Health
Secrets of longevity from the world's 'blue zones'
The average life expectancy in the U.S. is just over 78 years — but in certain countries and regions, more people make it past 100, seemingly without even trying.
What are the secrets of these pockets of the world — known as “blue zones” — where residents have not only more longevity, but more healthy years?
Dan Buettner, a Florida-based author, explorer and longevity researcher who first coined the term “blue zone,” embarked on a mission to find out.
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“Only about 20% of how long you live is dictated by your genes,” he told Fox News Digital during an on-camera interview.
“The other 80%, we reason we might find among the longest-living populations.” (See the video at the top of this article.)
Dan Buettner, a Florida-based author, explorer and longevity researcher who first coined the term “blue zone,” embarked on a mission to find the secrets of longer-living areas. (Fox News)
For the recent Netflix documentary “Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones,” Buettner visited five destinations — Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Ikaria, Greece; Nicoya, Costa Rica; and Loma Linda, California — to discover why these areas have the highest rates of living centenarians.
“We verified ages and found that in these areas, people were living about 10 years longer at middle age,” he said.
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“It’s because they’re not suffering from the diseases that are plaguing us, like type 2 diabetes. They’re not dying of cardiovascular disease prematurely, or dementia, and they have 40% lower rates of cancer.”
Buettner and his team of demographers and researchers investigated the lifestyle and environmental characteristics in these five areas to determine what people may be doing differently.
‘Healthy choice is easy’
“The big insight we learned from blue zones is that in places where people are actually living longer, it’s not because they try,” Buettner said.
“In America, we tend to pursue health. We try to identify the right diet or exercise program or supplement regimen — but our brains are hardwired for novelty.”
Studies have shown that people who wake up and have a sense of purpose, whether it’s a duty, a passion or an outlet, have greater health outcomes. (iStock)
“We’re constantly bombarded and bamboozled by new health news and people — and in blue zones, they never tried to live a long time.”
The reason for this longevity, according to Buettner, is that they live in environments where the healthy choice is easy.
Nutrition and exercise
One of the characteristics most blue zones share is their walkability, as people walk to work, school, friends’ homes or gardens.
“They’re getting 8,000 to 10,000 steps a day without thinking about it,” Buettner said.
Also, the cheapest and most convenient foods in blue zones are unprocessed.
“The big insight we learned from blue zones is that in places where people are actually living longer, it’s not because they try.”
“People in blue zones also eat healthier, as they consume primarily whole, unprocessed, plant-based foods,” Buettner noted.
The average American eats about 220 pounds of meat a year, which he believes is “too much.”
“I’m not advocating a no-meat diet, but I will tell you, people in blue zones eat about 20 pounds of meat a year, so about once a week as a celebratory food — and they are getting all the nutrients they need.”
One of the characteristics most blue zones share is their walkability, as people walk to work, school, friends’ homes or gardens. (iStock)
People also eat far more fiber in these areas, Buettner found.
“In blue zones, the cheapest and most accessible foods were full fiber,” he said. “They pull them out of their garden … whole grains or beans are the cornerstone of every longevity diet in the world.”
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Fiber is often neglected in the American diet, Buettner said, with only about 5% to 10% of Americans getting enough.
“If you don’t get enough fiber, it often goes to work at the mucous membrane and creates a certain permeability or leaky gut, and that causes all kinds of problems,” he warned.
Passion and purpose
Studies have shown that people who wake up and have a sense of purpose, whether it’s a duty, a passion or an outlet, have greater health outcomes.
“The blue zone purpose almost always includes an altruistic dimension,” Buettner shared.
“There’s almost always doing it for the next generation, or for the community or their church. There’s always some philanthropic dimension to their purpose.”
Power of community
“In blue zones, we see very clearly that people are connecting face to face, probably five to six hours a day,” Buettner said.
People in these areas often live in extended families.
“People in blue zones eat healthier, as they consume primarily whole, unprocessed, plant-based foods.” (iStock)
“Grandma never gets lonely, because she lives upstairs and helps with the garden,” Buettner shared as an example. “She helps cook food and she helps with childcare. And the kids do better because they’re getting better attention. And it’s this virtuous circle.”
In blue zones, people typically live in communities where they care about each other, he added.
“They’re not spending nearly as many stress hormones arguing about things — and there’s more time for laughter when you’re not angry.”
Faith factor
Data shows that people who regularly go to church live anywhere from four to 14 years longer than people who don’t, Buettner noted.
“You can’t measure faith, but you can measure religiosity,” he said. “Scientists simply ask people how often they show up at church, temple or mosque, and then they compare the longevity of the people who show up to those who don’t show up at all.”
