Interview with Dan in US News & World Report
Written by Bruno Bornsztein
Recently, BlueZones founder Dan Buettner was interviewed for an article in U.S. News & World Report. Here's an excerpt:
As droves of baby boomers retire or prepare to do so, the generation that never settles is now focused on maximizing health, fulfillment, and longevity. And the quest for a fountain of youth is getting a renewed surge of interest replete with its own cadre of titles and television shows meant to inspire and guide seekers on the journey to long, "well" lives. In keeping with the trend, Dan Buettner—writer, holder of three Guinness world records in long-distance cycling, and leader of multiple international adventures—brings us The Blue Zone: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest, which hits bookstore shelves today. His book is the culmination of a project that began in 2000 and included a 2005 National Geographic cover story, "The Secrets of Living Longer." (The term "blue zone" was coined after a demographer used a blue marker to note the areas on a map where the eldest, healthiest people resided.) U.S. News caught up with the author-explorer to discuss his book and the "Power 9," a set of principles we can live by to add extra healthy years to our lives.
|
Related Articles at U.S. News about longevity: |
These "blue zones" are places where the world's masters of
longevity reside. How did you locate the four such places you write
about—Sardinia, Italy; Okinawa, Japan; Loma Linda, Calif.; and the
Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica?
In 2000, the World Health Organization came out with the finding that
Okinawa had the longest disability-free life expectancy in the
world—the longest, healthiest lives. And that's what we want, us 77
million baby boomers. So the National Institute on Aging partnered with
me and National Geographic, and we came up with what we think was a
very responsible methodology for looking at what things work at
extending our healthy life expectancy. We found parts of the world
where people lived the longest by two measures: middle-aged mortality
rates, which factors out death at birth, and the centenarian rate.
And how does the health of the world's healthiest elders—those living in the "blue zones"—compare with that of Americans?
Life expectancy is as much as 10 years greater. There was as much as a
sixth the rate of cardiovascular disease and a fifth the rate of the
big cancers like colon and breast. That's huge, because cardiovascular disease and
these cancers kill about 80 percent of people over 65 in our country.
And diabetes isn't really an issue with this group.
You make the observation in the book that long-lived people tend to be likable. What's important about that?
We know that if you're likable, you're going to get better care from
your caregivers. You also tend to not be abandoned by your family and
friends. They've walked this planet for a century and have had an extra
number of decades to observe the fact that being compassionate, giving,
interested, and interesting is important.
So if you're a younger person—younger than 100, that is—who isn't particularly likable now, are you doomed?
These centenarians weren't always likable. In fact, a lot of them were
cantankerous. You talk to their kids, and they say, 'I hated my mother
when I was younger, and now I love her.' They evolved. You make a huge
evolutionary leap between 80 and 100.
Part of this project has been identifying what you're
calling the "Power 9," based on observation of the lives of the well
and the long-lived. They're changes we can make to emulate them.
It's not just Dan Buettner jotting them down in his notebook. These are
characteristics of the culture that have been thoroughly researched [by
academics]. They look like nine simple things, but they have years of
research behind them.
One of the "Power 9" is having a sense of purpose. What's yours, and why does it matter?
I happen to be curious. I happen to be family oriented. A component of
me wants to do some good. The next thing is figuring out how I put
those things to work in my life. That formula is different for
everybody. Purpose becomes really crucial in middle age because when
your kids grow up and your job sort of wanes, it's like, "What do I do
now?"
Many people in the United States seem to be living the
antithesis of the way these long-lived people in the Blue Zones do.
Considering it has taken millenniums for these four cultures to yield
lifestyles aligned with long, healthy lives, can we in America
realistically change?
Yes. One of the happy coincidences is most of these "Power 9" are not
hard, and a subtle shift of energy can yield an enormous benefit. For
example, the idea that having happy hour could more powerfully impact
your life than going to the gym seems so flippant, but it's not. In the
Blue Zones, these spry centenarians never signed up for diets or
belonged to gyms, but they hung out with groups of people who supported
the same behaviors. We know that the power of moderate drinking is
probably worth three to five good years of life if you can pick up that
habit and not make it immoderate.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
