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| Ikaria, Greece (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.
I first heard about Ikaria, Greece in 2012 when I read about the amazing story of Stamatis Moraitis.
His story is also featured in the book. What is Stamatis' story? When Stamatis was in his early 60s, he felt short of breath and he fatigued easily. His doctor took x-rays and quickly concluded that Stamatis had lung cancer... Four more doctors confirmed the diagnosis. They gave him six to nine months to live.
Stamatis considered 2 options - stay in the US where he could seek aggressive cancer treatment at the local hospital. That would allow him to remain close to his three children, who were now adults. Or he could return to Ikaria, his hometown. There, he could be buried with his parents in a sloping cemetery shaded by oak trees overlooking a cobalt blue Aegean Sea. A funeral in Boynton Beach (US) would cost at least $1,200, while a nice funeral in Ikaria would cost only about $200.
Stamatis and his wife decided to move back in with Stamatis’ elderly parents in Ikaria. During his first few weeks there, he spent his days in bed. But since he was only given a few months to live, he decided to reconnect with his religion. On Sunday mornings, he forced himself out of the house and hobbled up the hill to a tiny Greek Orthodox chapel.
When his childhood friends discovered that he had moved back, they started visiting him regularly. They would talk for hours, invariably bringing him the locally produced wine, which he sipped all day long. What the hell, he thought, I might as well die happy.
In the ensuing months, something strange happened. He started to feel stronger. He got out of bed in the afternoon and shuffled around the gardens and vineyards behind the house... He planted some potatoes, green onions, garlic, and carrots. He didn’t expect to be alive to harvest them, but he enjoyed feeling the sunshine, breathing the clean ocean air, and getting his hands dirty.
Six months came and went. Stamatis didn’t die. Instead, he was able to harvest what he planted. He went on with his island routine - he woke up late, worked in the vineyards until mid-afternoon, made himself lunch, and then took a long nap. In the evenings, he either drank wine with friends at home or walked to the local tavern where he stayed up past midnight playing dominoes. The years passed. His health continued to improve.
At the time the author interviewed Stamatis for the book, Stamatis was 100 years old and cancer-free. 😱 He never went through chemotherapy, took drugs, or sought therapy of any sort. All he did was move to Ikaria. 6 months became 35 years and still going! 💪💪
While in Ikaria, Buettner also went to meet a couple married for more than 75 years. Vasilis and Eleutheria were born on Ikaria, married in their early 20s, and lived on the same plot of land their entire lives. They raised five kids.
Like everyone else in Ikaria, their daily routine was -
Wake late, work in the garden, have a late lunch, take a nap. At sunset, they would either visit neighbors or neighbors would visit them. They would drink tea or wine, eat a late dinner, and go to bed. Their diet was also typical of the area: a breakfast of goat’s milk, condensed wine, sage tea or coffee, and honey and bread. Lunch was almost always beans (lentils, garbanzos), potatoes, greens (fennel, dandelion, or a spinach-like green called horta), and whatever seasonal vegetable their garden produced; dinner was bread and goat’s milk. Meat was reserved mostly for festivals or holidays when they would slaughter the family pig.
Wow, the Ikarian life sounds like vacation time everyday! 😊
In summary, below are the secrets to a long life of the oldest people in Ikaria, Greece as revealed in the book:
- Drink some goat’s milk. Adding some goat milk to your diet could provide a great source of calcium, potassium... goat milk is very similar to human milk which promote intestine flora. It's usually hypoallergenic and could be taken by those with lactose intolerance.
- Mimic mountain living. The longest lived Ikarians tended to be poor people living in the island’s highlands. They exercised mindlessly, by just gardening, walking to their neighbor’s house, or doing their own yard work. The lesson to us: Engineer more mindless movement into our lives by living in neighborhoods with sidewalks, owning a bike, taking the stairs and planting a garden. To put simply, we don't have to be marathoners; all we need to do is to engage in regular, low-intensity physical activity during our daily work routine so we don't have to exercise (or go to the gym) for the sake of exercising.
- Eat a Mediterranean-style diet. Ikarians eat a variation of the Mediterranean diet, with lots of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans, potatoes and olive oil... Never cook with so much heat that the oil smokes. High heat breaks down healthy fats, making them much less healthy.
- People in Ikaria enjoy drinking herbal teas with family and friends, and scientists have found that they pack an antioxidant punch. Wild rosemary, sage, and oregano teas also act as a diuretic, which can keep blood pressure in check by ridding the body of excess sodium and water. The key is to drink herbal teas every day and rotate varieties.
- Nap. Take a cue from Ikarians and take a mid-afternoon break. People who nap regularly have up to 35 percent lower chances of dying from heart disease. It may be because napping lowers stress hormones or rests the heart.
- Fast occasionally. Ikarians have traditionally been fierce Greek Orthodox Christians. Their religious calendar called for fasting almost half of the year. Caloric restriction—a type of fasting that cuts about 30 percent of calories out of the normal diet - is the only proven way to slow down the aging process in mammals.
- Make family and friends a priority. Ikarians foster social connections, which have been shown to benefit overall health and longevity. In fact, researchers who analyzed 148 different studies found that people who weren’t connected to their communities had a 50 percent greater chance of dying during the follow-up period of seven and a half years (on average) than those who had strong social networks. So get out there and make some plans.
But as Buettner explains, each secret reinforces the other. For example, merely eating a Mediterranean diet everyday won't necessarily result to a long life if let's say, you don't have purpose or religion.
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 are now supercentenarians (a term which refers to people who surpass 110 years old). 💪💪💪
*Italicized text are excerpts from the book.