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Part of this likely stems from the fact that churchgoers have a built-in community, he said, as loneliness has proven to be “toxic.”
“Religious people are also less likely to get involved in risky behaviors, and they often have a sense of purpose, which is their faith in God,” Buettner added.
Data shows that people who regularly go to church live anywhere from four to 14 years longer than people who don’t, Buettner noted. (iStock)
Those who worship on Sunday may also benefit from having one day a week where they “stop everything.”
“Being human is inherently stressful, and church gives us an hour or maybe a couple of hours where we fully take the focus off of our everyday life and troubles, and we get to sort of elevate to a higher plane and focus on a greater good,” Buettner said.
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The act of prayer itself could also “stack the deck” in favor of longevity and health, he added.
“By the way, people who sing in the choir actually even live longer,” Beuttner said. “So if you want a little extra bump, join the church and sing in the choir.”
Sleep’s role in health
In his visits to blue zones, Buettner found that the residents are usually early to bed, early to rise.
“They have kind of two sleeps, where they’ll go to bed shortly after sunset, and then get up at 3 or 4 a.m. and do some chores, and then go back to sleep until sunrise,” he told Fox News Digital.
Napping is also very common throughout all blue zones.
“And some good research shows that people who take a 20-minute nap five days a week have significantly lower rates of cardiovascular disease and about 30% lower rates of cardiovascular mortality,” Buettner said. “So napping is definitely part of the blue zone approach to longevity.”
“Blue zones give us a very clear set of choices and environmental factors that would help us mindlessly get the years we deserve.”
Overall, he concluded, anyone can benefit from the lessons learned from the blue zones — primarily the importance of keeping people healthy in the first place.
“It’s about shaping their environment so that healthier choices are easier or unavoidable and setting them up for success, so they’re subconsciously making better decisions on a day-to-day basis for years or decades,” Buettner said.
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“Blue zones give us a very clear set of choices and environmental factors that would help us mindlessly get the years we deserve.”
“That’s what works in all the blue zones, and it will indisputably work for you — whether you live in Akron, Ohio, or New York City or Los Angeles.”
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Journalist Katie Couric is sharing a scary medical episode that she experienced on June 27.
In a post on Substack titled “The Day I’ll Never Remember,” she detailed a sudden episode that left her unable to recall the current month, year and president.
“I thought it was 2024. And I believed Joe Biden was president,” she wrote.
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The event occurred while Couric was attending the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado, during which she participated in two public panels — one on AI and one on journalism — both of which she cannot remember at all.
“I have no idea what we talked about, or of what occurred when the panels ended,” she said.
Journalist Katie Couric is sharing a scary medical episode that she experienced on June 27. (Getty Images)
John Molner — Couric’s husband, who was in attendance at the festival and the two panels — also shared his account.
After the event, someone told Molner that Katie wasn’t feeling well. When he reached her, an EMT and a doctor were tending to her. “I could tell something was off,” he wrote. “It could have been altitude sickness, but Katie was definitely not all there.”
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At the hospital, when Couric struggled to recall the year, the president and her grandchildren’s names, doctors began checking for a stroke.
An MRI revealed no signs of stroke, which was a relief, but “Katie’s ‘fog’ became a lot more apparent,” Molner wrote.
John Molner, Couric’s husband, who was in attendance at the festival and the two panels, also shared his account. (Getty Images)
“She repeatedly asked me the same questions: ‘What was I doing before we got to the hospital?’ ‘Why am I at the hospital?’”
Couric was ultimately diagnosed with transient global amnesia, a sudden, temporary episode of memory loss that prevents a person from forming new memories and may also erase some recent memories, according to Mayo Clinic.
“The cause seems to be as mysterious as the brain itself.”
It is not caused by a stroke, seizure or head injury, and it usually resolves completely within 24 hours.
“[It’s] just a very weird neural episode that’s pretty uncommon and, at least in most cases, is a ‘one and done’ experience,” Molner said.
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Couric said she finally began feeling “like herself” again around 9 p.m. and went to sleep at 2 a.m.
As TGA leaves a “permanent gap in memory” for the duration of the episode and for hours beforehand, Couric said that from around noon on that day until at least 7 p.m. will remain a “big, black hole.”
As TGA leaves a “permanent gap in memory” for the duration of the episode and for hours beforehand, Couric said that from around noon on that day until at least 7 p.m. will remain a “big, black hole.” (Getty Images)
Data shows that approximately three to eight people per 100,000 will have an episode of transient global amnesia, with people 50 years of age and older at higher risk.
