The Secret of Longevity: the Secret of Living 120+ Years

Ever heard about the woman who lived 122 years? You might not have. But there was a woman Jeanne Louise Calment who was born in the city of Arles, France in the year of 1875. Neither she nor anyone else back then knew that Louise was going to cross the limits of imagination that how long she will be going to live. In her life, she saw changing of the whole world.

In 1889 when Louise was 14, the Eiffel tower was being built in France. In 1896, she got married. When in 1914, she was living happily with her family including here daughter, there happened a big explosion in Europe, and here the World War 1 began. In 1934, she lost her daughter because of a lung infection. By the death of her daughter, she was 59 years old, an age where normally people become grandparents. Even she might haven’t imagined that it wasn’t even half of the age she have lived so far. In 1942, when World War 2 was happening, where many people lost their lives, many got separated from their families, something similar happened to Louise’s family when she lost her husband at the age of 64. In 1947, she was 72 years old, she saw a lot of changings, she saw new countries getting independent, she saw candles getting replaced by electricity, she saw horses getting replaced by cars, and unknowingly she was watching the pages of history turning.

In 1969, when Louise was celebrating her 94^th birthday, mankind reached to the moon. She was living happily in her house at the age of 110, after that point she moves to a nursing house.

In 1988, world finally noticed her. There were talks about her, there were news that she has become the oldest living woman on the Earth. In 1997, she passed away at the age of 122. By that time, the computer and internet revolution had already begun.

She broke the records and set a record which hasn’t been broken by anyone yet. Well, what’s the secret of that long life? Let’s explore that in this article!

Obviously, many of you will be thinking that luck is pretty much involved in this. Which is true, if someone wants to live 122 years then luck is needed. But for living that long how much is the contribution of luck and how much is of life style?

Between 1870 and 1900, a research in Denmark was conducted and more than 2,800 twins were analyzed to see how much contribution is of genetics and how much is of life style in longevity. It is the famous Danish Twin Study. The conclusion was that an average person’s life is 20% dictated by genes and 80% dictated by life style and environment. Means what you eat, the way you exercise and healthy life style has a big impact on how much long life you’ll live.

But what and how are those healthy life styles? So to figure it we’ll need to have a look on those who are already living a long life.

It is about early 2000s when Dan Buettner, an explorer and an author, who was working for National Geographic decided to study those places where people live long lives. In 2003, he collaborated with Anthropologists, Historians, Dieticians and Geneticists.

They used population data to figure out places where there most people who live 100 years and above. These people are Centenarians because they’ve completed a century.

They found places like Sardinia, Okinawa Island in Japan where people live for 100 or more years. Okinawa Island, where the people have longest disability-free life expectancy. They set out an exploration to these places to figure out that why are these people living too long?

After some time, scientists and demographers find out 5 such blue zones. Blue Zones are such regions where people lives a healthier and a longer life than average.

These blue zones are:

1.   Sardinia, Italy.

2.   Okinawa Island, Japan.

3.   Loma Linda, California, U.S.A.

4.   Icaria, Greece.

5.   Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica.

The people who live in these blue zones live longer and healthier lives but what is the reason? Is there something special in these places? Is anything special in their clean water and clean air? Or is it their life style choices?

Dan and his team work here for years and when they publish their report, it is found that the real reason is their life style habits. Specifically there are 9 habits that are common in these all regions, they have named it as Power 9.

What are these Habits?

Let’s have a look on then so that you could also implement those in your life!

First of them is to Move Naturally. The elderly people living there don’t go gym or lift heavy weights but their environment encourages for natural moves. For example if they want to go to a friend or go to work, they’d try not to use cars, instead they’d go by walking. They usually grow gardens near their homes and where they go and work by themselves. If you compare it with modern times, it is like a person is sitting in a house, then they sit in a car, go to office and work while sitting there then to enjoy they sit in the car and go to the cinemas and then relax and sit while watching a movie there. So how less is natural walking in this modern world.

American Cancer Society conducted a survey on more than 125,000 adults where they found out that those people who sit for more than 6 hours have a 19% higher chance of dying in the next 21 years.

You should at least walk for 30 minutes a day. Well in these blue zones, natural walking is absolutely included in their daily lives. So as much as natural walking is included in your daily life; as much better it is for your health.

