General Wellness

THE BLUE ZONES – Summarized

Hello, Dr. Chuma here.

Before moving on to the main topic, just a quick Covid update. Case numbers in the US have doubled since my last post 2 weeks ago. Deaths have not increased by the same amount, but they are on the rise. More importantly, the new vaccines, covering the most recent Covid variants are now available so if you are more than 6 months out, get your vaccine please.

I have referenced the “Blue Zones” a few times as a model for what habits we should develop to live not just longer but healthier lives. I wanted to explain a little about these areas and what their common practices actually are.

The term “Blue Zones” was coined by National Geographic explorer Dan Buettner, who noticed during his world record bicycle travels that there were places in the world where there were a lot of centenarians, people who lived to over 100 years. But not only did they live long lives, they lived healthy and vibrant lives free of the chronic diseases which plague most western societies.  He and his research team poured over health, birth and death records and conducted exhaustive interviews with thousands of people all over the world and identified 5 such regions in the world and called these areas and locations Blue Zones because they used a blue marker to circle them on maps. These area include:

1. Sardinia, Italy. This island is home of the world’s highest concentration of male centenarians.
2. Ikaria, Greece. This area has one of the lowest rates of dementia.
3. Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica. This area in Central America has the second highest concentration of male centenarians and lowest middle age mortality.
4. Okinawa, Japan. Females from this island are the longest-lived population in the world.
5. The last zone has the healthiest population overall and is right here in the USA in Loma Linda, CA. This is where there is a very large concentration of Seventh Day Adventists, a Protestant Christian denomination which prohibits smoking and drinking alcohol and encourages plant-based diets and exercise. Their life expectancy is 10 years longer than their North American counterparts.

The 9 lifestyle habits common to all of these groups are:

1. MOVE NATURALLY. The world’s longest-lived people don’t pump iron, run marathons or join gyms. Instead, they live in environments that constantly nudge them into moving without thinking about it. They grow gardens and don’t have mechanical conveniences for house and yard work. You may not have a garden but you can do simple things like take the stairs rather than the elevator and park your car farther away from store entrances forcing you to walk farther.
   
2. HAVE PURPOSE. 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 adds 7 years of extra life expectancy. Too many people wake up every day dreading the drudgery of what they need to do that day. We must strive to find some purpose to what we do every day. For some, it’s helping people at work, for some it’s raising great kids. Whatever it is, find it. Losing your purpose may be partly responsible for the spike in health issues retirees experience.
   
3. DOWN SHIFT. Even people in the Blue Zones experience stress. Unmanaged 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 take a few moments each day to remember their ancestors, Adventists pray, Ikarians take a nap and Sardinians do happy hour.
   
4. EAT LESS. The Okinawan, 2500-year old Confucian mantra “Hara hachi bu” reminds them to stop eating when their stomachs are 80% full. The 20% gap between not being hungry and feeling full could be the difference between losing weight or gaining it. People in the Blue Zones eat their smallest meal in the late afternoon or early evening.
   
5. PLANT-BASED DIETS. Meat, mostly pork or fish, is eaten on average only 5 times per month and serving sizes are about the size of deck or cards. There are 5 pillar components to the all the Blue Zones daily diet:
   1. BEANS. Red, kidney, garbanzo, great northern, lentils… They are all good and are the cornerstone of all centenarian diets.
   2. WHOLE GRAINS such as oats, rice, barley and quinoa. Not refined and processed.
   3. GREENS. There are so many different types beyond just spinach, kale and arugula. Dandelion greens are the most potent on the planet.
   4. TUBERS. 80% of the Okinawan diet is sweet potatoes!
   5. NUTS AND SEEDS. They are all good, just be aware that they are all about 15-18 grams of fat per handful. Better fats for sure, but it adds up. Make sure they’re not roasted, salted or candied.
      
6. WINE at 5. People in all Blue Zones (except Adventists) drink alcohol moderately and regularly.  Moderate drinkers outlive non-drinkers. The trick is to drink 1-2 glasses per day, with friends and/or with food. And no, you can’t save up all weekend and have 14 drinks on Saturday. Sardinians make Cannonau wine, which has a significantly greater concentration of resveratrol, a compound found in grapes which is linked to longevity.
   
7. BELONG. 98% of the 100 year-olds interviewed during the Blue Zones research belonged to some faith-based community. Denomination doesn’t matter. Research shows that attending faith-based services 4 times per month will add 14 years of life expectancy.
   
