A propensity to live long and to live well may not just be a matter of genes and your attempts to eat more sprouted lentils and wheatgrass. Rather, according to researcher Daniel Buettner, it may have something to do with regular healthy practices derived from the healthy communities in which one lives. In The Blue Zones; Nine Lessons for Living Longer (National Geographic, 2012), Buettner reveals the secrets to five long-living communities around the world. He begins with a story to illustrate the power of these life-giving communities.
After World War II, Stamatis Moraitis, a man from the Greek island of Ikaria, seeks medical help in the States to repair a hand mangled from a munition accident. He ends up staying, eventually finding work as a house painter. At the age of 60, after a lifetime of smoking and breathing paint fumes, he is diagnosed with lung cancer and given six months to live. He decides to return to his homeland, so he can spend his final days breathing thyme-scented air and be buried in the family plot.
Life during Stamatis’s final “assigned” days suited him. He is doted upon by his wife and sister, and, when news of his homecoming gets out, the entire village. Neighbour visits are often accompanied by a bottle of locally produced red wine. The six months come and go and, rather than weakening, his body steadily gains energy. He begins to make weekly trips to his old church, walking a kilometre up a hillside and back, and growing his own vegetables. Encouraged by the success of his garden (and the fact that he is still around to harvest it!), he plunges into viniculture, reviving the family vineyard to where it was, soon producing more than 1,500 litres a year. Evenings are spent with friends, at home, or at the local taverna, playing a few games of dominoes. He doesn’t die as expected; he thwarts cancer and thrives for more than 40 years beyond his diagnosis.
Finding Stamatis cancer-free at 100, and noting that his neighbours were likewise as robust, led Buettner to add Ikaria to the “Blue Zones” in the world. Along with the Barbagia region in Sardinia, the Okinawa archipelago in Japan, the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica, and 7th Day Adventists living in Loma Linda, California, remote Ikaria is a place where people are three times more likely to live into their 90s, and experience 50 per cent less cancer, cardiovascular disease, depression, dementia and osteoporosis.
Each area has its own idiosyncratic elixir: for the Sardinians, it is fava beans and the flavonoid-rich Cannonau wine; for the Ikarians, an afternoon nap, diuretic herbal teas and a spoonful of honey a day; for the Okinawans, mugwort, fermented tofu and moai (a scheduled daily meeting of one’s “inner circle”); for the Costa Ricans, hard water and fresh fruit; for the Loma Lindans, one unscheduled day of the week – the Sabbath. But the people in all these communities shared the following life-sustaining practices:
- They eat in moderation (like the Okinawans who follow the principle of hara hachi bu; eating until they are 80 per cent full, which amounts to about 2,000 calories a day). Their diet is primarily plant-based and sourced fresh from their own gardens. They eat very little processed food, sugar/salty snacks, and meat is saved for special occasions.
- They are active, integrating low-intensity “exercise” in their daily regime; prepping meals and doing chores around their home, walking to shops, church or to see friends and working manually in their gardens on a regular basis.
- They are living independently or in the home of one of their daughters.
- They treat themselves to a happy hour or linger over dinner with a glass of good red wine.
- They are social, making family, friends, and community connectedness a priority.
- They have a plan de vida or ikigai (a reason to get up in the morning). Feeling involved in meaningful, purposeful work gives them a sense of feeling needed.
- They are prone to sunny, likeable dispositions. Maintaining a positive outlook attracts not only years to your life but also a caring circle of people.
- Like Raffael, a 107-year-old from the Sardinia Blue Zone, who says, “Life is short, don’t run so fast you miss it,” they create “sanctuaries in time” where they slow down and smell the roses.
- They have faith, often belonging to an established church. Being part of a strong religious community fosters healthful behaviours, a higher sense of self-worth and a supportive social network.
Given that Buettner’s study was precipitated by scientific studies that suggest only 25 per cent of how long we live is dictated by genes, the other 75 per cent determined by our lifestyle and everyday choices, it behoves us to consider the impact healthy practices make on the continued vibrancy of our lives. The way we “break bread together,” interact with others, shed stress, heal ourselves, avoid disease and view our world can determine the quality and longevity of our lives.
Pass the mugwort, please, and Yamas (to your health)!
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