Debunking Blue Zones

Issue 157: We debunk the idea of Blue Zones and quantify the health benefits of social connection

What is the secret to a long life?

Two years, we ran a column based on a show on Netflix called “Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones”. In the show, Dan Buettner travels to areas around the world — including Okinawa, Japan; Ikaria, Greece; Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya, Costa Rica; and Loma Linda, California — where people live significantly longer than average, including many who live past 100.

He concluded: “What people think leads to a long, healthy life is misguided or just plain wrong”. The gym memberships and supplements people spend millions on might matter far less that other lifestyle factors.

It turns out that the notion of Blue Zones itself may be a myth! Saul Newman, a postdoctoral researcher in Australia discovered that these blue zones do not exist and appear to be a result of shoddy record keeping of vital statistics about births and deaths. In an interview with the New York Times he reported:

After analyzing 80 percent of all documented supercentenarians — people who live to be 110 — throughout much of the 20th and 21st century, Dr. Newman said that he found a “deeply shocking” amount of vital statistics were false or fabricated. But, he said, international organizations, national governments and scientists have kept relying on that data.

“I discovered that the oldest man in the world had three birthdays and no birth certificate,” Dr. Newman said about Jiroemon Kimura, a Japanese man who was said to be 116 when he died.

We wanted to debunk the false notion since we shared this information previously. We are a science-based publication and aim to update our columns when new information debunks the old. However, we also wanted to underscore that the rest of the points we raised in that same newsletter were scientifically accurate.

A new article in Nature Medicine found that social connections were a surprisingly powerful predictor of a long life. Living with a partner was roughly as beneficial as exercise. Regular visits with family or having someone to confide in also appeared to be associated with lower mortality. Loneliness also affects mental wellbeing—another factor in longevity. (See the great summary of other risk factors from the Economist):

Many of the features associated with longevity are are embedded in the cultures of communities, rather than individual traits. It should come as little surprise that people in these places tend to eat healthy diets (e.g., plant-based, with little processed foods) and exercise (e.g., walking or gardening daily).

Indeed, the thing that stood out to us is the extent to which people in the so-called Blue Zones also maintain a sense of meaning and have vibrant social lives well into their 80s or 90s. These places have networks of social support and purpose that permeate daily experience. They provide a model of how to live a rich life, as well as a long one.

LiveScience did a review of the show and reported that research supports the claim that strong social connections and close community ties promote longevity:

According to a 2010 meta-analysis published in the journal PLOS Medicine, individuals with stronger social relationships are 50% more likely to live longer than those who lack them. This was calculated as an odds ratio (OR) — the ratio of the chances of an event happening in one group to the chances of the same event happening in the second group. Put another way, an OR of 1.5 means that by the time half of a hypothetical sample of 100 people has died, there will be five more people alive with stronger social relationships than people with weaker social relationships.

The strongest association was found for social integration — a measure of one's engagement in their community. These results were consistent regardless of age, sex, health status or cause of death.

Meaning and relationships are, of course, the same things that give people joy and happiness. One of our favorite analyses on the power of social connection comes from economists:

When economists put a price tag on our relationships, we get a concrete sense of just how valuable our social connections are—and how devastating it is when they are broken. If you volunteer at least once a week, the increase to your happiness is like moving from a yearly income of $20,000 to $75,000. If you have a friend that you see on most days, it’s like earning $100,000 more each year. Simply seeing your neighbors on a regular basis gets you $60,000 a year more. On the other hand, when you break a critical social tie—here, in the case of getting divorced—it’s like suffering a $90,000 per year decrease in your income.

Yikes!

This is why having a good friend at work often plays a much greater role in our happiness than a fat raise. So if you have a job where you cherish your colleagues or live in a place where you feel connected to your neighbors, think twice before leaving!

Humans evolved in small groups where we relied on social connection to meet our basic needs. We are often happiest when we are part of groups or relationships that fulfill our needs for belonging.

Of course, this is in stark contrast to the individualistic and insular direction that we have taken as a society. A few years ago, the US Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, called attention to the public healthy crisis of loneliness, isolation, and a lack of connection. Even before the onset of COVID-19, half of Americans were experiencing loneliness and the problem has only gotten worse.

This disconnection affects our mental, physical, and societal health. “In fact, loneliness and isolation increase the risk for individuals to develop mental health challenges in their lives, and lacking connection can increase the risk for premature death to levels comparable to smoking daily.” The physical health consequences of poor social connection include a 29% increased risk of heart disease, a 32% increased risk of stroke, a 50% increased risk of developing dementia for older adults, and increases the risk of premature death by more than 60%!

What is to blame?

While there are numerous factors driving the pandemic of loneliness, we think that societal individualism likely plays a role. Individualism reflects the extent to which people feel independent, as opposed to being interdependent as members of larger wholes—and this tendency strongest is western countries like the United States, Australia, Canada, and the Netherlands.

The rise of technology—like the internet and smart phones—often serves to foster even greater levels of individualism in society. This is also why each generation tends to be more individualistic than the one that preceded it.

Although individualism affords the freedom of expression and individual rights that we deeply cherish, it often comes with a set of tradeoffs that have serious consequences for our physical and mental well being.

This is why building a sense of connection with a community comes with long term benefits for our health and happiness, even as it also comes with a set of social obligations to other members of our community or family.

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Catch up on the last one…

Last week, Evan Mawarire, one of the most influential people who fought against injustice in Zimbabwe spoke about his new book, Crazy Epic Courage. Read our interview with him where he shares his personal experiences of starting and fighting in a revolution: