The other day I was having a conversation with a client of mine about life in their next few decades. The conversation started with a conversation about money but went a lot deeper and we spoke about living a long, healthy sustainable later life.

That’s when the subject of Blue Zones came up.

Now my client hadn’t heard of Blue Zones and I explained that it was a term which first appeared in a National Geographic article in 2005 called “The Secrets of a Long Life” – 5 “Blue Zones” Where the World’s Healthiest People Live and more recently published in a book by the original author of the article –  The Blue Zones, Second Edition: 9 Power Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest

The ‘Blue Zones’ concept shows that there are certain places in the world where individuals benefit from longer, healthier lives far greater than the average. These include the province of Nuoro in Sardinia, Okinawa in Japan, Icaria in Greece and within a religious group in Loma Linda, California.

Dan Buettner, the author of the original article and the book, became curious about what might connect these seemingly diverse places and they found a number of outstanding areas which were common across these zones…

Firstly Smoking was rare and drinking was moderate. Although Wine was popular it wasn’t drunk in ‘excess’ and typically with food.

Secondly people exercised regularly and moderately with walking being standard in a lot of these cultures. Also most people in these communities had a mainly plant based diet.

And 

Lastly there was a focus on having a purpose to life (something I find myself talking to my clients about more and more) as well as active social and family life and all of these communities actively having ways to reduce stress.

It’s interesting.

Whilst a lot of our conversations with clients are about their financial wellbeing more and more, and particularly since lockdown, we’re having more conversations about how to live a life with greater general wellbeing and I certainly think that the research conducted by Dan Buettner on Blue Zones might give us some clues on what it takes to live longer, healthier and potentially happier lives.

Feel free to pick up the book or read the original national geographic article and let me know what you think about the concepts of blue zones…

…and for now I’m off for a walk, then a plant based lunch, then back to work and maybe this evening a glass of wine. After all if the people who live the longest lives in the world recommend it who am I to argue?