Live to 100 (Secrets of The Blue Zones)

 

CHAPTER 1: THE JOURNEY BEGINS

[Birds Chirping]

Most of us dont even wanna think about dying, getting frail, losing vitality, closing our eyes for the last time. But one thing's for sure. It's coming. The question is, when?

How many years will you get out of your body? And do we even have any say in the matter?

I have found that most of what people think leads to a long, healthy life is misguided or just plain wrong. It's not like we dont care about this stuff. Every year, Americans spend billions of dollars on diet plans, gym memberships, and supplements. But it's clearly not working for us. 

The fact of the matter is that most of us are leaving good years on the table. Worldwide, about two-thirds of the eight billion people on this planet will die prematurely from an avoidable disease. 

And in America, for the first time in a century, life expectancy is dropping. So, how do we fix this?

I believe it's not by trying to prevent death. It's by learning how to live. What if we could reverse engineer longevity? 

Well, I spent the last 20 years trying to do just that. But instead of looking for answers in petri dishes or test tubes, I found five places around the world where people are getting the outcomes we want. Some of these places are islands. Other places are mountains. Some are impossibly remote. But some are surprisingly urban. 

And though they're vastly different of the surface, remarkably, they all share the same common denominators. They all follow roughly the exact same formula that produces the longest-lived people on the planet. 

These people live to 100 at the highest rates in the world. They're living vibrant, active, happy lives, and perhaps the biggest takeaway is they live longer without trying. And their secrets could helped every one of us to get every good year we can get out of this body of ours. That is the promise of Blue Zones. 

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Tonight's speaker has spent the last 20 years finding the longest-living people in the world and learning their wisdom. Dan Buettner is a National Geographic Explorer and best-selling author. He's put that wisdom to work, to raise the life expectancy of dozens of communities across the US. 

I never set out to be a longevity guru or fix America's health care system. I got here in a very unexpected way. It began with my dad and his dad. 

My dad was a great father for instilling this sense of adventure in me. His idea of fun, when we were kids, was to go into the wilderness for weeks at a time, taking me and my brothers along. 

And my grandpa, he always wanted me to be a great athlete, and I always on the bench. But he gave me my first bike and that became my ticket to see the world. 

By the time I graduated from college in an age when most people were doing useful and productive things with their lives, I struck off to set three world records by bicycling across five continents. 

You know, we went through hurricane and earthquakes and floods, and we didnt think we were gonna make it.

When you've biked around the global and broken all these records, where do you go from there? I needed to find adventure with purpose. And for me, that meant I needed to find an expedition that solved a great mystery. 

And I remember one day, I came across a World Health Organization study that found that Okinawa, Japan, produced the longest-lived people in the history of the world, and I said, "That's a good mystery."

At about 900 miles south of Tokyo, you find a cluster of islands, which is sort of like the Hawaii to Japan. Sugar sand beaches, tropical jungles, turquoise waters. But more importantly, for hundreds of years, this has been the Land of the Immortals.    

Okinawa, Japan, has produced the longest-lived population in human history. They have a fraction the rate of diabetes. They have one-fifth the rate of heart disease, very little dementia, and they are making it to 100 at a rate far surpassing the United States. And the numbers are particularly extraordinary among women. 

Dan: So I'm wondering how you are all related to Umeto-san.

Umeto Yamashiro (Age 101): (Translated from Japanese) Three of them are my granddaughters. And this is my second son. That is the first daughter and the second daughter. 

Dan: Okay, so we have three generations here. I'm a young child of 61. If I want to live to be 101, what's your recommendation?  

Umeto: You're still a kid!

Dan: (laugh) I'll take it!

Umeto: Always have fun. Dont get angry. Have fun with everyone. Make everyone happy. I dont get angry. 

Dan: So, the key is to be easygoing, to not let things upset you, and to forgive quickly?

Umeto: This laughter brings us longevity. 

Dan: Oh, I love that. I feel it.

Umeto sang in Japanese: Dont catch a cold. Dont fall down. Dont forget to laugh. And talk often...

101 years old Umeto-san. She's vital, vigorous, funny, positive. And then she plays this Okinawa sort of banjo instrument, with the plucking, with precision. Not missing a not. Singing this song and to have that cognitive ability, that vitality, that positiveness all in one package. I look at her, and I say, "I want that".