Plant Chat: Dan Buettner, Founder of Blue Zones®

Dan Buettner is a National Geographic Fellow and   New York Times   best selling author.  His   New York Times Sunday Magazine   article,   “The Island Where People Forget to Die”   was the second most popular article of 2012.  He founded Blue Zones®, a company that puts the world’s best practices in longevity and well-being to work in people’s lives.  Buettner’s   National Geographic   cover story on longevity,   “The Secrets of Living Longer”   was one of their top-selling issues in history and a made him a finalist for a National Magazine Award.  His books   The Blue Zones:   Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest   (2008) and   Thrive:   Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way   (2010) appeared on many best seller lists and were both featured on   Oprah.

In 2009, Dan Buettner and his partner, AARP, applied principles of   The Blue Zones   to   Albert Lea, Minnesota   and successfully raised life expectancy and lowered health care costs by some 40%.  He’s currently working with Healthways to implement the program in three Beach Cities of Los Angeles, Fort Worth, Texas, Kauai and the entire state of Iowa.  Their strategy focuses on optimizing the health environment instead of individual behavior change. Writing in   Newsweek, Harvard University’s Walter Willet called the results “stunning.”

Dan also holds three world records in distance cycling and has won an Emmy Award for television production.

I recently had the pleasure of asking Dan a few questions about his work with The Blue Zones. Read on for his fascinating story.  

What inspired you to start your work with The Blue Zones?

I’d been traveling the world for over a decade, leading a series of educational projects called “Quests”. At some point I learned about the incredible longevity in Okinawa, Japan, and grew curious about their secrets. My initial investigation involved interviews with gerontologists, demographers, herbalists, shamans, priestesses and centenarian Okinanwans themselves. I only scratched the surface, but the experience prompted me to search for other pockets of longevity.

What was involved in the process of writing your book The Blue Zones: Lessons for People to Live Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest?

I teamed up with National Geographic and the world’s best longevity researchers and spent nearly a decade identifying longevity hotspots around the world. These included Sardinia, Italy; Loma Linda, California; Nicoya, Costa Rica; Okinawa, Japan; and Ikaria, Greece. Then came years of interviews, data collection and analysis to identify the lifestyle characteristics these locations shared.

During your research and writing, was there a particular Blue Zone that made an impact on you? If so, what was it?

They all impacted me in different ways but if I had to choose, I’d say Okinawa. Seeing how the Okinawans support one another had a huge impact on me. Their moais, groups of people who stick together their whole lives, inspired the work Blue Zones does to build social connections in communities.

Since writing your book, what are you now doing to help improve American health?

I realized that we make healthy choices only when our environment nudges us towards those choices. So I started a company dedicated to helping communities optimize policy, planning, the environment and social network in order to make the healthy lifestyle an easy lifestyle. We’ve established Blue Zones communities in Minnesota, Southern California and Iowa, and we’re getting Hawaii and Texas off the ground this year.

Have any of your own habits changed since launching Blue Zones?

I eat more nuts – which are one of the best foods out there – and always make time for yoga, meditation, and a good night’s sleep.

If you could give the American public one overarching message to unleash the secret to longevity, what would it be?

Make time for the people you care about. Strong relationships are the key to adding years and also to enjoying years.

For more information about Dan Buettner and his work with The Blue Zones, visit his website at www.bluezones.com

You can also view his TedTalk, How to live to be 100+, here.