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| Loma Linda, California (Source) |
What are Blue Zones? These are "regions of the world where people people enjoy up to 3 times better chance of reaching 100 years old than we do" Buettner explains. Where are the Blue Zones in the world? Okinawa (Japan), Sardinia (Italy), Nicoya (Costa Rica), Icaria (Greece) and Loma Linda, California.
Loma Linda is Spanish for “lovely hill” and the centenarians here are Adventists whose religion discourages the consumption of meat in general, as well as rich foods, caffeinated drinks, and even “stimulating” condiments and spices. Some of the most conservative Adventists don’t also believe in going to the movies or the theater or indulging in any other form of popular culture. There's a saying that “Cleanliness is next to Godliness"; for Adventists, healthiness is next to Godliness.
One of the Adventist centenarians whom Buettner met is 100-year old Marge Jetton. Marge woke up at 4:30am and after getting dressed, she did what she called “my devotions,” reading lyrics in the song hymnal, and then the Bible.
After praying, Marge walked in the hallway to the other end of the building of the facility for the elderly, back and forth six times, total of about a mile! 😱💪 She would stop by the dining area and drink a glass of water every time she passes there, thus she ends up drinking 6 glasses of water before breakfast. 😱
Not only does she power-walk but also rides a stationary bike and does 6 to 8 miles a day (😱) and also weight-lifts! She lifts a 5 pound dumbbell for each hand. 😱 Shame on me, my dumbbells at home are only 2 pounds each! 🙈🙊😂😂
Here are some words of wisdom from Marge -
“It took me a year to realize that the world wasn’t going to come to me,” Marge said. “That’s when I started volunteering again, and it was the best thing to ever happen to me. I found that when you are depressed, that’s when you do something for somebody else.
When asked if she ever got lonely, she replied - “Well, sure, you miss people. Most of my friends have died. My husband is dead,” she said matter-of-factly. “But I just like to talk to people. My motto is: A stranger is a friend we haven’t met yet.
Buettner also interviewed an Adventist nonagenarian, Ellsworth Wareham, who was 91 at that time. At 91, he still performs open-heart surgery! 😱 He assists in open heart surgeries about two to three times per week. 😱 He shares - “My hands are still steady, my vision is good, and I don’t have Alzheimer’s disease." To increase my endurance I exercise regularly by doing my own landscape maintenance and gardening. But in recent years, in spite of adequate exercise, my stamina is decreasing. The hormones that build the muscles are diminished. (Oh my, I am not even half of Wareham's age but I could feel my stamina is decreasing and have memory lapses! Tsk-tsk.... 🙈😂)
In summary, here are the secrets to a long life of the longest-living Adventists in Loma Linda, California as revealed in the book:
- A combination of four types of exercise will keep the body balanced and strong. Endurance: Activities like walking, hiking, swimming, and cycling improve the health of the cardiovascular system. Strength: Lifting weights builds up and maintains muscles. Flexibility: Stretching keeps us limber and flexible. Balance: Practicing balance through activities like yoga will help avoid falls.
- Studies have found that a belly laugh a day may keep the doctor away. In 2005, researchers at the University of Maryland showed that laughter helped relax blood vessels, linking it to healthier function and a possible decreased risk of heart attack. Others have found that laughter may lower blood pressure and increase the amount of disease-fighting cells found in the body.
- Find a sanctuary in time. A weekly break from the rigors of daily life, the 24-hour Sabbath provides a time to focus on family, God, camaraderie, and nature. During Sabbath, they shut off the television, not think about work or business, and just spend time with the people who are important to them. Adventists claim this relieves their stress, strengthens social networks, and provides consistent exercise. Sabbath reminds Adventists that they are creatures and not creators. It reminds them that they don’t need to have all the answers, that they recognize their finite capabilities, and that they are dependent on God.
- Adventists with healthy BMIs (meaning they have an appropriate weight for their heights) who keep active and eat meat sparingly, if at all, have lower blood pressure, lower blood cholesterol, and less cardiovascular disease than heavier Americans with higher BMIs.
- You don’t need to be a marathoner to maximize your life expectancy. Getting regular, low-intensity exercise like daily walks appears to help reduce your chances of having heart disease and certain cancers.
- Spend time with like-minded friends.
- Adventists who consume nuts at least five times a week have about half the risk of heart disease and live about two years longer than those who don’t.
- Give something back. Like many faiths, the Seventh-day Adventist Church encourages and provides opportunities for its members to volunteer.
-Adventist Health Studies (AHS) show that consuming fruits and vegetables and whole grains seems to be protective against a wide variety of cancers. For those who prefer to eat some meat, Adventists recommend small portions served as a side dish rather than as the main meal.
- A light dinner early in the evening avoids flooding the body with calories during the inactive parts of the day. It seems to promote better sleep and a lower BMI.
- Non-smoking Adventists who ate 2 or more servings of fruit per day had about 70 percent fewer lung cancers than nonsmokers who ate fruit only once or twice a week. Adventists who ate legumes such as peas and beans 3 times a week had a 30 to 40 percent reduction in colon cancer. Adventist women who consumed tomatoes at least three or four times a week reduced their chance of getting ovarian cancer by 70 percent over those who ate tomatoes less often.
- Adventist Health Studies (AHS) suggest that men who drank 5 or 6 daily glasses of water had a substantial reduction in the risk of a fatal heart attack—60 to 70 percent—compared to those who drank considerably less.
P.S. This second edition of the book was published in 2012 which means the interviews of some centenarians were conducted years before that. Some of them may have passed away already, but some could still alive and could now be supercentenarians (a term which refers to people who surpass 110 years old). 💪💪
*Italicized text are excerpts from the book.
*Italicized text are excerpts from the book.
