How Longest-Living Among Us Do It

Explorer Dan Buettner Travels to "Blue Zones" Around Globe, Where People Are Much More Likely to Reach 100 Than Rest of Us

(CBS)  When people in a specific area are more than ten times more likely to live to 100 than those who live elsewhere, odds are they're onto something.

And renowned explorer Dan Buettner was determined to find them, and learn their healthy-living secrets.

He dubbed the longevity hotspots "blue zones," and started an ongoing project of the same name.

Buettner, the National Geographic Society and a team of scientists identify and study the regions and their common threads regarding lifestyle, behavior, diet, outlook and stress-coping mechanisms. The idea is to help other people live longer, healthier, happier lives.

Read more about Healthy Living

It's all chronicled in Buettner's best-seller, "The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest." (Read an excerpt.)

Buettner visited "The Early Show Saturday Edition" as part of its special broadcast, "Secrets for a Longer Life." He also explained blue zones to readers of CBSNews.com.

In those far-flung parts of the world, people manage to avoid many of the diseases that kill Americans. On the broadcast, Buettner explained to subsitute co-anchor Debbye Turner Bell that blue zones are "demographically-confirmed and geographically-defined, and they're entire populations of people, pockets around the world where people are living as much as a decade longer than we are."

They are:

• Sardinia, Italy
• Okinawa, Japan
• Ikaria, Greece
• Nicoya, Costa Rica
• Loma Linda, Calif.

Buettner told CBS News there's no one key to longevity. "There is nothing that can stop, reverse or even slow aging," he says, "but there are several small things we can do to raise our life expectancy of the average American by about 12 years."

Among them: Avoid hard-pounding exercise in favor of low-impact, enjoyable physical activity, surround yourself with the right kind of people. Avoid meat and eat nuts.

Sardinia, Italy

This is a Bronze Age culture that has been isolated in Sardinia's highlands since about the time of Christ. Their lifestyle evolved over that time to celebrate older people, favor eating vegetables (especially fava beans and a type of bread with healthy bacteria), and a type of wine - cannonau - with the highest known levels of antioxidant. Also important is that drinking is a social activity, helping to build social networks, and consumed in concert with the Mediterranean Diet which literally combines to make more antioxidants (polyphennols)

Lessons Learned from Sardinia:

Lean plant-based diet accented with meat - Diet consists of whole grain bread, beans, garden vegetables and fruits. Sardinians traditionally eat pecorino cheese made from grass fed sheep which is high in Omega 3's. Meat only on special occasions or Sunday.

Family First - Strong family values. Every member of the family is cared for reducing risk of depression, suicide and stress.

Goat's Milk - Protects against inflammatory disease of aging such as heart disease and Alzheimer's.

Celebrate Elders - Grandparents provide love, childcare, financial support, motivation and expectations. This may add up to healthier, better adjusted children.

Walking - Walking 5 miles per day provides cardiovascular benefits plus positive effects on bone and muscle metabolism without joint-pounding.

Drink a glass or two of red wine daily - Cannonau wine has two to three times the level of artery-scrubbing flavonoids as other wines.

Laughter - Literally, their sardonic humor reduces stress.


For more see Page 2.

[luadda22]

All of these examples are from generally isolated societies. You don't think that maybe genetics has more to do with it than eating beans and doing Tibetan exercises.

[jbeckett5]

That is not true of the Loma Linda group - which draws from the same gene pool as the rest of North America.

[jodeemartin]

I would also be grateful if you would provide a link for the longevity exercises. I would like to start my mornings by doing them and can only remember the first one.

[DoctorFisher]

I had the chance to interview Dan on my radio show in Chicago and he was great. He is world-record holding cyclist, yet he made lifestyle changes as a result of his findings. Listen to hear which ones: "House Calls" Show #9 http://bit.ly/TFAPa

[cherylkelly]

members.tripod.com/~kira_lis/chakra1.html
this is a description of all the poses

[ria2day]

Tx! :)

[Tbrks]

I have to agree with the above writers, where are the exercises! I have looked all over to find them, because it caught my eye this morning, I usually don't watch the early show.

[cherylkelly]

members.tripod.com/~kira_lis/chakra1.html this website broke down all the exercises! it was the first one i found when i googled "chakra yoga"

[Tbrks]

I have to agree with the above writers, where are the exercises! I have looked all over to find them, because it caught my eye this morning, I usually don't watch the early show.

[rdrumsta]

I also agree with the comment about searching for the longevity exercises. My wife is very interested in doing the exercises but now we cannot find a link !!!

[rondiver]

Looking for Chopra , five things to do for longevity- one is flossing, and longevity exercises. searched cannot find????? Where is the link?

[susiem65]

I ageee with the comment about searching for the longevity exercises. It would be nice to view it again so I could do them properly. Searched and searched??

[lynnosb]

Do you have a link to see the Tibetan exercises again?

[Lastly]

You know, I sure wish you'd put up clips from the Early Show's Saturday's 11/14/09 showing the longevity exercises so I could watch them online and try them out at the same time... I've looked all over and tried a search to see if it's buried somewhere on here, would be nice to have easy to locate hot links. Sure, I see the book link/article links, but there was so much more that was valuable info that I'd like to review/try.

Chris saying "sure hope you have a pencil to write this down", isn't helpful, especially since you have this great website, why not utilize it and make all this information you have available online with easy access.

I can think of tons of ways to market it if you're worried about paying for having it available online, but then you pay people to do that, or you could pay me... ask Katie Couric or some of the Early show staff/people about the woman from Bernie's they traveled to talk to years ago, might be worth your while.