Current:Home > ContactNovaQuant-Want to live to 100? "Blue Zones" expert shares longevity lessons in new Netflix series -ProfitLogic
NovaQuant-Want to live to 100? "Blue Zones" expert shares longevity lessons in new Netflix series
Oliver James Montgomery View
Date:2025-04-10 11:41:51
"Blue Zones" — parts of the world where people tend to live the longest — are NovaQuantcoming to life in a new series focused on tapping into their lessons on longevity.
In the four-part series "Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones" (streaming now on Netflix) Dan Buettner, the explorer and best-selling author who has studied Blue Zones for 20-plus years, takes viewers on a journey to regions with the highest number of centenarians, or people who live to 100: Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Ikaria, Greece; Nicoya, Costa Rica; and Loma Linda, California.
By stepping inside their homes and through interviews with Buettner, viewers learn about the foods that fuel this impressive population and other aspects of the lifestyles they lead on a daily basis that positively impact their health.
The four principles that span each zone? Eating wisely, moving naturally, connecting with others and having a purpose or outlook.
"The essence of Blue Zones is people live a long time not because of the things we think — they're not on diets, they're not on exercise programs, they don't take supplements," Buettner told CBS News. "They don't pursue health, which is a big disconnect in America, because we think health is something that needs to be pursued."
Instead, in Blue Zones, health ensues from their overall lifestyle, he says.
"It ensues by setting up your surroundings the right way, and in Blue Zones, those surrounding are naturally set up," he says, adding that these ideas are transferable no matter your age.
"Starting at any age will make you live longer," he says. "At age 60, you could potentially add six extra years. And at age 20, if you're a male, you could potentially add 13 extra years if you live in a Blue Zone lifestyle as opposed to a standard American lifestyle."
In his latest book, "The Blue Zones: Secrets for Living Longer," Buettner digs even deeper into how people can set up their surroundings to unconsciously encourage healthier choices, like residents of the Blue Zones.
"We make about 220 food decisions a day. Only about 10% of them, 22 or so, are conscious, the other almost 200 are unconscious," Buettner explains. "So the Blue Zone approach is not trying to make you muster discipline or presence of mind to govern those 20 decisions — our approach is to help you set up your kitchen and your social life so those 200 unconscious decisions... are slightly better."
In a "Person to Person" interview with CBS News' Norah O'Donnell earlier this year, Buettner shared plant-based recipe tips for longer living. But even those already familiar with his work will learn something from his latest projects.
There are about a dozen new insights to take away from the series, Buettner says, including a location he describes as a "Blue Zone 2.0" — Singapore.
"(Singapore) demonstrates that we don't have to be as sick and unhealthy as we are as a nation," he says. "There are other economically developed young countries that are vastly diverse, culturally speaking, that achieve much better health outcomes."
And Buettner says he isn't finished learning, teasing three new locations he's studying and hopes to share soon.
"I'm very interested in healthy life expectancy now. Blue Zones was about living a long time, and there are new metrics out that measure years of life lived at full health, and America does a pretty crappy job," he says. He believes these new locations should provide insight on "not just making it to 95 or 100, but making the journey an absolute blast and feeling good the whole way."
- Fruit and vegetable "prescriptions" linked to better health and less food insecurity, study finds
- 3 things you can do to eat well for cheap
Watch Norah O'Donnell's full interview with Dan Buettner in the video below:
- In:
- Health
- Dan Buettner
veryGood! (6)
Related
- Could Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft reunite? Maybe in Pro Football Hall of Fame's 2026 class
- El Salvador is gradually filling its new mega prison with alleged gang members
- 2 men charged with pocketing millions intended to help New York City’s homeless people
- U.S. reaches quiet understanding with Qatar not to release $6 billion in Iranian oil revenues
- South Korean president's party divided over defiant martial law speech
- Timeline: How a music festival in Israel turned into a living nightmare
- Vermont police get more than 150 tips after sketch of person of interest released in trail killing
- Sam's Club offers up to 70% discounts on new memberships through the weekend
- Woman dies after Singapore family of 3 gets into accident in Taiwan
- 'A Man of Two Faces' is a riveting, one-stop primer on Viet Thanh Nguyen
Ranking
- Trump's 'stop
- 5 things podcast: Book bans hit fever pitch. Who gets to decide what we can or can't read?
- Thousands of Israelis return home to answer call for military reserve duty
- 'Anatomy of a Fall' dissects a marriage and, maybe, a murder
- Whoopi Goldberg is delightfully vile as Miss Hannigan in ‘Annie’ stage return
- Douglas Clark, convicted murderer and half of the Sunset Strip Killers, dies of natural causes
- Prosecutor removed from YNW Melly murder trial after defense accusations of withholding information
- Jacob Wetterling's mom speaks out on son's case, advocacy work ahead of new book
Recommendation
Intellectuals vs. The Internet
El Niño is going to continue through spring 2024, forecasters predict
New Suits TV Series Is in the Works and We Have No Objections, Your Honor
Seth Rogen's Wife Lauren Miller Rogen Shares She Had Brain Aneurysm Removed
South Korean president's party divided over defiant martial law speech
Unpublished works and manuscript by legendary Argentine writer Cortázar sell for $36,000 at auction
Coach Outlet Has Perfect Pieces to Make Your Eras Tour Movie Outfit Shine
Here's Your First Look at Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell's Headline-Making Movie Anyone But You