What are blue zones?

"A Blue Zone is a region of the world where people commonly live active lives past the age of 100 years. Scientists and demographers have classified these longevity hot-spots by having common healthy traits and life practices that result in higher-than-normal longevity. The name Blue zone seems to be first employed in a scientific article by a team of demographers working on centenarians in Sardinia in 2004." (Wikipedia)

Blue Zones is also the name of a related project from Dan Buettner's Quest Network, Inc.  In 2004, Dan Buettner teamed up with National Geographic and hired the world’s best longevity researchers to identify pockets around the world where people lived measurably better.  In these Blue Zones they found that people reach age 100 at rates 10 times greater than in the United States.  They found the extra 10 years that we’re missing.

After identifying the world’s Blue Zones, Buettner and National Geographic took teams of scientists to each location to identify lifestyle characteristics that might explain longevity. They found that the lifestyles of all Blue Zones residents shared nine specific characteristics.  They call this list of characteristics the Power 9.

Visit Dan Buettner's "Bluezones" website to learn about Power 9, 9 secrets from the world's longest living people. www.bluezones.com.  

To date, there are 5 Blue Zones that have been discovered in the world and they are:

• Okinawa, Japan
• Sardinia, Italy
• Loma LInda, California
• Nicoya, Cost Rica
• Ikaria, Greece