8. LOVED ONES FIRST. Successful centenarians in the Blue Zones put their families first. This means keeping aging parents and grandparents nearby or in the home, which also lowers disease and mortality rates of children in the home. They commit to a life partner, which can add up to 3 years of life expectancy, and invest in their children with time and love. They’ll be more likely to care for you when the time comes.
   
9. THEY PICK THE RIGHT TRIBE. The longest-lived people choose, or were born into social circles that support healthy behaviors. Okinawans create ”moais”, groups of five friends that are committed to each other for life. Research from the Framingham Studies in Massachusetts shows that smoking, obesity, happiness, and even loneliness are contagious. They found that if your friend is obese, you are 57% more likely to be obese yourself. If your friend’s friend gains weight, you’re 20% more likely to gain weight, even if the middle friend does not gain weight. And you’re 10% more likely to gain weight if your friend’s friend’s friend gains weight! So pick your friends carefully.

For most people, to make it to age 100, you have to have won the genetic lottery. But most of us do have the capacity to make it well into our early 90’s and largely without chronic disease. As the Adventists demonstrate, the average person’s life expectancy could increase by 10-12 years by adopting a Blue Zones lifestyle.

Have a great Labor Day weekend.

Hopefully you are spending it with family and friends. Personally, some of my kids are coming home and we get to celebrate my in-laws, Petro and Orysia Hewkas, 60th wedding anniversary. We will have our own Blue Zone house full of family, which is my favorite place to be. 

Stay safe and be well.

AC

Covid Update

Hello, Doctor Chuma here for another health segment.

I would like to give another Covid and vaccination update.

Covid case numbers continue to increase, and not too surprisingly, rises in hospitalizations and deaths have followed suit. That having been said, we are a long way from where we were a few years ago.

The most recent weekly average deaths from Covid are around 500. This is the highest they have been in almost 6 months but to keep that in perspective, at the height of the pandemic, over 2000 a day, or 14,000 a week, were dying from this virus. However, 500 preventable deaths a week is still sad, especially if it is your spouse, child, parent or your friend.

The rise in Covid infections is occurring worldwide, and in some places, more severe cases are much higher than in N. America.

Fortunately, the rise in hospitalizations and deaths have not been proportional to the numbers of known infections. However, we are also vastly underestimating the numbers of Covid cases out there simply because people are not testing themselves and there are no independent reporting mechanisms in place anymore. Unfortunately, even doctors are not encouraging testing for Covid. 

We’ve all become complacent. We also have forgotten what things were like during the early months of the pandemic. It is easy to criticize how we did things today, but at the time, there was a lot we simply did not know. 

What we do know is that millions of people died and many millions got really sick. Covid 19 was not a conspiracy theory. It happened! The notion that we should not have closed schools is ridiculous. The notion that masking was not helpful is equally ridiculous. Had we not employed some of these measures, many more people would have died. Sure, we are dealing with some of the aftermath of the isolation and virtual world we lived in, but I would rather be able to try to help a child or relative through some of the social, psychological or other health impacts of the pandemic and illness, than not have them around at all because they died.

Although these most recent variants are not causing as much severe disease as previous variants have, people are still getting sick and those who are vulnerable, are dying. And the long-haul symptom rate remains at just below 10%.

As far as the Covid vaccines are concerned, the present version is a little less effective than before but newer, updated vaccines covering some of the newer variants will be out soon. 

As far as getting the combined flu and Covid vaccination, which is being promoted by the CDC, this is fine but timing is the key.

The effectiveness of ALL vaccines diminish over time. For some, like hepatitis or shingles, it takes years or decades for protection to wane. For the flu or Covid, protection is almost nonexistent by 6 months. That’s why timing for the flu season is crucial, getting the vaccine in October when the flu season starts so it protects you until the spring when the flu season ends. 

Because Covid is NOT seasonal, vaccination is recommended at least every 6 months. Remember that most of the surges, like the one we are in right now, have occurred during warmer weather.

If you are due for your Covid booster, get it now and get a separate flu vaccine in the early fall.  That is what I am doing.

In the last few weeks of the summer, it is important to remember to protect yourself and protect everyone else also. This is a mild disease for most people, but not for all. 

Please get vaccinated. Wear an N95 mask in crowded, enclosed spaces and if you are ill, stay away and take care of yourself. And keep in mind that even at 10 days after symptoms start, about 10% of people remain infectious with Covid! You are not free to go after 5 days.

Have a great weekend and remember that next Sunday is the 23rd anniversary of Ukraine’s Independence after the fall of the Soviet Union. This is also the 3rd Independence Day brave Ukainians are spending defending their country once again from a ruthless Russian invasion. 

Slava Ukraini (Glory to Ukraine)