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+---
+title: The Longevity Experiment
+date: 2009-11-25T16:24:41Z
+source: http://adventure.nationalgeographic.com/2009/06/live-longer-dan-buettner-text
+tags: travel, health
+
+---
+
+Text by Josh Dean
+
+Dan Buettner knows a little something about longevity. He’s the holder
+of three separate Guinness World Records for distance biking: a
+15,500-mile ride from Alaska to Argentina in 1987, when he was 27; a
+12,888-mile journey across the Soviet Union in 1990; and a 12,172-mile
+jaunt through Africa completed in 1992. But it was research on longevity
+first published in *National Geographic* that really established his
+bona fides on the subject. The Minnesota native traveled to four
+countries to study the world’s heartiest humans. In Sardinia, Okinawa,
+Costa Rica, and Loma Linda, California, Buettner partnered with
+scientists to examine anomalous pockets where the number of centenarians
+vastly exceeded the statistical average. These areas became the subject
+of his book *The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People
+Who’ve Lived the Longest* (National Geographic). This spring Buettner
+continued his research, visiting a fifth zone, the Greek island of
+Ikaría in the Aegean Sea.
+
+Despite the tremendous cultural and geographic differences between these
+distant lands, Buettner has identified common practices that seem to aid
+in extreme longevity. He calls these “The Power Nine,” or the nine rules
+any person can follow in the hopes of emulating the world’s
+longest-living humans.
+
+We caught up with the author and anthropological explorer, now 49 and
+still based in Minnesota, and asked him about his work, as well as
+whether living the adventure life offers a speed pass to health and
+happiness.
+
+**Do you consider what you do adventuring?**\
+ I’m of the impression that most things sold as expeditions are
+stunts—bungee cords from hot-air balloons or stunt-y trips up Everest.
+These things don’t really add to the public discourse. They don’t offer
+up ideas. In my opinion, expeditions need to add to the body of
+knowledge or they need to educate.
+
+[**The Power Nine:** Secrets of long life from the world's healthiest
+humans
+\>\>](http://adventure.nationalgeographic.com/2009/06/live-longer-dan-buettner-text/5)
+
+**OK, educate: I don’t want to die at 50. What do I do? The first step
+is to think about who you hang out with.**\
+ There’s no silver bullet for longevity. I’m not gonna tell you to take
+a pill. If your three best friends are obese, there’s a good chance you
+will be. Surrounding yourself with people who don’t smoke or drink too
+much and who have a spiritual component in their lives has a profound
+impact over time. Cut out the toxic people in your life and spend time
+and effort augmenting your social circle with people who have the right
+values and a healthy lifestyle.
+
+**What’s the most important dietary change?**\
+ It’s very clear that the more meat you eat, the earlier you die. Cut
+out as much meat as you can. Don’t cut it out completely. That’s boring.
+Maybe go down to twice a week. That will have a huge effect. Have turkey
+on Thanksgiving, but don’t have it every night.
+
+**Does fish count?**\
+ Yes. None of the Blue Zone populations eat a significant amount of
+fish. All I can tell you is that it’s animal protein, and none of these
+cultures eat very much of it. You’re better off with a plant-based diet;
+that’s indisputable. Longevity is much more a function of what you don’t
+eat than what you do eat. The only proven way to slow down aging in
+mammals is caloric restrictions. We should take in about 40 percent
+fewer calories than we normally eat—but that’s unrealistic. Instead, try
+the 80 percent rule. In Okinawa they say *hara hachi bu,* which means
+eat until you are 80 percent full. How can you consciously cut out 20
+percent of your calories? For one thing, eat off of a smaller plate—as
+Okinawans do. Use a ten-inch plate instead of a 13-inch plate, which is
+a common size in the U.S.
+
+**But booze is OK?**\
+ It is. I was most amazed when we discovered that Sardinian wine had at
+least triple the amount of antioxidants of any known wine, and
+Sardinians drink this wine with great frequency and gusto. So you say,
+wow, here’s an easy explanation. But it’s not that simple. You don’t see
+that in Okinawa, for example. They drink some sake, but not much.
+
+**I found it surprising that all of the Blue Zones consume pork, which
+probably has the worst reputation in the U.S.**\
+ Pork is interesting. It’s an anomaly and I would not have guessed it,
+but I can’t deny it. One Okinawan scientist studied this. His theory,
+and I’m not sure I agree with it completely, is that because pig is the
+most genetically similar to humans, there’s something in the pork
+protein that helps repair arterial damage. What he cites is that in
+America we die of heart disease and the Japanese tend to die of strokes,
+but in Okinawa they have fewer strokes. This is part of the reason they
+live longer. The doctor theorizes that it’s because they eat more pork
+than any other prefecture of Japan, and pork protein serves almost as
+caulking.
+
+**Sardinians eat a lot of bread and cheese. I guess that means that not
+all carbs are evil?**\
+ You should eat some fat, some protein, and some carbs. None of them are
+evil; it’s when the balance gets out of whack that you get into trouble.
+These diets [like Atkins, or the low-fat craze] are the worst. They do a
+huge disservice. No diet in the history of the world has ever worked.
+You can’t point to one that’s worked for more than six months. That’s
+why you go to the bookstore and see 1,287 diet titles.
