Drinking herbal tea, eating lots of beans, walking and spending time with family and friends are habits that help people in the Blue Zone live longer.
Blue Zones are the five regions in the world with the longest and healthiest lives, including Okinawa (Japan), Sardinia (Italy), Nicoya (Costa Rica), Ikaria (Greece) and Loma Linda (USA). Longevity expert and National Geographic explorer Dan Buettner has spent years studying the lifestyles of people in these areas, finding out why they live to be 100.
Instead of taking expensive vitamins or going to fancy gyms, Mr. Buettner found, SuperAgers rely on simple, healthy habits like daily walks, socializing, and eating foods from their gardens.
Drink herbal tea
Most health drink advertising focuses on ingredients like green tea, expensive organic blends, or coffee. These may be good for you, but simple herbal teas can also boost your health.
In Ikaria, Greece, Buettner found that SuperAgers enjoyed herbal teas made from everyday herbs like sage, rosemary, or easy-to-grow plants like mallow.
According to Penn Medicine , the plants used in herbal teas often contain antioxidants, anti-inflammatory compounds, and other micronutrients that help improve digestion, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels. You can grow many herbs yourself in your yard, garden, or even in pots on your balcony.
Eat lots of beans
Blue Zones residents seem to enjoy a high intake of carbs, including whole grains and starchy vegetables like sweet potatoes. These provide a healthy dose of fiber, which is important for healthy digestion, stable blood sugar levels, and the prevention of colon cancer. In particular, beans, a staple of the Mediterranean diet, are considered a “superfood,” providing a complete protein source with all the essential amino acids.
Walk more
According to Buettner, one of the common things across Blue Zones is that residents can get a lot of exercise into their daily routine simply by walking.
Research shows that taking a few thousand steps a day — the equivalent of a 30-minute walk — can help prevent dementia, heart disease, cancer and other causes of premature death.
Other research shows that adding 500 to 1,000 steps a day can significantly reduce your risk of disease, something you can do in less than 15 minutes on your lunch break, on your commute to work or before dinner.
Spend time with friends and family
Evidence shows that one of the best ways to boost your health and mood without spending money is to build relationships with other people.
Loneliness is considered a disease. Some studies have linked it to the same health consequences as smoking and can shave more than 15 years off your life. On the other hand, Buettner says that building and maintaining strong personal relationships, whether they be friendships, family ties, or romantic partners, can help prolong your life.
He found that in Blue Zones like Okinawa, Japan, people prioritize creating social groups for community activities like chatting, singing, dancing, or even financial support.
“There’s no pill, supplement, or special medicine that can give us nearly 15 years,” Buettner said, adding that in Okinawa, they get those years simply by finding friends, sticking with them, and spending time with those friends every day.
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