Most people hope they’ll live a long, healthy, and happy life, but few are able to travel the world in an attempt to reverse-engineer the formula for longevity. That’s exactly what Dan Buettner did: Beginning in the early aughts, Buettner collaborated with National Geographic, scouring the globe in pursuit of places where people live much longer than average — and thus, the concept of “Blue Zones” came to be. Following Buettner’s bestselling book The Blue Zone: 9 Lessons of Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest, the new doc series Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones travels around the world to investigate the diet and lifestyles of those living the longest lives.
“The series is the culmination of 20 years of identifying and studying the world’s longest-lived people,” Buettner told Netflix. “I cannot imagine a better source of expertise for learning how to live a longer life, than from people who’ve actually achieved it.
To date, Buettner’s travels and research have unveiled:
as Blue Zones with the highest rates of living centenarians.
Okinawa, Japan
Sardinia, Italy
Ikaria, Greece
Nicoya, Costa Rica
Loma Linda, California
Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones executive producer Angus Wall says that MakeMake Entertainment collaborated with Buettner for five years to accurately and thoroughly tell the important stories of people living in these areas of the world.
“MakeMake wants to put stories out into the world that help us figure out how to move forward, and it’s been very inspiring to experience the lives of so many individuals who know how to truly live,” Wall told Netflix.
The four-part series is now available on Netflix. Buettner’s latest book, The Blue Zones: Secrets for Living Longer, is also available for purchase.