+
+**Well, one diet works: Limit your calories and lead an active life.**\
+ People don’t stick to that. What you find is that these Blue Zone
+cultures don’t deprive themselves, but they’ve learned to cook with
+recipes that are mostly plant based. You sit down to an Okinawan meal,
+and it’s this huge pile of food. But because it’s mostly greens and tofu
+and packed with nutrients, you’ll be full. It’s tasty; there’s no
+feeling of deprivation. The reason they stick with this sort of diet is
+because it tastes good.
+
+**You said it’s more about what we don’t eat than what we do eat.
+Anything we consider healthy that actually isn’t?**\
+ Just about anything you pull a wrapper off of. Do most of your shopping
+in the outer aisles of the grocery store.
+
+**You found that the Seventh Day Adventists in Loma Linda go for hikes
+on the Sabbath. Does time off promote long life?**\
+ The way I put it is ritualize. Ellen White is the primary architect of
+the Adventist religion, and she was way ahead of her time with her
+ideas. She ritualized at least one period of the week where you
+de-stress and do community building. You have lunch on Saturday with
+your family and friends. And she ritualized physical activity. She
+actually called for nature walks. Look at what they do on Saturday—they
+stop everything; they focus on their god; they cut the stress out of
+what they need to do; they all go to luncheons with really good friends,
+and then they’re off on the nature walk. And the payoff is six extra
+years of life for an Adventist female and nearly ten extra years for an
+Adventist male.
+
+**What other activities tack on years?**\
+ One of the greatest activities is growing a garden. You can say “That’s
+boring!” but you put it in your yard, and it requires physical activity
+to till the land, weed, water, harvest, fertilize. It’s there as a
+constant reminder to do a little bit of regular activity. It’s a
+range-of-motion activity, and it’s low intensity. And you emerge with
+organic vegetables. It’s something you have to do throughout the week
+for the entire growing season, and that’s important: subtle things that
+play out over time and not just fanatic exercise.
+
+**So how can you be really active and not damage yourself?**\
+ Do regular, low-intensity physical exercise. You get 90 or 95 percent
+of the benefit of running from walking briskly. We put an excessive
+emphasis on maximum cardiovascular exertion.
+
+**So running eight miles a day . . .**\
+ Is a mistake. It’s short-term benefit for long-term trouble. If you
+start running eight miles a day when you’re 20, by the time you’re 45
+your knees and hips will probably wear out. The damage to your cartilage
+can’t be undone. Really hard exercise also contributes to chronic
+inflammation. And almost every age-related disease is associated with
+inflammation. Is it a bad idea to get a good workout? No. But I’d rather
+see people walking every day than running.
+
+**That doesn’t sound like much fun.**\
+ Keep in mind that this isn’t just Dan Buettner pontificating. This is
+Dan Buettner having spent seven years with four—and soon
+five—populations of people who live the longest, and you don’t see
+marathoners and triathletes among them. You see shepherds and gardeners
+and people who take simple walks. The life expectancy through most of
+recorded history was 28, and our bodies aren’t designed for eight
+decades of pounding. If you want a body that’s usable after 70 or 80,
+you need to think about that now. Maybe don’t do marathons or
+triathlons. I was a fanatic athlete. I’ve backed way down. My addiction
+was biking. Now I do yoga. I walk.
+
+**Are you saying that all the endorphin-chasing, adventure-loving people
+reading this magazine should find something else to do with their free
+time?**\
+ Not at all. Here’s one thing I can tell you for sure—we know this from
+a big, global values survey: Taking the time to know what your values
+are and acting out those values are important ingredients in the formula
+for happiness. And we know that happier people live longer than unhappy
+people. That’s measurable. If your values include travel and a certain
+testing of your abilities and limits, you should invest time and money
+to do that. If that means climbing mountains or biking across continents
+or kayaking down rivers, by all means, do it. It’s probably worth the
+wear and tear on your body. But it’s not a universal to tell people that
+adventure is the key to happiness. Because other people find happiness
+curling up by a fire and reading a novel.
+
+**What led you to the newest Blue Zone?**\
+ On the Greek island of Ikaría, more people reach a healthy age 90 than
+anywhere else on the planet. We’re investigating the benefits of a local
+larval honey and the island’s radon-rich hot springs.
+
+**Do you think you’ll keep seeking out these pockets of hearty humans
+for the rest of your (hopefully) long life?**\
+ I thought I was going to be done with this in 2005, and here it’s four
+years later and I see no reason to stop. Now I’m going to fold happiness
+into it. The effect of unhappiness on your body is about as bad for you
+as a smoking habit. An unhappy person is about three times more likely
+to die in a given year than a happy person, for a variety of reasons:
+suicide, chronic stress, illness. If we can extract happiness secrets
+from the happiest populations, like we did with Blue Zones, we will help
+people raise their life expectancy.
+
+**The Power Nine:** Secrets of long life from the world's healthiest
+humans
+
+\
+
+**1. Move:** Find ways to stay active
+
+**2. Plan de Vida:** Discover your purpose in life
+
+**3. Downshift:** Take a break
+
+**4. 80% Rule:** Don't overeat
+
+**5. Plant Power:** Choose greens
+
+**6. Red Wine:** A glass a day
+
+**7. Belong:** Stay social
+
+**8. Beliefs:** Get ritualistic
+
+**9. Your Tribe:** Family matters