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The Longevity Chronicles: Part I

I am fascinated by centenarians. I am forever wondering what they have done to reach such a milestone: Octos and nonas are amazing but centenarians are unbelievable. What do they eat? Do they exercise? Did their parents live a long time? Are they happy? I would probably guess correctly that my abiding interest comes from a place of wanting a template for longevity. A monkey-see-monkey-do sort of thing.

A few years ago I read that only 4% of our genetics will influence our length of life. Rats! My aces in the hole, gone. Toss out my grandfather who lived to 92, drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes. Throw right after him my tiny, energetic Great Aunt Teddy who lived to 102, taking her smelly horse-pill vitamins and doing her daily push-ups.

But on the more positive side i.e. that genes have very little to do with our length of life, there also goes the onus of my father who died of a stroke at 74, his mother who had a long slow decline with dementia as did my father's brother, both dying at 75 and 80 respectively. Toss out as well my mother who died of heart disease at 77, and various uncles and aunts who died fairly young of cancer and heart disease.

Then there is the heartening new science of epigentics which says that yes, you can influence your genetic heritage by your lifestyle changes. It doesn't matter what diseases your ancestors developed or what they died of. The good news is that we are on our own and we are individually responsible for our health and longevity. And, the bad news is that we are on our own and we are individually responsible for our health and longevity. No beer swilling, Lucky Strike smoking ancient Grandpa's for me to fall back on anymore.

The Blue Zones (The Blue Zones: Lessons for living longer from the people who've lived the longest. By Dan Buettner) are communities where common elements of lifestyle, diet and outlook have led to an amazing quantity - and quality - of life. Only one is in the United States - Loma Linda, California - which is populated by Seventh-Day Adventists whose religion commands that they neither smoke nor drink. They are also mostly vegetarians. The other Blue Zones are in Sardinia, Okinawa and Costa Rica. Why are there so many centenarians in Sardinia, Okinawa, Costa Rica and Loma Linda? Let's take them one at a time:

Loma Linda Blue Zone Secrets: In this community 60 miles east of Los Angeles, we see among the Adventists, a religion-centered life with strong family ties; no meat, no smoking, no drinking, no caffeine, and no "stimulating" spices or rich foods. The Adventists believe in good health and think that "healthiness (rather than cleanliness) is next to Godliness." They believe that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and that God communicates to us through our bodies, and that the things you do that are unhealthy (smoke, drink etc) will cut you off from receiving the message of God which is preeminent over everything. They are usually slim (vegetarians as a whole weigh less than meat-eaters), they spend time with like-minded friends, drink plenty of water, find time to pray, snack on nuts, eat an early light dinner, put a lot of plants in their diet.

My evaluation: Duh. Of course they live a long time. They are imbuing their lives with quite literally every single thing that research has shown creates long, healthy lives, thus protecting themselves from our two biggest killers: Heart disease and cancer.

Sardinian Blue Zone Secrets, specifically two small and isolated mountainous villages, Arzuna and Barbagia.: They get regular exercise, tromping up and down the hillsides, drink red wine in moderation, eat meat maybe once a week, drink goats milk and mastic oil (antibacterial and antimutagenic), laugh a lot and see life as a humorous adventure. Family is the main purpose in life, "It's about loving and being loved," said Maria, a 100 year old matriarch, who lives with her 60 year old daughter surrounded by grandchildren and great grandchildren. The word "sardonic" has its roots in Sardinia and comes from the qualities of the Sardinian personality, especially the males: Grumpy yet likeable, joke at the expense of other, strong willed, stubborn, possesses high self-esteem.

My evaluation: Again, the vegetarian/family/exercise thing with the addition of red wine and crankiness. I think that the grumpy, teasing and self-deprecating sense of humor is good for the heart. Think Walter Matthau in Grumpy Old Men.

Okinawan Blue Zone Secrets: First of all, Okinawans embrace the preventive life-style. "In traditional Asian thought, the highest, most honored form of medicine was prevention, and the lowest was treatment. Today, in Japan, the focus is on avoiding disease in the first place." They embrace ikagai or a purpose-driven life. They know why they get up in the morning. The centenarians eat a plant-based diet with lots of sweet potatoes. They enjoy sunshine (vitamin D) and staying active. They are thin and practice hara hachi bu. They eat until they are 80% full, or until they are no longer hungry. We, on the other hand, eat until we are really full, or beyond hara hachi bu, and herein lies the subtle yet important distinction. Okinawans are enjoyable company and have learned to be likeable and to attract younger people into their company well into old age. They maintain a moai, or regular  sometimes daily - gatherings of old and dear friends.

My evaluation: Prevention is foremost in their minds and mine, too. They work at not being sick. Me, too. They are not overweight and work at healthy eating patterns by utilizing hara hachi bu. Yes and I try. They have strong social networks. Yep.

Costa Rican Blue Zone Secrets, specifically an isolated village called Nicoya: Diet in Nicoya consists primarily of corn, beans, pork, garden vegetables, an abundance of fruits like mango, papaya and oranges, much of it grown in the yard and they have very hard water in Nicoya, filled with calcium. Buettner discovered that most high functioning people over 90 had a certain trait in common and not just in Nicoya: They all feel useful. "We see that as soon as they lose this, the switch goes off. They die very quickly if they don't feel needed."

My evaluation: Again, another example of not much meat, lots of vegetables and fruits, unprocessed foods, feeling close to other human beings, a reason for getting up in the morning, contributing and feeling useful, a belief in God or a higher power.

It appears that there is a leitmotif in all of the Blue Zone people. This includes strong social networks, vegetables and lots of them, not much meat, much daily exercise and a raison d'etre. There don't seem to be any obese centenarians either. In Buettner's last chapter, he suggests 9 ways in which we might be more like Blue Zone People - much of this is what I have already mentioned - and gives us his website address where apparently a fortunate person with good and cooperative computer can log on and take a Vitality Test. The website is www.bluezones.com if you are interested. Good luck.

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