Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Something called the Danish Twin Study established that only about 10 percent of how long the average
person lives, within certain biological limits, is dictated by our genes. The other 90 percent is dictated by
our lifestyle. So the premise of Blue Zones: if we can find the optimal lifestyle of longevity we can come up
with a de facto formula for longevity.
00:28
But if you ask the average American what the optimal formula of longevity is, they probably couldn't tell you.
They've probably heard of the South Beach Diet, or the Atkins Diet. You have the USDA food pyramid.
There is what Oprah tells us. There is what Doctor Oz tells us.
00:42
The fact of the matter is there is a lot of confusion around what really helps us live longer better. Should you
be running marathons or doing yoga? Should you eat organic meats or should you be eating tofu? When it
comes to supplements, should you be taking them? How about these hormones or resveratrol? And does
purpose play into it? Spirituality? And how about how we socialize?
01:08
Well, our approach to finding longevity was to team up with National Geographic, and the National Institute on
Aging, to find the four demographically confirmed areas that are geographically defined. And then bring a
team of experts in there to methodically go through exactly what these people do, to distill down the cross-
cultural distillation.
01:29
And at the end of this I'm going to tell you what that distillation is. But first I'd like to debunk some common
myths when it comes to longevity. And the first myth is if you try really hard you can live to be 100. False.
The problem is, only about one out of 5,000 people in America live to be 100. Your chances are very low.
Even though it's the fastest growing demographic in America, it's hard to reach 100. The problem is that
we're not programmed for longevity. We are programmed for something called procreative success. I love
that word. It reminds me of my college days.
02:13
Biologists term procreative success to mean the age where you have children and then another generation,
the age when your children have children. After that the effect of evolution completely dissipates. If you're
a mammal, if you're a rat or an elephant, or a human, in between, it's the same story. So to make it to age
100, you not only have to have had a very good lifestyle, you also have to have won the genetic lottery.
02:41
The second myth is, there are treatments that can help slow, reverse, or even stop aging. False. When you
think of it, there is 99 things that can age us. Deprive your brain of oxygen for just a few minutes, those
brain cells die, they never come back. Play tennis too hard, on your knees, ruin your cartilage, the
cartilage never comes back. Our arteries can clog. Our brains can gunk up with plaque, and we can get
Alzheimer's. There is just too many things to go wrong.
03:11
Our bodies have 35 trillion cells, trillion with a "T." We're talking national debt numbers here. (Laughter) Those
cells turn themselves over once every eight years. And every time they turn themselves over there is
some damage. And that damage builds up. And it builds up exponentially. It's a little bit like the days when
we all had Beatles albums or Eagles albums and we'd make a copy of that on a cassette tape, and let our
friends copy that cassette tape, and pretty soon, with successive generations that tape sounds like
garbage. Well, the same things happen to our cells. That's why a 65-year-old person is aging at a rate of
about 125 times faster than a 12-year-old person.
03:56
So, if there is nothing you can do to slow your aging or stop your aging, what am I doing here? Well, the fact of
the matter is the best science tells us that the capacity of the human body, my body, your body, is about
90 years, a little bit more for women. But life expectancy in this country is only 78. So somewhere along
the line, we're leaving about 12 good years on the table. These are years that we could get. And research
shows that they would be years largely free of chronic disease, heart disease, cancer and diabetes.
04:38
We think the best way to get these missing years is to look at the cultures around the world that are actually
experiencing them, areas where people are living to age 100 at rates up to 10 times greater than we are,
areas where the life expectancy is an extra dozen years, the rate of middle age mortality is a fraction of
what it is in this country.
04:59
We found our first Blue Zone about 125 miles off the coast of Italy, on the island of Sardinia. And not the entire
island, the island is about 1.4 million people, but only up in the highlands, an area called the Nuoro
province. And here we have this area where men live the longest, about 10 times more centenarians than
we have here in America. And this is a place where people not only reach age 100, they do so with
extraordinary vigor. Places where 102 year olds still ride their bike to work, chop wood, and can beat a
guy 60 years younger than them. (Laughter)
05:32
Their history actually goes back to about the time of Christ. It's actually a Bronze Age culture that's been
isolated. Because the land is so infertile, they largely are shepherds, which occasions regular, low-
intensity physical activity. Their diet is mostly plant-based, accentuated with foods that they can carry into
the fields. They came up with an unleavened whole wheat bread called carta musica made out of durum
wheat, a type of cheese made from grass-fed animals so the cheese is high in Omega-3 fatty acids
instead of Omega-6 fatty acids from corn-fed animals, and a type of wine that has three times the level of
polyphenols than any known wine in the world. It's called Cannonau.
06:14
But the real secret I think lies more in the way that they organize their society. And one of the most salient
elements of the Sardinian society is how they treat older people. You ever notice here in America, social
equity seems to peak at about age 24? Just look at the advertisements. Here in Sardinia, the older you get
the more equity you have, the more wisdom you're celebrated for. You go into the bars in Sardinia,
instead of seeing the Sports Illustrated swimsuit calendar, you see the centenarian of the month calendar.
