Secrets of Youth
Whether these are the secrets of youth, or rather the secrets of remaining youthful, healthy and fit for the longest time possible, it is always interesting to see mainstream media picking up the issue.
Thanks to recent the publication of, and publicity surrounding, the book “Blue Zones” by Dan Buettner, the big daily news programs in the US have featured this report more than once in the last couple of days.
The whole issue of so-called ‘blue zones’ (a term coined by Buettner) has gained a tide of interest in recent times - these being the particular and rare spots around the world where longevity seems the norm. Such places include Okinawa in Japan, and other small enclaves in Sardinia, and even California (Loma Linda) - but the focus of the report is a small village, Hoja Ancha, in the interior of Costa Rica, near to Nicoya:
(click link to view video)
Dan Buetnner’s ‘Blue Zones’ project is fully explained at the associated website: http://www.bluezones.com/
But if you are short of time (!) to visit the links now, then the summary below points out the key factors that appear to help people to lead longer, healthy, fulfilling lives:
1) Lifestyle & environment are judged to be more important than genetics or genetic predispoition. There CAN be a link to likelihood of living longer that ‘resides’ in your genetic make-up but it is very possible to ‘undermine’ this through poor lifestyle habits and suffering environmental damage. Perhaps more importantly though, for those whose hereditary indicators may seem not to be so ‘naturally predisposed’ to provide a longer life, is that if you adopt a better lifestyle and create the right environment these things will help to ensure a longer healthier lifetime - DESPITE your genes:
2) Lifelong work is also a factor in keeping youthful and healthy. But not arduous intense work that destroys the body’s natural health. Simple, active working lifestyle at a moderate pace but - every day - seems to be the key. So it is NOT a matter of hammering the body with intense ‘gym based workouts’ or running punishing marathons, or pushing your body to its limit…it is about gentler, but regular activity. Making your heart work a little every day, keeping joints supple and mobile, keeping your mind alert, interested and involved…rather than subsiding into an existence of ‘pseudo-living’ or ‘virtual-life’, stuck aimlessly in front of a TV or computer game!
3) Another typical lifestyle choice amongst long-lived ‘blue zone’ inhabitants was noted to be NOT smoking. It may seems to be so a obvious healthier lifestyle choice, now, that we are so acutely aware of the plethora of toxins that tobacco smoke pollutes the body with. Smoking realted health problems kill millions in developed and developing countries every year. The cost burden of treating people with diseaseborne out of smoking is insidious. But still tobacco products are a major industry (even though the tide may be turning, thanks to the kind of court awards currently being handed down to the remaining family of taobacco-related cancer victims)…The simple message is - if you want to live longer, don’t smoke and avoid those who do (as they are polluting YOUR atmosphere and forcing you to breathe second-hand toxic fumes to the potential detriment of your health).
4) The importance of diet is also apparently paramount: In Hoja Ancha the local’s diet is largely plant based. Whereas in Okinawa, Japan, the diet is rich in fish. There are several messages here including the fact that we would best re-think our addiction to red meats adulterated with such things as antibiotics and growth promoting chemicals and fad-diet, and processed foods in general. Perhaps most pertinent is that in these ‘Blue Zones’, food is FRESH and grown and/or caught locally. Diets in areas where life is long and healthy are not based on processed foods stuffed full of preservatives, colors, flavors and other chemicals…it is uncomplicated, natural and freshly prepared every day.
5) Small meals are also the ‘order of the day’ for folks who live to be centenarians in the longevity hotspots. You will see in the video above that none of the remarkable folk who are featured carries any substantial extra weight! They are lean and wiry! Western diets and eating habits groom people to be consumers of large, calorie dense, ultimately-health threatening portions. Digesting food is one of the most demanding jobs we put the body through every day - so the bigger pile of complex and processed foods we eat the more rapidly we age our bodies. Small meals of freshly prepared food is the habit that those who live longer adopt.
