Blue Zones revisited: How to live to 100
Many years ago, I was inspired to live to 100 after reading Blue Zones by Dan Buettner, who with a team of researchers studied what the longest living humans have in common.
According to the highest populations of centenarians (100 and older) in the world, this is what the researchers found, ordered from most in common to least:
- Long-lasting humans have families, don’t smoke, eat plant-heavy diets (beans, lentils, peas, etc), are physically active, and social.
- They believe in God, eat whole grains, are culturally isolated, don’t drink alcohol, empower women, garden, and get lots of sunshine.
- Lastly, they eat a handful of nuts everyday, aren’t in a hurry, and occasionally drink a glass wine (although that’s recently been disputed).
Ever since I first read Blue Zones, I’ve adopted most of the above and feel great. That’s no guarantee I’ll live to 100. But I’d do it anyways since I feel better now than when I didn’t do the above.