reading the right article. Together we are going to travel around the so-called blue zones, where people generally live longer than the expected life expectancy for a given area.
Introduction
There are 5 known places in the world where people live long and healthy lives. They are: “Ikaria in Greece, Okinawa in Japan, Sardinia in Italy, Loma Linda in California (USA) and the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica”. A quick look at the places shows that there are more and less prosperous regions. This means that the answer to the question is not as simple as better health care. It’s more about what the people who live in these places do and don’t do.
Through many studies of blue zones, we can confirm that it’s about how people behave and the environment they live in. Unfortunately, when foreign influence came to Okinawa in Japan and old ways and customs were replaced, life expectancy decreased. Let’s learn together what behaviours helped people in blue zones live longer and healthier lives.
Physical activity
Walking, gardening, dancing…
People in blue zones tend to spend time walking, gardening, doing martial arts, dancing… They do light to moderate activities throughout the day. These are all natural forms of exercise and because they do them for longer, they are able to burn many more calories than, say, an hour in a gym.
Natural movement and to have fun
Many of the activities they do are also fun. This helps people to feel good and to do the activity for longer without feeling tired. Such movement is natural for the body and forces it to adapt and improve. It also protects muscle mass and core muscles, which are important for healthy posture and stability. If we have more muscle mass as we get older, it’s very good for our health.
Mental activity
To understand importance of relaxation
It doesn’t matter how strong we are if we are under chronic stress. It’s just a matter of time, and one day we will break. Some of us will break sooner and some of us will break later, but in the end we will all break if we do not relax and take care of ourselves.
The residents of the blue zone are aware of this and take time to relax and rejuvenate. They generally work slowly and take their time to do the job properly. But they still understand that there is much more work in the world than we can do in our lives. So they set clear priorities, work when it’s time to work and relax when it’s time to relax.
To be clear about our life purpose
We humans are aimless and restless without a purpose. Our brains force us to believe that there is something that only we can achieve. We need to feel valued, important and needed to thrive in life. In blue zones, people are clear about their purpose in life. And their purpose is usually beneficial to others, making it a much stronger motivator.
Relationships
To be part of the right group
Our close friends, our family, shape us. It’s very important to be part of the right group whose members do things that are beneficial to health and wealth. If we are surrounded by such people, we will imitate their behaviour and we are likely to become healthier and wealthier.
To have good relationships with friends and family
When we have good relationships with our family or friends. We feel secure and motivated to try new things, knowing that there will be support if we need it. It also helps us to reduce stress levels and prevent chronic stress by discussing it with our loved ones.
To belong and feel valued
In blue zones we find groups of people who support each other, who work together to help other people. This in itself supports a natural sense of belonging and being valued. When we feel good, our bodies are aware of it and they are naturally more resilient, so we live longer.
Food
To eat rather less than more
Our bodies need time to repair and rejuvenate. When we have a constant stream of food going through our digestive system. It’s very difficult for this part of the body to repair itself because it’s primarily occupied with digesting new food. On the other hand, if we start with popular time-restricted eating patterns such as 8 hours eating, 16 hours fasting. Our bodies have time to repair and rejuvenate and, as a bonus, we keep our weight under control.
More plant based food and less meat
Vegetables are extremely important and they feed our friendly bacteria in the gut by providing fibre. And since most of our immune system is actually in the gut, we want to keep those bacteria as happy and joyful as possible. It’s also possible that food processing plays a crucial role here, where meat is heavily processed but many vegetables are not.
Red wine consumption with meal or friends
This alcoholic beverage in a reasonable dose of 1 glass can be very beneficial to us. It contains resveratrol and other beneficial compounds. They can support the process of DNA regeneration in our cells, protecting us from errors in their division, which can have dangerous consequences for us.
Conclusions
As we can see, we were probably all already aware of all these ‘correct’ behaviours. If this is so, how is it possible that we are not all 100% healthy and live to be 100 years old? It’s because our bodies can’t adapt at the same rate as the technology that makes our lives easier. In other words, we don’t have to wash our clothes because we have washing machines, we don’t have to go to the shops because we can order things from home…
I think we have all got the point. It’s difficult to repeat all these things because we’re busy, we don’t have time, it’s too nice to just sit or lie on the sofa. And when we go to the gym, we often perceive it as something we have to do, but we don’t really enjoy it.
The other common problem is repetition. It’s not enough to eat healthy once a month or go to the gym twice a month for an hour. People in blue zones live very long because they do the above activities regularly throughout their lives. So it’s clear that it has to be fun, or there has to be a very strong motivator to offset the hardship.
What about you, do you want to live longer?