06:46
This, as it turns out, is not only good for your aging parents to keep them close to the family -- it imparts about
four to six years of extra life expectancy -- research shows it's also good for the children of those families,
who have lower rates of mortality and lower rates of disease. That's called the grandmother effect.
07:04
We found our second Blue Zone on the other side of the planet, about 800 miles south of Tokyo, on the
archipelago of Okinawa. Okinawa is actually 161 small islands. And in the northern part of the main island,
this is ground zero for world longevity. This is a place where the oldest living female population is found.
It's a place where people have the longest disability-free life expectancy in the world. They have what we
want. They live a long time, and tend to die in their sleep, very quickly, and often, I can tell you, after sex.
07:41
They live about seven good years longer than the average American. Five times as many centenarians as we
have in America. One fifth the rate of colon and breast cancer, big killers here in America. And one sixth
the rate of cardiovascular disease. And the fact that this culture has yielded these numbers suggests
strongly they have something to teach us. What do they do? Once again, a plant-based diet, full of
vegetables with lots of color in them. And they eat about eight times as much tofu as Americans do.
08:14
More significant than what they eat is how they eat it. They have all kinds of little strategies to keep from
overeating, which, as you know, is a big problem here in America. A few of the strategies we observed:
they eat off of smaller plates, so they tend to eat fewer calories at every sitting. Instead of serving family
style, where you can sort of mindlessly eat as you're talking, they serve at the counter, put the food away,
and then bring it to the table.
08:40
They also have a 3,000-year-old adage, which I think is the greatest sort of diet suggestion ever invented. It
was invented by Confucius. And that diet is known as the Hara, Hatchi, Bu diet. It's simply a little saying
these people say before their meal to remind them to stop eating when their stomach is [80] percent full. It
takes about a half hour for that full feeling to travel from your belly to your brain. And by remembering to
stop at 80 percent it helps keep you from doing that very thing.
09:08
But, like Sardinia, Okinawa has a few social constructs that we can associate with longevity. We know that
isolation kills. Fifteen years ago, the average American had three good friends. We're down to one and
half right now. If you were lucky enough to be born in Okinawa, you were born into a system where you
automatically have a half a dozen friends with whom you travel through life. They call it a Moai. And if
you're in a Moai you're expected to share the bounty if you encounter luck, and if things go bad, child gets
sick, parent dies, you always have somebody who has your back. This particular Moai, these five ladies
have been together for 97 years. Their average age is 102.
09:54
Typically in America we've divided our adult life up into two sections. There is our work life, where we're
productive. And then one day, boom, we retire. And typically that has meant retiring to the easy chair, or
going down to Arizona to play golf. In the Okinawan language there is not even a word for retirement.
Instead there is one word that imbues your entire life, and that word is "ikigai." And, roughly translated, it
means "the reason for which you wake up in the morning."
10:31
For this 102-year-old karate master, his ikigai was carrying forth this martial art. For this hundred-year-old
fisherman it was continuing to catch fish for his family three times a week. And this is a question. The
National Institute on Aging actually gave us a questionnaire to give these centenarians. And one of the
questions, they were very culturally astute, the people who put the questionnaire. One of the questions
was, "What is your ikigai?" They instantly knew why they woke up in the morning. For this 102 year old
woman, her ikigai was simply her great-great-great-granddaughter. Two girls separated in age by 101 and
a half years. And I asked her what it felt like to hold a great-great-great-granddaughter. And she put her
head back and she said, "It feels like leaping into heaven." I thought that was a wonderful thought.
11:24
My editor at Geographic wanted me to find America's Blue Zone. And for a while we looked on the prairies of
Minnesota, where actually there is a very high proportion of centenarians. But that's because all the young
people left. (Laughter) So, we turned to the data again. And we found America's longest-lived population
among the Seventh-Day Adventists concentrated in and around Loma Linda, California. Adventists are
conservative Methodists. They celebrate their Sabbath from sunset on Friday till sunset on Saturday. A
"24-hour sanctuary in time," they call it. And they follow five little habits that conveys to them extraordinary
longevity, comparatively speaking.
12:12
In America here, life expectancy for the average woman is 80. But for an Adventist woman, their life
expectancy is 89. And the difference is even more pronounced among men, who are expected to live
about 11 years longer than their American counterparts. Now, this is a study that followed about 70,000
people for 30 years. Sterling study. And I think it supremely illustrates the premise of this Blue Zone
project.
12:40
This is a heterogeneous community. It's white, black, Hispanic, Asian. The only thing that they have in
common are a set of very small lifestyle habits that they follow ritualistically for most of their lives. They
take their diet directly from the Bible. Genesis: Chapter one, Verse [29], where God talks about legumes
and seeds, and on one more stanza about green plants, ostensibly missing is meat. They take this
sanctuary in time very serious.
