Live (Work, Play, Learn) Better, Longer through Blue Zones Project
In blue zones areas, people live longer, healthier lives because their environments make the healthy choice the easy choice. Through Blue Zones Project® by Sharecare, communities across the United States are adopting practices that replicate these outcomes.
Blue Zones Project works with participating restaurants, schools, workplaces, and grocery stores to adopt practices that support healthy choices.
In the Beach Cities of California, a Walking School Bus program that helped students walk to school safely resulted in students walking 423,000 miles over the course of one school year. The collective impact of Blue Zones Project initiatives within Redondo Beach elementary schools from 2007-2019 helped reduce childhood obesity by 68%.
Grocery stores and restaurants have a significant influence on individual decisions about what we eat. That’s why Blue Zones Project works with businesses in the food industry to make changes that increase sales of healthier foods, including menu additions, grocery displays and marketing tools.
When Central Market, a grocery store in Fort Worth, Texas, implemented Blue Zones Project checkout lanes, they saw sales of healthy items increase at three times the rate of overall store sales increase over a three-year period. At Shanti’s Indian Cuisine in Roseburg, Oregon, sales increased by 35 percent after it became a Blue Zones Approved restaurant.
Healthy choices are good for business, in general.
Improved health outcomes of employees result in better retention, lower medical claims costs, improved attendance, and higher employee satisfaction. And because people spend so much time at work—one of the key areas within a person’s life radius—healthy habits promoted at work have a significant influence in other areas. Blue Zones Project helps employers build wellness programs that help their employees and their communities truly thrive.
Employees at Blue Zones Project participating worksites are more engaged with wellness programming, which benefits employees and employers. At NCH Healthcare System in Naples, Florida, employees embraced Blue Zones Project activities and saw a three-point jump in their overall well-being as measured by the Sharecare Well-Being Index. As a result of their participation in Blue Zones Project, Dallas Fort Worth Airport has realized significant healthcare cost savings—keeping cost increases 40% below national trends.