The specific cause of TGA is not known, but some experts believe it stems from a “temporary dysfunction in the brain’s hippocampus — the area responsible for creating new memories,” Couric shared.
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“Doctors believe this is driven by brief interruptions in blood or oxygen flow, or microscopic spasm in the blood vessels.”
Episodes could potentially be triggered by intense physical exertion, emotional distress, extreme temperature changes or migraines, experts say.
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Approximately 15% of patients will have a recurrence 10 years later.
“Why did this happen to me? Was the altitude an issue? Was I dehydrated? Tired? Stressed? The literature doesn’t seem to indicate that these are contributing factors, but the cause seems to be as mysterious as the brain itself,” Couric wrote.
Anyone who experiences sudden memory loss, confusion, difficulty speaking, weakness, numbness, vision changes, severe headache or other stroke-like symptoms should seek immediate medical attention or call 911, doctors advise. (iStock)
“All I know is that those hours will be forever lost. Someone described it as my brain failing to hit the ‘record button.’”
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“While this was a freaky occurrence, it could have been much more serious. So ultimately, I’m relieved — even though several hours of a Saturday in June will always be missing for me.”
Anyone who experiences sudden memory loss, confusion, difficulty speaking, weakness, numbness, vision changes, severe headache or other stroke-like symptoms should seek immediate medical attention or call 911, doctors advise.
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Older adults identified as “super movers” are about half as likely to develop cognitive impairment than their peers.
That’s according to a recent study led by Stony Brook Medicine in New York, which evaluated the cognitive function of 4,000 adults 80 and over who participated in multiple aging and longevity studies over several years.
Among this group, 6% to 10% were classified as super movers, which means they walk at a much faster pace than others of the same age and gender — at speeds comparable to people three decades younger.
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The super movers were found to have about half the risk of cognitive decline compared to seniors with typical gait speed.
The findings were published in the journal Neurology on June 16.
Older adults identified as “super movers” are about half as likely to develop cognitive impairment than their peers. (iStock)
“The study reinforces that mobility and brain health are closely connected,” lead study author Dr. Joe Verghese, MD, neurologist at Stony Brook Medicine, told Fox News Digital. “This suggests that preserving mobility may be an important marker of healthy brain aging and resilience.”
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The most intriguing finding, according to Verghese, was that super movers maintained cognitive function despite having similar dementia-related brain changes as their peers.
In postmortem brain analysis, there was no difference in dementia-related pathologies between the super movers and the slower walkers, the study stated.
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“This suggests they may possess resilience mechanisms that help preserve brain function even in the presence of age-related changes,” he said. “Understanding these resilience factors could lead to new strategies for promoting healthy brain aging.”
As the study was observational, there were some limitations, and it does not prove that walking faster prevents dementia, the researchers noted.
Super movers were found to have about half the risk of cognitive decline compared to seniors with typical gait speed. (iStock)
“Other factors, such as cardiovascular health, physical fitness or genetics, may also contribute to both faster walking and better cognitive outcomes,” Verghese said.
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This study adds to growing evidence that what’s good for the heart and muscles also benefits the brain, he noted, adding that “staying physically active remains one of the most effective, evidence-based ways to support healthy aging.”
“Walking speed is best viewed as a marker of overall health, not a treatment.”
“The broader message is that physical activity is important at any age,” Verghese said. “Walking is an easy step-up point because you don’t need any special equipment. You can do it inside or outdoors, and you can do it on a regular basis. You can walk with a dog, you can walk with a friend.”
Any activity is beneficial if it’s done regularly and with the right intensity, he added.
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Rather than just trying to walk faster, the neurologist recommends that seniors focus on maintaining mobility through regular physical activity, strength training, balance exercises and good cardiovascular health.
“Walking speed is best viewed as a marker of overall health, not a treatment,” Verghese noted.
Major public health guidelines from the CDC and U.S. Physical Activity Guidelines recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity each week, such as brisk walking.
Major public health guidelines from the CDC and U.S. Physical Activity Guidelines recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity each week, such as brisk walking. (iStock)
This can be achieved by walking 30 minutes a day, five days a week, or about 20 to 25 minutes most days. Another option is to engage in shorter sessions that add up over the day.
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“You have to do it within your health limitations and medical conditions,” Verghese advised. “So if there are any medical concerns, I would get your physician to clear you before starting exercise.” The good thing about walking, he added, is that you can start at a slow pace and then gradually build up to a brisker pace.
“And then adding on strength and balance training, whatever age you are, I think is also important.”
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