Blue Zones
Have you ever heard about Blue Zones ?
The concept of Blue Zones is used to identify places in the World where people live longer than in other demographic and/or geographic area. In these “Blue Zones” they found that people reach the age of 100 at 10 times as often than in the United States.
The Origins of the concept :
Gianni Pes and Michel Poulain were doing research in Italy, on the island Sardinia. They found an exceptional number of centenarians men. In that region, the Nuoro province, they even found more villages with high longevity, which mean that the inhabitants live longer and healthier than expected. Then they start drawing blue circles on the map and began referring those areas in the circles as « Blue Zone ».
Dan Buettner and the hotspots :
Dan Buettner is an American Explorer, author, speaker … who identifies longevity hotspots in Okinawa (Japan) ; Sardinia (Italy) ; Nicoya (Costa Rica) ; Icaria (Greece) and in Loma Linda, California, and offers an explanation, bases on empirical data and first hand observations, as to why these populations live healthier and lover lives. He teamed up with National Geographic and the world’s best longevity researchers.
The first « Blue Zones »
The 5 regions analysed by Buettner in the book « The Blue Zones : Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest. »
Sardinia, Italy. Particularly Nuoro province and Ogliastra The islands of Okinawa, Japan : Loma Linda, California : Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica Icaria, Greece : In fact, in April 2009, researchers on the Island of Icaria found the location with the highest percentage of 90 year-olds on the planet. Nearly 1 out of 3 people make it to their 90s. Plus, Ikarianshave about 20 percent lower rates of cancer, 50 percent lower rates of heart disease and almost no dementia.
Since then, many projects appeared in the US ; it describes itself as a « community well-being improvement initiative designed to make healthy choices easier through permanent changes to environment, policy, and social networks. »
More on http://www.bluezones.com/
What is their secret ?
The people inhabiting Blue Zones share common lifestyle that contribute to their longevity. The Venn Diagram (below) shows the six shared characteristics among the people of Okinawa, Sardinia and Loma Linda.
Family – Put ahead of other concerns
Less smoking
Semi vegetarianism – Except for the Sardinian diet, the majority of food consumed is derived from plants.
Constant moderate physical activity – an inseparable part of life.
Social engagement – people of all ages are socially active and integrated into their communities.
Legumes – Commonly consumed
The Venn Diagram
WorldGranny Knitting together healthy veggies!
We actively worked with seniors around the world and we learned from the Blue Zones how to create our projects. As we have seen, constant moderate physical activity, social engagement and empowered women which are all in some form in our projects like knittingsocialfabric.com ! In fact, our projects combine income generating, social interaction and as « WorldGranny » of course empowering woman !
Knitted Vegetables ByWorldGranny
