The term “blue zones” was first coined by Blue Zones founder Dan Buettner, a National Geographic Explorer and Fellow and journalist, during an exploratory project he led in 2004. After an expedition to Okinawa, Japan in 2000 to investigate the longevity there, he set out to explore other regions of the world with reportedly high longevity. With the support of National Geographic, Buettner, and his team of scientists and demographers traveled the world in search of communities where people not only lived longer but also enjoyed a high quality of life in their old age. After analyzing demographic data and interviewing numerous centenarians, they identified five regions that stood out for their extraordinary longevity and vitality.
The concept of blue zones grew from the demographic work Gianni Pes and Michel Poulain outlined in the Journal of Experimental Gerontology, identifying Sardinia, Italy as the region with the highest concentration of male centenarians.
Pes and Poulain drew concentric blue circles on the map highlighting these villages of extreme longevity and began to refer to this area inside the circle as the blue zone. Building on that demographic work, Dan and a team of scientists often including Pes and Poulain, pinpointed other longevity hotspots worldwide and dubbed them blue zones.
Ultimately, Dan and the team of demographers and researchers found that all blue zones areas share nine specific lifestyle habits that we call the Power 9®.
Dan’s adventures – and all that he learned – is chronicled in his book The Blue Zones, as well as The Blue Zones Solution, The Blue Zones Challenge, The Blue Zones American Kitchen, and Blue Zones Secrets. The books became New York Times bestsellers and drew worldwide media attention. The subsequent bestsellers Thrive and Blue Zones of Happiness takes a Blue Zones approach to solve another mystery: Why are the world’s happiest places the happiest?
Healthy longevity ensues from building the right environment for our families to live, work and play.
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