6) In the developed countries social and even family bonds break down so easily these days, leaving many old folk to while away their declining years in solitude and with limited social interaction. But in the Blue Zones it is a distinct and important factor, in perepetuating youthfulness and interest in life, that social ties remain strong.
7) We live in an era when churches are closing every week in the UK for example, and religion seems to have become either an anachronism for a good number of people, or a questionably ‘fundanmentalist passion’ for too many others. But in the Blue Zones it does seem that having a religious focus is a regular factor in long-lived lifestyles. This is one point are that needs digging into a little, because perhaps a better word than ‘religion’, is ’spirituality’. In the Western world there are currently many ’seekers’ looking for something to invest their faith in, or for something that give more ‘meaning’ to life. It cannot be denied that developing our spiritual selves is an often overlooked but important aspect of having a fulfilling life. This chimes well with…
8 ) Happiness and laughter is also acknowledged as something common to the long-lived subjects of the “Blue Zone” study. It is noted that the elderly folks of Hoja Ancha laugh easily and frequently and that hey have a naturally happy disposition. Other studies have also confirmed that happy people appear to live up to 7 years longer than miserable or ‘grumpy’ people. It should be mentioned that whilst none of the happy, healthly seniors in the video above seem to be ‘destitute’ they all obviously have simple, and meagre households - so happiness, as we all should know, is not generated by wealth and possessions…it is a state of mind.
9) Although ennuciated by the presenters as important, the issue of ‘healthcare’ may have been put into the video report more to ‘echo’ current popular issues within the US political arena and associated media. Whilst access to healthcare must be available when real need arises, what is particularly motable about the characters featured in the report on Hoja Ancha is the fact that in lives ranging from nearly 90 years to over 104 years, so far none of these people have had major health challenges or need to be a hospitalized. The hidden benefit of having a healthy lifestyle and environment is that healthcare demands would be VASTLY cut as people remain much healthier for longer. This would slice billions or the annual health expenditure in countries like the US and UK, and bring into question the need for the vastly expensive (and questionable) research programs into ‘the causes of and cures for’ all sorts of ‘modern lifestyle diseases’ that are burgeoning in the developed West. For keeping the body working to its best natural ability ALSO forestalls major health challenges. This is no surprise, yet we are beset, befuddled and misled by the tirade of media and marketing telling us of the need for more research into more pills and potions to ‘treat’ illnesses, rather than focusing on the need for grass-root lifestyle change!
10) Other Environmental factors that are acknowledged as ‘common’ to ‘blue zones’ are - clean air and mineral rich water! Two resourcse that are not to be underestimated. In the kind of city life that many people live in the developed world, there is the constant problem of exposure to airborne pollutants and toxins. Our lungs are the portal to our bodies through which life sustaining oxygen flows. Oxygen that is critical to healthy body functions. Yet we carelessly assault our lungs every day by breathing-in an assortment of fumes and chemicals and wonder why our health begins to fail. Oxygen is critical to maintaining a healthy alkaline balance in the body as are the typical minerals that can be obtained through the minimally polluted and natural water sources that those who live in ‘blue zones’ typically consume. For water is also the key to life, and yet in the developed world we commit two cardinal sins - (a) We do not keep well enough hydrated and (b) the water we drink is increasingly contaminated with toxic treatment chemicals such as chlorine and (in some places) flouride, and other unremoved residues from so many things ranging from agro-chemicals, cleaning and personal care products, and the plasticisers from containers and packaging so prevalent in our modern daily lives (to name just a few).
In conclusion - it must be said that there are really no surprises here.
Long life appears to be a combination of environmental and lifestyle factors that promote wellness in both BODY and MIND.
Given fresh air to breathe; natural, mineral-rich water to drink; freshly prepared food from your own garden; an active daily life; friends and/or family close by and in regular contact; a happy disposition enhanced by having a life filled with positive spiritual values…and you will likely live a long fulfilling and worthwhile life…QED
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Aerial View of Hoja Ancha - 6 miles South of Nicoya, Costa Rica - a Blue Zone
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Map of central Costa Rica