Why people in the "blue zones" live longer - The example of Ikaria

On a recent episode of "Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris," Buettner, who popularized the world's Blue Zones—our own Ikaria among them—talked about how trying to achieve good health through extreme measures can be counterproductive.

In "five corners of the world," people in blue zones live an average of eight years longer than Americans, Buettner said. However, "none of them are tracking their steps, taking superfoods, or running to Costa Rica for stem cells."

In fact, four of the world's five Blue Zones, Okinawa in Japan, Sardinia in Italy, Ikaria in Greece, Nicoya in Costa Rica, are on water (the fifth is Loma Linda in the US which is landlocked.

"There's something that people in the Blue Zones do that most Americans don't do, and they probably should," he noted.

They don't try to live longer. They're not proactively pursuing health or longevity, which I think is the most important insight that's not being recognized as much,” Buettner said during the podcast episode, according to CNBC.

"Trying to pursue health, whether through diet or exercise programs," Buettner said, "are great business models, but they're terrible at delivering meaningful results."

Instead, blue belters prioritize improving their personal relationships and developing a sense of community, he said.

“In the blue zones, people live a long time not because they are pursuing health. It's because it comes up,” Buettner said. "They live in an environment where their micro-unconscious decisions are slightly better throughout the day as a result of their environment." And that includes who they surround themselves with.

 Maintaining positive relationships with people who engage in healthy activities, such as walking daily or eating plant-based meals with loved ones, is something Buettner strongly recommends for longevity.

“If they want to live longer, lose weight, exercise more, eat better,” Buettner said, “they're going to get a much better return on their effort, time and money by shaping their environment than by buying a gadgets'.

Greece's Ikaria
The observations so far converge on the lifestyle of the inhabitants of Ikaria, which acts protectively against the occurrence of cardiovascular and neoplastic diseases. It seems that the long-term consumption of a Mediterranean-type diet in combination with mountain life and stress management have an important role, but the exact mechanisms have not been fully clarified.

 A healthy and frugal diet, daily exercise, less stress, more social interactions, extroversion, a developed sense of solidarity are some of the behaviors we must adopt if we want to live longer and better years. If, in fact, you can combine them with a natural environment , like that of Ikaria, then longevity is an achievable goal.