Lessons for Longevity: It Takes a Village

          Lessons for longevity go beyond a matter of genes and your parent’s attempts to get you to eat your brussel sprouts.  They may have something to do with your community’s values and habits, according to researcher Daniel Buettner.  In “The Blue Zones; Nine Lessons for Living Longer” (National Geographic, 2008), Buettner reveals the secrets to five long-living communities around the world. 

Lessons for Longevity from Ikaria

The story of Stamatis Moraitis, a Greek man from the island of Ikaria, best illustrates the power of these life-giving communities. After World War II,  Moraitis sought medical help in the States to repair a hand mangled from a munitions accident and ended up staying, eventually finding work as a house painter.  At the age of 60, after a lifetime of smoking and breathing paint fumes, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and given six months to live.  He decided to return to his homeland so he could spend his final days breathing thyme-scented air and be buried in the family plot.

            Life during Stamatis’s final ‘assigned’ days suited him.  He was doted upon by his wife and sister, and, when news of his homecoming got out, the entire village.  And their visits were often accompanied by a bottle of locally produced red wine.  The six months came and went, and rather than weakening, his body steadily gained energy.  He began to make weekly trips to his old church, walking a kilometre up a hillside and back, and growing his own vegetables.  Encouraged by the success of his garden (and the fact that he was still around to harvest it!!), he plunged into viniculture, reviving the family vineyard to where it was soon producing 400 gallons a year.  Evenings were spent with friends, at home, or at the local taverna, playing a few games of dominoes.  Needless to say, he didn’t die as expected; he thwarted cancer and thrived, living well into his 100’s. 

Lessons for Longevity from ‘The Blue Zones’

            Finding Stamatis cancer-free at 100, and noting that his neighbours were likewise as lusty, led Buettner to add Ikaria to the  ‘Blue Zones’ in the world.  Along with the Barbagia region in Sardinia, the Okinawa archipelago in Japan, the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica, and 7th Day Adventists living in Loma Linda, California, remote Ikaria is a place where people are three times more likely to live into their 90’s and experience 50% less cancer, cardiovascular disease, depression, dementia, and osteoporosis.  While each area  has its own idiosyncratic elixir (for the Sardinians it is fava beans and the flavonoid-rich Cannonau wine, for the Ikarians, an afternoon nap, diuretic herbal teas and a spoonful of honey a day, for the Okinawans – mugwort, fermented tofu and ‘moai’ (a scheduled daily meeting of one’s ‘inner circle’), for the Costa Ricans – hard water and fresh fruit, for the Loma Lindans, one unscheduled day of the week – the Sabbath), all communities shared the following life-sustaining characteristics:

1. they eat in moderation (like the Okinawans who follow the principle of ‘hara hachi bu’; eating until they are 80% full which amounts to about 2,000 calories a day). Their diet is primarily plant-based and sourced fresh from their own gardens. They eat very little processed food, sugar/salty snacks, and meat is saved for special occasions.
2. They are active, integrating low-intensity ‘exercise’ in their daily regime; prepping own meals and doing chores around their home, walking to shops, church or to see friends and working manually in their gardens on a regular basis.
3. They are living independently or in the home of one of their daughters.
4. They treat themselves to a happy hour, or linger over dinner with a glass of good red wine.
5. They are social animals, making family, friends and social connectedness a priority.
6. They have a ‘plan de vida’ or ‘ikigai’ (a reason to get up in the morning). Feeling involved in meaningful, purposeful work gives them a sense of being needed.
7. They are prone to sunny, likeable dispositions. Maintaining a positive outlook attracts not only years to your life but also a caring circle of people.
8. Like Raffael, a 107-year-old from the Sardinia Blue Zone, who says, “Life is short, don’t run so fast you miss it”, they create ‘sanctuaries in time’ where they slow down and smell the roses.
9. They have faith (in these cultures, often belonging to an established church). Being part of a strong religious community fosters healthful behaviours, a higher sense of self-worth and a supportive social network. 

Lessons for Longevity:  It Takes a Village

            Given that Buettner’s study was precipitated by scientific studies that suggest only 25% of how long we live is dictated by genes, the other 75% determined by our lifestyle and everyday choices we make, it behooves us to consider the importance of culture and community in scaffolding one’s ‘reach for the top.’  Just as nature selects for characteristics that favour the survival of a species, cultures screen for habits which will preserve the longevity of its tribe.  The way we are habituated to eat, interact with others, shed stress, heal ourselves, avoid disease and view our world can have significant impact on the quality and longevity of our lives.  As Buettner has found, it takes a village.