Blue Zones + How to Zone In On Happiness Through Community
Blue zones are places on the planet where people live longer when compared to the general population. Who doesn’t want to live a little longer?
In a sense, blue zones are areas of the world finely tuned to human habitability where people tend to live to the ripe age of 100 or more! These locations create environments with better diet trends, communities, and climates.
But, you can learn from these zones and apply their style of living in your own neighborhood, even if it’s not a blue zone. The entire idea behind blue zones is that our environments (and what we allow into them too) beneficially or negatively impact our lifespan.
What are blue zones?
The entire concept of blue zones is the result of demographic studies done by Gianni Pres, and Michel Poulain, and later expanded upon by Dan Duettner, a National Geographic fellow. Their research helped to show how diet, social connections, and general lifestyle factors produced “blue zones” where people live longer.
The five official blue zones in the world
Okinawa, Japan,
Loma Linda, California
Ikaria, Greece
Nicoya, Costa Rica
Sardinia, Italy
Factors of a blue zone
1. A strong sense of community.
One of the most important factors that blue zones share is that the people there tend to emphasize the importance of social life, or, have plenty of social connections. Humans are, after all, social creatures.
If you think of a suburb in a typical American housing development, the homes are built for privacy. With your own garage and a fully-fenced yard, it’s often that you don’t ever even see your very own neighbors.
It’s no surprise, then, to find that kids and adults alike are staying at home, spending a lot of time online, and with depression and anxiety continuing to rise.
Blue zones in the world counteract this trend, because they’re built in one way or another, to have people around you that you consistently interact with. (Intrigued by this? You can learn about community living or co-housing here.)
2. Lifestyle
All of the blue zones happen to be in areas that are walkable, or otherwise commutable without a car. Italian food may not be the healthiest, but if you’re walking to work, to friends, or to the restaurant, you’re not looking too shabby either. Physical activity has proven again and again to be absolutely huge when it comes to physical and mental health.
3. Climate.
So many of the blue zones share clean air! And many of that happen to be oceanside. There just might be something about that sea breeze.
4. Diet
Blue zone diets are typically more plant-based, less processed, and less sugary than many of the diets that people enjoy nowadays. (Think Mediterranean.)
I want to move to a blue zone, but I can't…
Simply visiting a blue zone won’t increase your lifespan. You have to live there, or try to incorporate aspects of their lifestyles in your own area. Using the lessons that blue zones teach us can have a tremendous effect on the quality of our lives, despite our geographical location.
Which, by the way, there are some communities being built in the US to create a blue zone, maybe even in your own backyard. Learn more here.
Creating your own blue zone
Living a longer, healthier life means physical activity, a healthy diet, and working on your social connections. Easier said than done, yes, but it can be made a reality.
Be easy on yourself: go to the gym with a friend, or join a club or recreational sport. You can check off the physical activity and social connectivity boxes with one stroke that way.
Blues zones are really the envy of the world. Live longer, happier lives, and usually in a beautiful area. But blue zones can teach us how to live a better life, even outside of one.