13:09
For 24 hours every week, no matter how busy they are, how stressed out they are at work, where the kids
need to be driven, they stop everything and they focus on their God, their social network, and then,
hardwired right in the religion, are nature walks. And the power of this is not that it's done occasionally, the
power is it's done every week for a lifetime. None of it's hard. None of it costs money. Adventists also tend
to hang out with other Adventists. So, if you go to an Adventist's party you don't see people swilling Jim
Beam or rolling a joint. Instead they're talking about their next nature walk, exchanging recipes, and yes,
they pray. But they influence each other in profound and measurable ways.
13:54
This is a culture that has yielded Ellsworth Whareham. Ellsworth Whareham is 97 years old. He's a
multimillionaire, yet when a contractor wanted 6,000 dollars to build a privacy fence, he said, "For that kind
of money I'll do it myself." So for the next three days he was out shoveling cement, and hauling poles
around. And predictably, perhaps, on the fourth day he ended up in the operating room. But not as the guy
on the table; the guy doing open-heart surgery. At 97 he still does 20 open-heart surgeries every month.
14:33
Ed Rawlings, 103 years old now, an active cowboy, starts his morning with a swim. And on weekends he likes
to put on the boards, throw up rooster tails.
14:44
And then Marge Deton. Marge is 104. Her grandson actually lives in the Twin Cities here. She starts her day
with lifting weights. She rides her bicycle. And then she gets in her root-beer colored 1994 Cadillac Seville,
and tears down the San Bernardino freeway, where she still volunteers for seven different organizations.
I've been on 19 hardcore expeditions. I'm probably the only person you'll ever meet who rode his bicycle
across the Sahara desert without sunscreen. But I'll tell you, there is no adventure more harrowing than
riding shotgun with Marge Deton. "A stranger is a friend I haven't met yet!" she'd say to me.
15:26
So, what are the common denominators in these three cultures? What are the things that they all do? And we
managed to boil it down to nine. In fact we've done two more Blue Zone expeditions since this and these
common denominators hold true. And the first one, and I'm about to utter a heresy here, none of them
exercise, at least the way we think of exercise. Instead, they set up their lives so that they are constantly
nudged into physical activity. These 100-year-old Okinawan women are getting up and down off the
ground, they sit on the floor, 30 or 40 times a day.
16:05
Sardinians live in vertical houses, up and down the stairs. Every trip to the store, or to church or to a friend's
house occasions a walk. They don't have any conveniences. There is not a button to push to do yard work
or house work. If they want to mix up a cake, they're doing it by hand. That's physical activity. That burns
calories just as much as going on the treadmill does. When they do do intentional physical activity, it's the
things they enjoy. They tend to walk, the only proven way to stave off cognitive decline, and they all tend
to have a garden. They know how to set up their life in the right way so they have the right outlook.
16:42
Each of these cultures take time to downshift. The Sardinians pray. The Seventh-Day Adventists pray. The
Okinawans have this ancestor veneration. But when you're in a hurry or stressed out, that triggers
something called the inflammatory response, which is associated with everything from Alzheimer's
disease to cardiovascular disease. When you slow down for 15 minutes a day you turn that inflammatory
state into a more anti-inflammatory state.
17:08
They have vocabulary for sense of purpose, ikigai, like the Okinawans. You know the two most dangerous
years in your life are the year you're born, because of infant mortality, and the year you retire. These
people know their sense of purpose, and they activate in their life, that's worth about seven years of extra
life expectancy.
17:28
There's no longevity diet. Instead, these people drink a little bit every day, not a hard sell to the American
population. (Laughter) They tend to eat a plant-based diet. Doesn't mean they don't eat meat, but lots of
beans and nuts. And they have strategies to keep from overeating, little things that nudge them away from
the table at the right time.
17:46
And then the foundation of all this is how they connect. They put their families first, take care of their children
and their aging parents. They all tend to belong to a faith-based community, which is worth between four
and 14 extra years of life expectancy if you do it four times a month. And the biggest thing here is they
also belong to the right tribe. They were either born into or they proactively surrounded themselves with
the right people.
18:15
We know from the Framingham studies, that if your three best friends are obese there is a 50 percent better
chance that you'll be overweight. So, if you hang out with unhealthy people, that's going to have a
measurable impact over time. Instead, if your friend's idea of recreation is physical activity, bowling, or
playing hockey, biking or gardening, if your friends drink a little, but not too much, and they eat right, and
they're engaged, and they're trusting and trustworthy, that is going to have the biggest impact over time.
18:46
Diets don't work. No diet in the history of the world has ever worked for more than two percent of the
population. Exercise programs usually start in January; they're usually done by October. When it comes to
longevity there is no short term fix in a pill or anything else. But when you think about it, your friends are
long-term adventures, and therefore, perhaps the most significant thing you can do to add more years to
your life, and life to your years. