Blue Zones: Live Longer, Better

Senior Smarts: How Education Helps You Live Longer

When James Smith, a health economist at the RAND Corporation, decided to research the prevailing factors that determine longevity, he had the notion of cause and effect at the front of his mind. A skeptic of the age old wisdom of good diet and exercise, Dr. Smith may have uncovered a new truth to aging well, something that transcends class and diet.

What James Smith discovered is that education is a vital factor in the longevity equation. A New York Times report describing Dr. Smith’s findings explains: "A few extra years of school are associated with extra years of life and vastly improved health decades later, in old age."

Numerous studies support the notion that education, both in adolescence and continuing into old age, is a vital part of living a long, happy and healthy life.

One of the possible benefits of staying in school is that social networks are created. In addition, a sense of purpose can come from throwing yourself at an area that interests you, in which you have no formal knowledge or training.

How to Stay Smart?

FEATURE: Can Meaningful Relationships Fight Obesity?

"What drives people to overeat?". That's the question Dr. Barry E. Levin asks in an article on the psychology of eating, overeating and appetite published in The New York Times. (For the full article follow this link: http://www.nytimes.com ).

I am reminded of a time in my life when food satisfied more than my appetite. After quitting smoking, I started eating more carelessly. I lived in New York City, a big pedestrian city full of small markets, convenient stores, coffee shops and restaurants. But I was lonely. A a new New Yorker, I didn't yet have any meaningful friendships, and I turned to food without realizing it. Anytime I felt a strong emotion I didn't like, I associated it with hunger. "I should eat," I'd think, and I would. And in a sense it was hunger I was feeling, hunger for love, attention, laughs, good times.

Of course, I gained weight. But beyond that, gained a sense of fear; fear of food. Fear of myself around food. I can't really explain why food went from, well, food, into something more, but it did.

Friendship Linked to Longer Life

	Two Costa Rican elders we met on our BlueZones expedition to the Nicoya peninsula.

Friendship is a wonderful part of life at any age, and having friends by your side, especially in old age, may help you live longer!

Ok, a nursing home or retirement community is not the golden age answer to the college dorm experience. There are no keggers and hot hookups. I mean, retirement is not a time we generally associate with loads of fun, with social bonding.

But there is something about the nature of community living that we can all get behind. Studies suggest that community building and bonding with friends, especially in old age, may lead to a longer life.

FEATURE: Best Friends Forever Stay Healthy Together

Scientists have shown that social connections are vital to a healthy life. Recent studies suggest that belonging to a group of people who have similar beliefs, lifestyle choices, economic status, or religious practices may lead to deeper understanding, longer-lasting friendships, and a longer, healthier life. At Blue Zones, we call this being surrounded by “the right inner circle.

But I don't plan out my friendships!
In real life, you meet friends at work, a bbq, the neighborhood sandbox, etc. Sure, once you’ve met, you should having a thing or two in common, but do most people make a calculation of their friends' lifestyle choices before beginning the friendship?

Actually, yes.
If you think about your friends, you will find you tend to support each others beliefs and lifestyles. In many cases you may have similar economic status. There's a reason why you gravitate to certain kinds of people! This idea of “the right inner circle” has little to do with how friendships form, it merely points out that people who share these traits tend to form friendships that last, while also pointing out the ugly fact that bad habits do tend to rub off.

Bad habits like what?
Studies reported in a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine suggest that, between close mutual friends, when one becomes obese the odds of the other becoming obese triple. The same statistic applies to weight loss - when one close friend decides to lose weight, the other friend has tripled their chance of being successful with weight loss, merely by association.

For residents of the Blue Zones, being surrounded by the right inner circle comes naturally.
Seventh Day Adventists, encouraged by their religious practice and observation of the Sabbath, have big, bustling social networks. The Nuoro highland Sardinians we studied are geographically – but not culturally – isolated. Many share the same professional, personal and religious practices. Most evenings, they share a few glasses of wine at the local bar, and once a year the town contributes to the annual grape harvest. Centenarian Okinawans have regular moais; it’s sort of like the bar in Cheers, where everybody knows your name. Groups of Okinawans, who rarely move from their community, have lifelong, regular moais in the evenings to share sake and conversation.

The lesson? Keep your wonderful friends close.
The lesson I’ll take away from all this talk about “the right inner circle” is this: if you’ve got a group of people who support and nurture you, nurture them in return. And if you'd like to do a little self-improvement, get your friends on board!