How long do you want to live for? To 100? To 85? To 64?

Based on your life and health right now, how long do you think you will live for?

Did you know that according to the National Institute on Aging, the number one question with the highest predictability of life expectancy is the answer to how long you think you will live for?

That’s great news, right? If you think you’ll live to 100, then you probably will.

Do you want to know what the second question that best predicts life expectancy is?

It’s the answer to how many fruits and vegetables you eat on a daily basis. Seriously. By knowing the answer to this question, researchers can deduce how healthy the rest of your life is. Kind of makes you want to go nosh on an apple and some carrots, doesn’t it?

There are many life expectancy calculators online that will help you to determine what age you will likely live to (apparently I’m going to live to 103), but if you want some help right now, I’ve got 9 things for you to consider. It all comes down to Blue Zones.

Blue Zones are places where people live longer, better lives. Period (seriously, they put us to shame). They were first brought to our attention by National Geographic correspondent, Dan Buettner, who was on a quest to find the longest living cultures on the planet. What ensued was an exploration of 5 different geographic locations across the globe that have become known as Blue Zones. They are:

1. Sardinia, Italy
2. Okinawa, Japan
3. Loma Linda, California
4. Nicoya, Costa Rica
5. Ikaria, Greece

In those locations, the population not only has the highest percentage of centenarians in the world (AKA people who live to and beyond 100 years old), but they also have the highest instance of disability-free living up to the day they die. We’re talking limited to no traces of dementia, heart disease, or other ailments that many of us in North America have to suffer through for the last few years of our lives. In fact, according to Buettner, in America, we suffer about 3 years of morbidity (aka the presence of disease), and spend about 95% of our healthcare dollars during those last 3 years of our lives.

By contrast, in Blue Zones, the morbidity rates are no more than a year.

The research is fascinating, and I highly recommend you take a look at the website to learn more. But in the interest of time, I’ve summed up the 9 factors that Buettner identifies in what makes these Blue Zone populations thrive well until their 90s and 100s. According to Buettner, If you can adopt any 6 of these habits, you can add 5-6 years to your life.

1. They move naturally.

These people do not exercise the way we do here in North America. Bootcamps. HIIT workouts. Those kinds of concepts are foreign to them. What they do is move naturally – and frequently – throughout the day. They may be on their feet cooking all day, tending to their gardens, walking as a social event, or like many of the centenarians in Sardinia, they may be Shepherds who spend their days walking in fields.

2. They know their purpose.

Did you know that if you can articulate your purpose, your life expectancy is about 8 years longer than if you don’t know what it is?

In the Blue Zones, these people know their sense of purpose. And it’s not complicated. For most of them, it’s just to love and to spread love. That’s it. And they carry it out every day. In this way, they feel fulfilled each and every moment of their days, never worrying about if they are enough, or if they did enough.

Additionally, there is no word for retirement in these cultures. It’s just unheard of. To them, life is meant to be lived, and since they love their “work,” it doesn’t feel like work at all, so why would they ever stop?

3. They lead stress-free lives.

These people have daily sacred rituals that help to manage their stress levels. They pray. They meditate. They take naps, which incidentally is associated with a 35% decrease in heart attacks! That’s reason enough for me to take a nap today! How about you?

4. When it comes to food, they follow the 80% rule: they only eat until they are 80% full.

Before the members of these cultures eat, they may say a little prayer that reminds them to only eat until they are 80% full, allowing their digestive systems the space to process the food they eat. In this way, they eat to live, rather than live to eat. And they enjoy every bite, mindfully. To ensure their success in following the 80% rule, most of these cultures tend to plate their food at the counter rather than eating family style with the food displayed on the table in front of them. This practice alone causes them to eat 20-30% less calories than if they left the food on the table.

Finally, where their eating habits are concerned, because they are keenly attuned to the energy needs of their bodies throughout the day, they eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a popper.

5. They eat mostly plant based.

These people tend to only eat meat 5 times a month, and when they do, the portion is no bigger than the size of a deck of cards. They also eat a lot of nuts and beans. In fact, they eat 5-7 times more beans that we do. And they eat at least a handful of nuts every day, which is associated with living 2-3 years longer than people who don’t eat nuts at all.

6. They drink a little bit among friends.

We’re not talking binge drinking here. And we’re not talking about drowning our sorrows in a bottle vodka. These people drink to be merry. They drink with their friends and families in social settings, and they don’t drink too much. A few glasses a day is enough.

7. They belong to a faith.

Did you know that the mere act of belonging to some kind of faith equates to an additional 4 to 14 years of life expectancy? Why? Because the sense of community, of belonging to something greater than yourself, is a huge destresser. It literally lifts the weight of the world off their shoulders.

8. They put their families first.

Unfortunately, our country’s nursing homes are filled with our loved ones. We either don’t have the time or the space to take care of them when they can no longer take care of themselves.

In Blue Zones, the idea of a nursing home is insulting. In fact, in Sardinia, rather than celebrating youth, they actually celebrate – and even worship – aging. There’s even something called the Grandmother effect, whereby children who live near an aging grandparent have lower rates of disease and mortality. In other Blue Zones, children actually fight over who will get to house their aging parents when they can no longer take care of themselves.

And the best part? When you put your family first, you’re never lonely. It’s like a built in social network. And interestingly, research shows that loneliness is as bad as a smoking habit when it comes to life expectancy. In fact, if you are lonely (in other words, if you have 3 or less close friends), your life expectancy is about 8 years less than if you have a good social network around you.

9. They belong to the right tribe.

Following suit on the loneliness and social network front, it turns out that who you hang out with is one of the biggest determining factors in your health. Specifically, if your 3 best friends are obese or overweight, there is a 150% better chance that you will also be obese or overweight. The same is true for happiness and loneliness. In this way, being healthy is as contagious as catching the flu or a cold. That’s pretty cool!

Now, this isn’t to say that you should fire your friends if they are not up to par! But it does open up a conversation about surrounding yourself with people who you most want to be like. And if your current group of close friends are not as healthy as you would like to be, don’t fire them: inspire them! Be the ring leader and try to get them to follow suit. It will literally add years to your life.

 

Now that you know the 9 factors that keep people in these Blue Zones healthy and thriving well into their 100s, it’s time to take stock of your own life.

Closely examine your diet, your friends, your tribe, your faith, your level of physical activity, your ability to manage stress. What needs to change? What 6 areas do you want to focus on in order to increase your life expectancy?

And perhaps more importantly: how can I help?

Because if you need help with any of these things, I am here. This is what I’m trained to do. I can help you examine your life, and help to formulate a plan that will easily fit into it, with the goal of adding not only years to your life, but also, life to your years.

And if not me, then pick somebody else to help you with this. Don’t let your years waste away. Live them with vitality and energy, and keep your spunk well into your 100th year on this planet.

The power is at your fingertips. It’s up to you to decide what to do with it.

Love, love, love,
Lauren
xxx

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Photo credit: Flickr/VinothChandar