Blue Zones Offer Health Lessons Compatible with Asian American Lifestyles
By Najla Zaidi | 12 Aug, 2025

People in Blue Zones, areas with high concentrations of centenarians, share several key lifestyle traits that contribute to their longevity.

It's not genetics but lifestyle, Stupid!  

The Danish Twin Study proved that only 20% of how long a person lives is determined by genes while 80% depends on lifestyle. For the best examples of life-extending lifestyles, look no further than Loma Linda, California, one of the five Blue zones that boast the world's highest concentration of centenarians and supercentenarians.  

Epidemiologist Gianni Pes and demographer Michel Poulain first identified Blue Zones while conducting a study on mortality in Sardinia, Italy.  They drew blue concentric circles on a map, highlighting areas associated with longevity.  These areas became known as the “Blue Zones.” 

In 2004, Dan Buettner, CEO of Blue Zones LLC, was determined to uncover the specific aspects of lifestyle and environment that led to longevity.  By teaming up with National Geographic and the National Institute on Aging, Buettner and his team, demographically and geographically confirmed the five areas with the highest percentage of centenarians are Loma Linda, California USA, Nicoya, Costa Rica, Sardinia, Italy, Ikaria, Greece and Okinawa, Japan. 

Buettner then went on to investigate what these zones shared to enable the residents to outlive everyone else on the planet.  He found that there are nine aspects that these superhumans had in common to live well beyond the United States average life expectancy of 78.6 years.  Many of these traits are already a part of Asian culture, while others are aspects that can be incorporated to add years to your life. 

First, Blue Zone residents stay active throughout their lives.  They don’t join gyms or force themselves to exercise but rather move naturally all day long.  Their preferred mode of transportation is walking or cycling.  Sardinia is home to the world’s longest-lived men. 

Sardinian shepherds walk over five miles a day on mountainous terrain.  This natural movement provides cardiovascular benefits and has a positive effect on muscle and bone metabolism without having to run marathons.

In Okinawa residents take up gardening to grow vegetables and remain mobile.  They also don’t have mechanical conveniences for yard and housework and do it the old-fashioned way by their own manual labor.  Additionally, they practice tai-chi, an ancient Chinese martial art. 

Residents of Nicoya enjoy physical chores and remain physically active late into their lives.  An investigation of elderly Ikarians revealed that habitual physical activity is associated with improved endothelial function (blood vessels, heart and lymphatic systems) and increased total antioxidant capacity.

People in the Blue Zones have a sense of purpose in their lives.  The Okinawans call it “Ikigai” and the Nicoyans call it “plan de vida;” for both it translates to “why I wake up in the morning.”  Knowing your sense of purpose is worth up to seven years of extra life expectancy.  

One meta-analysis including 10 studies and more than 136,000 participants found significant connections between having a clear sense of purpose in life and a lower risk for death from any cause.  The Japanese view Ikigai as indispensable to well-being.  People may find Ikigai in one or more areas of life, such as work, family or communication with neighbors.

Even people in the blue zones experience stress.  Stress leads to chronic inflammation, associated with every major age-related disease.  What the world’s longest-lived people have that we don’t are routines to shed that stress. 

Okinawans tend to their gardens and pay homage to their ancestors each day.  Sardinians have a happy hour from 5 to 8pm.  Seventh-day Adventists observe Sabbath for 24 hours a week; an opportunity to relieve stress and connect with nature.  Ikarians also take a midafternoon nap.  People who nap regularly have up to 35% lower chances of dying from heart disease.  It may be because napping lowers stress hormones or rests the heart. 

The healthiest people in the world don’t eat until they’re uncomfortably full.  People in the Blue Zones stop eating when they are about 80% full.  The Okinawan, 2500-year-old Confucian mantra “hara hachi bu,” that loosely translates to “belly 80 percent full,” is said before meals to remind them to stop eating when their stomachs are about 80% full. 

In doing so, they tend to eat fewer calories overall and lower the risk for obesity and obesity-related disease.  Additionally, people in the Blue Zones eat their smallest meal in the late afternoon or early evening and then they don’t eat anything the rest of the day.  They also limit consuming sugar and processed foods.

Many Asian cuisines are rich in plant-based ingredients like rice, vegetables, fruits, and tofu.  Blue Zone diets are also nearly 100% plant based.  The blue zone diet is rich with an abundance of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and legumes.  People in the Blue Zones eat only 11-15 pounds of meat per year on average, which is mostly pork according to studies.  By contrast, Americans are projected to consume an estimated 219 pounds of meat per person in 2025 per the USDA.  This highlights one possible reason why people in the Blue Zones live longer. 

In fact, large studies have linked healthy plant-based diets with decreased risk of death from all causes.  Plant-based diets tend to be lower in calories and saturated fat and higher in fiber and antioxidants than omnivorous diets, and studies have linked them with lower rates of chronic disease.  Adults in the Blue Zones also tend to have 1-2 glasses of red wine per day, always with food and often with family or friends.

While Seventh Day Adventists traditionally abstain from alcohol, many adults in the other Blue Zones enjoy red wine regularly.  Red wine is rich in polyphenols an antioxidant, and studies suggest that moderate amounts of them may lower the risk for cancer, cardiovascular disease and early death.  Okinawans enjoy saki while Sardinians drink Cannonau wine which has 2 or 3 times the level of artery-scrubbing flavonoids as other wines.  Moderate wine consumption may help explain the lower levels of stress among men as well. 

Blue zone inhabitants enjoy a sense of belonging.  Almost all the centenarians belonged to some faith-based community.  Denomination doesn’t seem to matter.  Research shows that attending faith-based services four times per month will add 4 to 14 years of life expectancy.  

A study of people over 90 years old living in Ikaria revealed that 90% believed in God, and over 80% participated in religious events.  Seventh-day Adventists reported better physical and mental health than national US norms, per another study. 

Like most Asian cultures, family is at the center of life in Blue Zones, with strong family ties and a focus on intergenerational relationships.  This includes caring for aging parents and spending time with loved ones.  For example, children in Okinawa are placed into groups of five called “moai.”  These small friendship circles provide social and emotional support for each other from early childhood to death. 

In other Blue Zones it’s common for aging adults to live with their adult children or other relatives.  One review of studies conducted over a period of 34 years found that loneliness and social isolation contributes just as much to risk for death as other well-established risk factors.

Finally, blue zone residents choose or were born into social circles that supported healthy behavior.  Research from the Framingham Studies shows that smoking, obesity, happiness, and even loneliness is contagious.  Therefore, the social networks of long-lived people have favorably shaped their healthy behaviors and extended their lives. 

There are many similarities with Asian culture and Blue Zone centenarians.  By adapting more of their healthy traits, you can also seamlessly extend your life just as they have.