In 2004, the chief executive officer of American wellness company Blue Zones LLC teamed up with National Geographic and the US National Institute on Aging.
They wanted to uncover specific lifestyles or certain environments that led to people living longer than expected.
Their goal was based on a Danish twin study that showed only around 20% of how long you live is caused by your genes.
The other 80% is caused by your lifestyle.
They then discovered five geographic areas around the world that had the highest percentage of people living more than 100 years.
These were called “blue zones”.
Yes. The Danish twin registry is one of the oldest and largest registries in the world.
It contains information about twins born in Denmark for the past 140 years!
Twins were recruited and then studied.
The premise behind the research is that it can be assumed twins contain extremely similar genetic material, denoting hereditary factors that they received from their parents and ancestors.
But after these twins grow up, move away from each other and live their own lives, what influences them would mostly be environmental factors.
These twins were assessed on their health using questionnaires, clinical examinations, blood tests, an ECG (electrocardiogram), weight and height.
The results showed that if the twins were male, there was only a 26% chance of hereditary factors influencing their longevity.
For females, it was only 23%.
The rest was up to their environment and lifestyle!
They are:
- Okinawa, Japan (which has some of the longest-lived women in the world)
- Loma Linda, California, United States (an Adventist community)
- Nicoya, Costa Rica
- Sardinia, Italy
- Ikaria, Greece.
In Blue Zones, people reach the age of 100 at 10 times greater rates than Americans.
So the research team went to these Blue Zones to study these long-lived people.
And they discovered that there were nine specific characteristics shared by these Blue Zone people, which they called “The Power 9”.
The nine characteristics include:
> Moving naturally
Blue Zone people live in natural environments that require them to move a lot.
They have gardens and not much access to mechanical equipment, such as cleaning robots or lawnmowers, to help them with housework or gardening.
So they have to do everything by themselves in the old-fashioned way using brooms, mops and spades.
They don’t even have the means to join gyms and such.
> They all have purpose
You can call this a sense of purpose or a reason to wake up in the morning.
They have purpose even when they are retired.
The Japanese call this “ikigai”. The Nicoyans call it “plan de vida”.
It doesn’t matter how small your purpose is.
It may be to wake up to take your grandchildren to school, or to walk down the road to volunteer at the local animal shelter, or to go out with your friends to improve your pickleball score.
Human beings need purpose to live longer.
In fact, having a sense of purpose helps you live up to seven years longer.
One of the worst things anyone can do for their own lives is to have no purpose at all.
So you spend the whole day watching Netflix to waste away your hours.
In my How to have a fantastic retirement column in StarSilver, I usually tell people: “A human being’s default purpose is to grow and to give.”
Have you grown enough in your lifetime?
Have you learnt enough, or are there new things you can learn or be better at (whether mental or physical)?
Have you given enough in your lifetime?
Are there any causes you are passionate about?
People you want to help? Groups that you want to join so that you can help your community, favourite charity or house of worship?
By answering these questions, you can discover your purpose(s)!
You can have multiple purposes at any one time, and also different purposes throughout the course of a year, and certainly, your lifetime!
The third characteristic is:
> Ways to decompress your stress
Blue Zone people also suffer stress, but they have rituals and habits to reduce their stress.
Okinawans like to remember their ancestors every day. Ikarians like to nap!
Stress leads to chronic inflammation, and inflammation leads to diseases such as heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, etc.
I will continue with the other characteristics in my next Tell Me About column (in StarLifestyle on Dec 8, 2025, and online on Dec 11, 2025).
Dr YLM graduated as a medical doctor, and has been writing for many years on various subjects such as medicine, health, computers and entertainment. For further information, email starhealth@thestar.com.my. The information provided is for educational and communication purposes only, and it should not be construed as personal medical advice. Neither The Star nor the author gives any warranty on accuracy, completeness, functionality, usefulness or other assurances as to such information. The Star and the author disclaim all responsibility for any losses, damage to property or personal injury suffered directly or indirectly from reliance on such information.
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