Well in walking only some specific muscles move but the movement of muscles of all the body is important for example we see in Okinawa that usually people don’t have a lot furniture in their houses like instead of dining tables they’d sit down on the floor for eating so normally their body moves up and down 3-4 times a day. So we can implement this as well, instead of normal desks, standing desks can be bought. Instead of using cars we can walk or use cycles as much as possible.

Then comes the purpose that usually people there in Okinawa don’t retire, they have the concept of “Ikigai” which means that a passion which gives value and joy to the life, in simple words it means the reason for being. So people there don’t retire and sit at home at the age of 90 or 100, instead they find Ikigai together.

A similar concept is in Costa Rica’s blue zone which is “Plan de Vida” which translates to “Life Plan”. Having a purpose in life is important. Now this purpose doesn’t means that you have to do something world shaking, you can do something regularly that makes you feel happy like the internal happiness. Such work that gives you long-term satisfaction like art or craft or a hobby that you enjoy doing.

Now, we all know that stress isn’t good for us. But do you know What Chronic Stress is?

It’s a stress that you’ve been enduring for a long period of time. It can be very dangerous for your health. Yale University tells that in a study it is found that the tick of your clock of age moves faster when you take stress. Stress increases the risk of Heart Attack, Diabetes, Cancer and almost all the diseases related with age are associated with it. So it isn’t possible that the people living in these blue zones don’t take stress.

So they have developed such habits in their routines of daily lives from which they could stay stress free. Like Okinawans meditate, remember their ancestors or spend time with family or friends. People in Adventists of California pray. Ikarians of Greece take nap. People of Sardinia in Italy follow happy hour. These all are such things which make you relieve stress. So sports, exercising, meditating or doing yoga, praying in front of God, social interactions or taking nap are all such things that can help you relieve your stress. In fact it is proven that taking nap can help you improve your cardio vascular health. Important is to not take stress.

Then the 80% rule. There’s a phrase in Japanese “Hara hachi bu” which translates to Eat until you’re eight parts full. People in Okinawa follow this so that they stop eating when their stomachs are 80% full. You shouldn’t fill your stomachs 100% as well.

So fasting is a very good option. In 1935 a scientist Clive Mccay did a shocking discovery on rats. He reduced their food and saw that the life span of rats has increased.

Many similar experiments on different animals have been done, specific details vary but the basic conclusion is that eating less in beneficial. Like eating less can reduce the organ stress, it can help the cells to age slowly.

Then people in Blue zones eat less meat and focus more on a veg diet. They eat beans and vegetables a lot. They eat meat but in a less quantity, usually five times a month. Eating vegetables and plant based diet can help you prevent many diseases.

Then people in the blue zones except California, drink red wine. It is found that red wine has some antioxidants which lower the risk of some diseases but this is according to the old research papers, this thing is outdated because modern researches have shown that even less amount of wine is harmful. So you it is best not to drink wine. The thing is that wine has no role in the good lives of the people of blue zones but the people of Blue zones just live happy lives even though of drinking wine. The beneficial antioxidants in the red wine are also found in grape juice and even better than grape juice it is also in grapes. So if you want to get benefit of it, just eat grapes.

Then it is recommended to belong a community, it can be any type of community the thing is that the community gives you a purpose. You can join social communities as well.

Then loved ones first, the people in these blue zones either live near to their aging parents or grandparents or either live with them. They take care of them and spend time with them and they pass the same thing in their generations too.

Then the last thing is the Right tribe. You adopt a thing faster when your surroundings are doing it too. If your friend circle or your surroundings are good and encourage good things then it is more likely for you to follow those habits. So make good friends and stay committed to them.

Then a question might be raised that is it possible for a good life expectancy outside the blue zones?

The same question was thought by Dan too and he thought that question too and a fact I’d like to tell now is that Singapore has also become a blue zone even though their habits are that healthy traditionally. Dan thought that Singapore can be the 6^th blue zone because of their good policies and good life expectancy and here it is, even though it is different from other blue zones in some ways.

Maybe that record of 122 years couldn’t be broken but if you follow the good life habits told here, you can live a happy and a good life. Don’t stop your journey of exploration, keep finding new things, learning new things and going into the depth of a thing. Have a good purpose in your life and follow the good habits and here you will live a good and a happy life.