Sunshine in April

Maybe you have heard about Blue Zones or even watched the Netflix series on them. Blue Zones are places around the country where a higher portion of the population to and even beyond 100 years old, referred to as centenarians. The Blue Zones, including Okinawa, Japan, Sardinia, Italy, and Loma Linda, California, were collectively studied to find what commonalities these communities had in common.

What are some of the commonalities?

1. Plant based diet, including vegetables, fruits, and grains.

In America, the vast majority of us have a diet in direct contrast to this, eating mostly processed foods. It is a lot of work to change these habits away from the quick and easy foods to the more time-consuming process of making foods from scratch or taking the time to chop veggies. It also tends to take more planning. However, the tradeoff for putting in more time and effort now towards more plant-based food choices tends to correlate with more years of life. If you’re already complaining about the higher cost, a financial trade off is strongly correlated with fewer doctor visits, fewer medications, less time spent pursuing those ‘activities’, and feeling oh so much better in your own skin.

What you can do now: Make more home cooked meals using fresh ingredients, even if it’s just one day a week. I like to make bigger batches for more leftovers and/or freeze for easy meals later.  Buy veggies and eat them while they’re fresh; don’t wash until you’re ready to eat.   

• Movement as a normal part of everyday life.

How many of us have inactive lifestyles? Not just our jobs where we sit at computers or stand in one place for long periods of time, but then we go home to sit in front of the tv or on a device. We tend to park near the entrance and overall use technology to make our lives ‘simpler.’ These habits and simplifications mostly work against us as sitting has been linked to issues with blood sugar, blood pressure, and tightening of muscles. Feeling old yet? Keep sitting and it gets worse.

What you can do now: Move or reposition every 20-30 minutes. You can do this with sit / stand desks, get up and wiggle your booty for 2 minutes, take a bathroom break, walk around the building, walk in place, stretch in place… There are so many options, so quit making excuses. You can even just squeeze and release muscles – do you know how much your upper back will thank you for that?

Another what you can do now is to quit sitting and waiting for the close as possible parking space. Park far away from the entrance and get a mini walk in. Take the stairs instead of elevator. This doesn’t have to be formal exercise, just movement for your body and anything to get the blood flowing through the body and those tight muscles loosened.

• Social life includes a strong network of support.

How many of us isolate ourselves? We’re too tired to socialize after work. We’re drained at the thought of going to the event. Life has evolved so we’re lonely and missing friend connections. We just want to stay home and veg. Yes, we do need downtime to destress and relax. But, even more, we need people. We need our people – those we can count on to be there for us and us for them. That strong sense of community is good for our health! Even those who live a hermit like existence need companionship. Just think of Tom Hanks in Castaway, talking to Wilson, the soccer ball. We social beings at our core.

What you can do now: Call a long distance relative or friend, or even better facetime with them or visit in person. Reconnect with a friend you have not seen in years, even a decade. I’ve done this over the past few years, and it has been amazing. This introvert has expanded her social network via social media, and I’ve had some meaningful conversations with old friends and made new friends. Invite people over for dinner; even just once a month can make a huge difference. Have game night once a month, go for walks in the park where you can run into the same faces regularly, volunteer – so many places need help. Community centers, schools, nursing homes, community service agencies all could use more help. Even just an hour or so a week or a couple of times a month can be a great way to socialize.

No matter what you do, if you don’t have a strong social network, do SOMETHING to make that change. Don’t sit around and wait for them to come to you. They’ve been thinking about it, too, and got busy with life. Make it a priority to squeeze in that key social time.  

Maybe these and the other Blue Zone commonalities (like a sense of purpose) are our real fountain of youth that keeps us healthy and vital for many years. The US average age of death has been declining since 2019, so NOW is the time to take action if you want to increase your odds for living a longer and healthier life where you feel good on the inside.  

YES, YOU CAN DO THIS!