BCHIP has partnered with State Senator Steve Santarsiero of the 10th district and the organization Blue Zones to help improve the health, longevity, and happiness of the residents of Bucks County. The Blue Zones organization is rooted in the research done by National Geographic Fellow Dan Buettner, who examined areas around the world where people seemed to live happier, longer lives. Drawing from his research, he wrote several books on these regions, which he named blue zones.
Blue Zones’ mission is to recreate these healthier regions all over the United States. They have led initiatives throughout the country, and now BCHIP and Sen. Santarsiero, with the help of a state grant, have asked them to begin working in Bucks County.
The first phase of the Blue Zones process is called the Ignite phase, thus the current initiative is called Blue Zones Ignite Bucks Area. In this phase, Blue Zones representatives assess the current state of well-being in the Bucks area (primarily the 10th district at this point) through engagement and education with local leaders and community members, which will generate recommendations for a full-scale transformation of the region.
Blue Zones has successfully transformed communities in states as diverse as Minnesota, California, and Iowa. Their projects build upon nine lifestyle behaviors that are found in the blue zones around the world:
- Move naturally: Rather than going to a gym, in most of the blue zones, people work with their bodies, whether by walking, gardening, or doing yard work without modern machinery.
- Have a purpose: Knowing one’s sense of purpose can add up to seven years to one’s life.
- Downshift: While stress is found everywhere, those in blue zones have less stress and know how to downshift out of it when it comes.
- 80% rule: Most people in the blue zones stop eating before they feel full – essentially when their bellies are 80% full.
- Plant slant: Meat is not the largest portion of food for most centenarians in the blue zones. A variety of beans tends to take center stage.
- Moderate wine consumption: In most blue zones, people drink wine moderately and regularly, 1-2 glasses per evening, with friends and/or with food. They do not binge drink.
- Belong: 98% of the 263 centenarians interviewed belonged to a faith-based community. Research shows that attending faith-based services four times per month can add 4-14 years to your life.
- Put loved ones first: Parents invest their time and love in their children, and their children in turn care for them in their old age, with parents often living in the home with the younger family members.
- Have the right tribe: The longest-lived people surround themselves with people who make positive life choices, and they often keep the same friends for most of their lives.
BCHIP is excited to partner with Blue Zones as they begin evaluating how to encourage these healthy life choices and what changes should be made to our infrastructure to encourage more natural movement through beautiful Bucks County.
