Dan Buettner traveled to four locales — Sardinia; Okinawa; Costa Rica; and Loma Linda, California, USA — where the number of centenarians vastly exceeds the statistical average. He calls these four locales — and now a fifth, the Greek island of Ikaría in the Aegean Sea — Blue Zones and argues that the people in these zones share nine common practices that contribute to their long lives. The Power Nine:
- Move: Find ways to stay active
- Plan de Vida: Discover your purpose in life
- Downshift: Take a break
- 80% Rule: Don’t overheat
- Plant Power: Choose greens
- Red Wine: A glass a day
- Belong: Stay social
- Beliefs: Get ritualistic
- Your Tribe: Family Matters
I’m not sure that these qualify as nine separate points. Many of them fall under the umbrella of stay active, but not too active.
His advice to get ritualistic comes from what he observed in Loma Linda, California — amongst the Seventh Day Adventists:
Ellen White is the primary architect of the Adventist religion, and she was way ahead of her time with her ideas. She ritualized at least one period of the week where you de-stress and do community building. You have lunch on Saturday with your family and friends. And she ritualized physical activity. She actually called for nature walks. Look at what they do on Saturday — they stop everything; they focus on their god; they cut the stress out of what they need to do; they all go to luncheons with really good friends, and then they’re off on the nature walk. And the payoff is six extra years of life for an Adventist female and nearly ten extra years for an Adventist male.
The Adventists do much more than visit friends on the Sabbath and then go on a walk. (They consider Saturday the Sabbath by the way.) Health is a major focus of their religion. They eat a vegetarian diet and keep kosher, they avoid smoking and drinking, etc. So they do follow some of the Power Nine and break with at least one.