Longevity by Jennifer Cox Have you ever heard of a “blue zone”? Well, you want to go to the blue zones, because these are the areas in the world where they have the longest-living people. Blue zones boast a high rate of centenarians (those who live to 100 and beyond) and, not only do they suffer from far fewer terminal diseases, they also enjoy healthier years later in life. The term “blue zones” was coined by Dan Buettner, an explorer who first published an article on these parts of the world in National Geographic magazine in November 2005. He travelled the world and identified five geographic locations where people statistically live the longest. He further explored the characteristics of these areas in his bookThe Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest. These are the five areas which he defined as the world’s blue zones: BLUE ZONES Longevity & Seventh-day Adventists in Loma Linda, California In Loma Linda, eating healthily is part of the religion and they follow a diet inspired by the Bible (the diet of the Garden of Eden). Their meals rely on beans, nuts, slow-cooked oatmeal, whole wheat bread and real soy milk. They also drink six to eight glasses of water a day. Also, the citizens of Loma Linda are very active, doing a lot of walking and following a strict regimen. Nicoya (Costa Rica) Residents in these communities have the lowest rate of middle-age mortality and the second-highest concentration of male centenarians. Sardinia (Italy) In this city, among the mountain villages, there is a high percentage of men who reach the age of 100. In fact, a village called Seulo in the Barbagia of Seulo holds the record of 20 centenarians from 1996 to 2016. This is where people live the longest. Okinawa (Japan) According to Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, the three leading killers in the Western world (coronary heart disease, stroke and cancer) occur in Okinawans with the lowest frequency in the world. Icaria (Greece) The island has the largest percentage of 90-year-olds on the planet: nearly one out of three people make it to their nineties. Furthermore, Icarians have about 20 per cent lower rates of cancer, 50 per cent lower rates of heart disease and almost no dementia. 40 | www.snowbirds.org
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