Written by Michelle Albert

A gallon of gas approaches $4. Food prices are on the rise. The housing market remains on life support. People are starting to think that we are in a recession. So, the question is, how are Americans faring and how do you measure the nation’s happiness?

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index offers just this sort of snapshot of the nation’s health. The results show that many Americans are in need of the Blue Zone lessons to help them achieve greater happiness and well-being. Starting this January, researchers called one thousand Americans, seven days a week, and asked them about their happiness based on the World Health Organization’s definitions. We’re not a satisfied lot, the study found. Almost half of the 100,000 respondents (47 percent) said they are struggling, and four percent said they are suffering.

“It’s pretty clear from the data provided through the Well-Being Index that Americans are indeed stuck in a cycle of chronic disease. We see that the majority of America is currently struggling or suffering and that they often make poor lifestyle choices. Many are stressed, worried and overweight, all factors which lead to illness and, ultimately, lifelong health conditions,” said Healthways President and CEO Ben Leedle. “The information from the Well-Being Index will enable community leaders, policy makers and employers to make decisions that positively affect the health and well-being of millions of people.”

Yet again we see the mind-body connection, and the important of creating your own, personal Blue Zone. The good news from the study is that policy makers and community leaders have a way of measuring well-being, and I hope that the study will help focus attention on these quality-of-life issues.

The study’s website can be found at http://www.well-beingindex.com/.

Written by Kathryn Savage

There have been many convincing studies conducted about the positive impact of social bonding on overall health and longevity.

A recent study led by Lisa Berkman of Harvard found that over a ninety-year period, seniors with the most social connection seemed to outlive their isolated peers. Stark evidence suggests that people without a lot of friends were between two and three times more likely to die.

Written by Michelle Albert

Normally, I wouldn't have noticed the obituary of Germaine Tillion, a French resistance fighter and intellectual who died April 19 at the age of 100. But since starting to write for Blue Zones, I read anything I can find on centenarians, and Ms. Tillion fits right in with the best of the centenarians Dan Buettner has gotten to know.

Born in May 1907, Tillion she was captured by the Nazis and was held for three years in a concentration camp. Her mother was gassed in the same concentration camp, but Tillion was liberated. After the war, she became a highly respected intellectual and anthropologist, bringing her experiences to the Algerian struggle for independence and her anthropological work. Her life speaks to the power of living a life of intellectual curiosity and honesty.

Her New York Times obituary can be found here.

Photo credit: http://www.wellesley.edu/womensreview/archive/2004/09/tillion.gif.

Written by Michelle Albert

It used to be that you could count on only a few things: death, taxes, and an increase in average life expectancy. Now it looks like we may be back to just counting on death and taxes. For the first time in recent history, researchers have now shown that life expectancy is slipping for some groups in the United States. The slip is prevalent in women (a gender known to have a longer life expectancy than men) living in rural and poor areas. It is a trend not bound by race, and the numbers are startling. As The Washington Post reports:

The downward trend is evident in places in the Deep South, Appalachia, the lower Midwest and in one county in Maine. It is not limited to one race or ethnicity but it is more common in rural and low-income areas. The most dramatic change occurred in two areas in southwestern Virginia (Radford City and Pulaski County), where women's life expectancy has decreased by more than five years since 1983.

My grandmother lives in the county bordering Pulaski, so this really caught my eye. She follows many of the lessons of the Blue Zones (but she doesn’t drink alcohol), and with just four years to go before reaching 100, she’s healthy.

But the data should give us all pause as the researchers note that many of the deaths are from lung cancer, emphysema, and diabetes – and there are things to do today to protect yourself from these diseases. Don’t smoke. Eat a plant-based diet. Exercise and remember your spiritual health. It looks like the Blue Zone lessons are more important now than ever.

*If you are interested in reading the journal article, click here.

Written by Kathryn Savage

One more cup of coffee in the morning. One more hour at work. One more story before bedtime. It all equals one less day spent walking, running and biking, or savoring a sunset and a glass of pinot noir. Whether it's stress, kids, work or finances, maybe it’s time to stop, take a minute for yourself and turn stress into serenity!

Here are five rescue remedies to save you from temporary burn out.

Written by Michelle Albert

There is a tendency to think of old age as a curse, a time in life when the aches and pains take over. But take heart. Dan Buettner’s experience in the Blue Zones is entirely different. Elderly populations there tend to be happy and well adjusted, as well as being much loved by their families and communities.

The same may be broadly true in America. The April issue of the American Sociological Review has two articles on Blue Zone topics. One study analyzes how connected older Americans are to their communities, and the other looks at American levels of happiness broken down by age and race. The good news is that while older Americans do have smaller social networks than younger people, these ties are robust. The article "The Social Connectedness of Older Adults: A National Profile" shows "that age increases the frequency of socializing with neighbors, religious participation, and volunteering.” So as we age, we tend to keep up these important social connections, and these activities may correlate to the fact that generally we become happier as we age. The one exception seems to be Baby Boomers, who are not as happy as the rest of us. The study notes, “Baby boomer’s unique experiences during early adulthood may have had a lasting impact on their sense of happiness.”

The Washington Post covered these articles and offered some analysis as to why those midlife years may pose problems for happiness.

Previous research also has shown that mid-life tends to be the most stressful time, said Cornell University sociologist Elaine Wethington. "Everyone's asking you to do things and you have a lot to do. You're less happy because you feel hassled.”

The lessons from Blue Zone populations are especially important for those of us in midlife as well as underscoring the importance of the aging process. Instead of dreading getting older, look to the lessons from the Blue Zones and current research--The golden years may just come at the end of life.

Written by Kathryn Savage

What are the financial implications of living longer? How much money will you need to retire, and how will you use it?

A recent report conducted by The New York Times explains that retirees who don’t get pensions these days (many), and retirees of the future who won't get pensions (most) “have to create their own income streams, usually through a combination of Social Security and distributions from retirement savings, including I.R.A.’s and 401(k) accounts.”

So what are some healthy financial strategies you should consider if you are a) in retirement, b) leading up to retirement, and c) won't be retiring for many years?

Written by Kathryn Savage

There are good times to be stressed.

We all know it, hearts flutter, palms get sweaty, and there are times when we want these changes - like while driving home late at night on an icy road. The bodies autonomic nervous system provides the rapid response to stress commonly known as the fight-or-flight response. And at times, yes, we want to be hyper alert. But when it comes to stress, when is enough... enough?

Written by Kathryn Savage

Be a little bit nicer and you might live a whole lot longer!
Want to have fewer marital battles? Want to get along better with your kids? Your coworkers? Your friends? Be sure you pick your battles wisely! It’s an old adage but it’s true. It is unrealistic to expect you will never have relationship difficulties, and it seems the simplest remedy may just be a smile, a hug, and an agreeable demeanor, in other words: be nice.

Written by Michelle Albert

Turns out that those middle years of life tend to be the ones when we are most unhappy. A recent study of happiness across different countries showed that most people follow a “U-shaped” happiness curve. That dip in the middle of the "U" corresponds to midlife. One of the researchers, Andrew Oswald from the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom, says:

"Only in their 50s do most people emerge from the low period. But encouragingly, by the time you are 70, if you are still physically fit then on average you are as happy and mentally healthy as a 20-year-old. Perhaps realising that such feelings are completely normal in mid-life might even help individuals survive this phase better."