Blue Zones Project Blog

In 2004, Dan Buettner teamed up with National Geographic, the National Institute on Aging, and the world's best longevity researchers to identify pockets around the world where people lived measurably better, longer. In these five areas, dubbed "blue zones," researchers found that people reach age 100 at a rate that is ten times greater than in the United States and with lower rates of chronic disease.

 

After locating the world's blue zones areas, Buettner and National Geographic took teams of scientists to each location to pinpoint lifestyle characteristics that might explain the unusual longevity. They found that though the blue zones communities are located in vastly different parts of the world, their residents share nine specific traits that lead to longer, healthier, happier lives. We call these the Power 9 ^®.

When you ask a child what they want to be when they grow up, what response do you get? He or she is likely to respond with big dreams and adventurous ideas such as becoming a sports star, ballerina, or astronaut. Childhood is a time of innocence where any dream is possible, and there are no preconceptions, practical notions, or pressures creeping in to cause feelings of worry or doubt. If a person could approach their entire life with this mentality, it would help free them from constraints, both real and imaginary, that guide their paths and allow them to experience the wonder of what might be. As we age, learn, and grow from life’s lessons, the pursuit of purpose and passion gets lost amidst expectations and responsibility.

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.

 

 

What gets you out of bed every morning? Who in your life supports healthy choices?

 

Activating people—that is, getting people involved, informed, and excited about their role in a thriving community—is a key component of Blue Zones Project ^® by Sharecare, a community-led well-being improvement initiative that helps transform environments for improved well-being.

 

Residents of the original blue zones areas make healthy choices because those choices are easy, even unavoidable, in their surroundings. That's why Blue Zones Project ^® by Sharecare focuses on influencing the life radius, the area close to home in which people spend 80 percent of their lives.

 

For thousands of years, people have sought the secret to longer, healthier lives. The legendary “fountain of youth” appears in biographical texts of Alexander the Great and is said to have inspired Ponce de Leon’s expedition to Florida to seek such healing waters.

 

In 2004, Dan Buettner teamed up with National Geographic, the National Institute on Aging, and the world's best longevity researchers to identify pockets around the world where people lived measurably better, longer. In these five areas, dubbed "blue zones," researchers found that people reach age 100 at a rate that is ten times greater than in the United States and with lower rates of chronic disease.

 

After locating the world's blue zones areas, Buettner and National Geographic took teams of scientists to each location to pinpoint lifestyle characteristics that might explain the unusual longevity. They found that though the blue zones communities are located in vastly different parts of the world, their residents share nine specific traits that lead to longer, healthier, happier lives. We call these the Power 9 ^®.