Long-Lived Costa Ricans
Offer Secrets to
Reaching 100
By Anne Casselman, for
National Geographic News
At the age of 101,
Abuela Panchita is still
a social butterfly.
The centenarian, who
lives on Costa Rica's
Nicoya Peninsula, has a
solid support network of
friends and family,
which includes a son in
his eighties who visits
her every morning on his
bicycle.
Her age and sociability
are no coincidence, said
Dan Buettner, an
explorer and book author
who has studied Panchita
and other elderly Costa
Ricans.
"We know that people who
make it to a hundred
tend to be nice," he
said.
"They … drink from the
fountain of life by
being likeable and
drawing people to them."
Buettner has explored
and studied the world's
centenarian hot
spots—which he calls
blue zones—over the past
several years. The
findings appear in a new
book, The Blue Zone:
Lessons for Living
Longer from the People
Who've Lived the
Longest.
(Buettner has also
received funding from
the National Geographic
Society, which owns
National Geographic
News.)
After scouring the
globe, Buettner has
found several basic
threads that connect the
longest-lived: a
plant-based diet;
regular, low-intensity
activity; an investment
in family; a sense of
faith; and purpose.
Blue Zones
Nowhere is a strong
sense of purpose more
acute, he said, than in
Japan, where the concept
has its own name: ikigai.
Okinawa, Japan, boasts
the longest-lived women
in the world and has the
longest disability-free
life expectancy in the
world.
"You see it over and
over again: People who
are living a long time
have a reason to get up
in the morning,"
Buettner said.
The other hot spots
include Sardinia in
Italy, which has the
highest concentration of
centenarians—most of
which are men—and the
Seventh Day Adventists
of Loma Linda in
California. An Adventist
man lives 11 years
longer than the average
American male.
Abuela Panchita's
hometown also makes it
onto the list. Nicoya
Peninsula has the lowest
middle-age mortality in
the world, Buettner
said.
"A 60-year-old in Costa
Rica has more than a
fourfold better chance
of making it to 90 than
a 60-year-old in
America," he said.
"They spend
one-fifteenth the amount
we do on public health,
but they spend it in the
right places."
This statistic factors
out infant mortality,
which can skew life
expectancy numbers
downward.
(Related: "Discoveries
May Help Unlock Secrets
of Long Life" [October
30, 2003].)
Small Genetic Impact
Robert Kane directs the
University of Minnesota
Center on Aging and the
Minnesota Geriatric
Education Center in
Minneapolis.
"If indeed one can
identify characteristics
which reliably
distinguish centenarians
from other people, then
we might get some clues
into what is involved in
achieving a longer life
expectancy," Kane said.
"What [Buettner's] done
is to identify clusters
of people who live to
old ages and describe
some of the phenomena
that are associated with
those people."
Studies indicate that
the genetic component of
aging is relatively
small, varying between 6
and 25 percent. How we
can influence the
remaining percentage of
our longevity is still
not completely clear.
To Buettner, what is
clear is that people can
take control of
improving their
longevity.
"Set up your life, your
home environment, your
social environment, and
your workplace so that
you're constantly nudged
into behaviors that
favor longevity," he
said.
Habits of the Long-Lived
For example, many
centenarians eat less
and avoid meat.
"You look in the blue
zone in Okinawa, these
people are consistently
eating off of small
plates," Buettner said.
One of the cues for
fullness is an empty
plate, so stock your
cupboard with smaller
plates, Buettner
advised.
Investing in family and
faith also apparently
keeps centenarians
going.
"The research is really
quite overwhelming in
showing the longevity
and health benefits in
reconnecting with your
religion … and investing
in your family," he
said.
S. Jay Olshansky is a
professor in the School
of Public Health at the
University of Illinois
at Chicago.
"Dan is trying to
encourage people to
adopt healthier
lifestyles and that in
and of itself is the
greatest value,"
Olshansky said.
But he cautioned that no
matter how attractive
the prospect, there is
no secret to the
fountain of youth.
"It has been very
tempting for many people
in this area to try and
sell longevity, which is
a commodity that cannot
yet be bought or sold,"
Olshansky said.
More Blue Zones?
Buettner's work on
sussing out blue zones
is ongoing.
There may be one in
Canada, Buettner said.
If confirmed, this blue
zone probably has the
lowest middle-age
mortality in the
world—beating out even
the Nicoya Peninsula.
But in the United
States, the life
expectancy is 77.8
years—a figure that
might actually drop in
coming decades due to
the impact of obesity,
according to the Centers
for Disease Control and
Prevention.
"As rich as we are as a
nation, we don't do a
great job," Buettner
said.
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