The term became famous from a book describing where the longest regions of the world are. What do they have in common and those places where people can live over 100 years?

 

Apparently, the secret to a longest life is hidden in five scattered regions in the world: Okinawa, Japan; Loma Linda, California; Sardinia, Italy; Ikaria, Greece and Nicoya, in Costa Rica.

 

A resident of Costa Rica at age 60 has twice the chance of reaching age 90 a man of USA, France and Japan. There, life expectancy at birth is 78 years, but there are almost 10 thousand Costa Ricans who have passed 90 years and over 400 have served more than 100 years.

 

Dan Beuttner, National Geographic journalist, began to study them thoroughly and "The Blue Zone" (The blue areas), a kind of geographical description of these sites a number of patterns of life told by the natives themselves wrote those areas to live over 100 years.

 

"It turns out that these places give more longevity than any pill you can take," said Beuttner. Y clarified that have some features in common, such as eating a plant-based diet and a constant moderate activity.

 

After accessing the secrets of these regions, Beuttner changed your lifestyle, created a website and is leading an initiative called "Project Blue Zone", a systematic approach for citizens, organizations and community leaders to work together policies and programs to help people achieve wellness and optimal health. At this time, it is working with the project in Fort Worth, Texas, and communities in Iowa, Minnesota and California have implemented their own "blue zones".

 

"Eating lots of fish is good for health, it is worth the change because they add many years of life also should be active constantly," said Beuttner.

 

And on the social influence, said: "There are health behaviors that are infectious if your three best friends are obese, there is a 150% chance that fall into the overweight So you have to find people who want to change their habits.. health and forge a relationship with them, because there is a big difference between people who go out for a walk or going to the garden, instead of sitting there, "concluded Beuttner.

 

The scientific approach

How and why people get older, involves complex physiological changes that scientists do not fully understand yet. But it is known that a factor is hereditary, that "in general determines about 30% of the length of your life," says Dr. Thomas Perls of Boston University, Director of the Study on New England Centenarian.

 

Lifestyle and environmental factors determine much of the remaining 70%, according to scientists.

Scientists at the University of Athens in Greece, believe that the Mediterranean diet is a cornerstone of longevity. In Sardinia and Ikaria 6 times more grain is consumed in the typical American diet. They eat a lot of fish and little red meat, two cups of coffee a day, red wine and enough olive oil.

 

Nicholas Christakis, Harvard University, estimates that health habits can be as contagious as a cold virus. Then, a healthy diet, adequate rest and plenty of exercise, we must add a healthy environment: these would be the keys to longevity.

 

What they have in common the blue areas?

• People have a rich spiritual life and respect for their ancestors.

• They make regular physical activity.

• They are far from the technology and stress.

• They Mediterranean diet: take red wine, eating cereals, fruits, vegetables and grains, almost no meat, but lots of olive oil and fish.

• In the evening, meet friends to chat instead of watching TV.

• Take naps and living with less trouble.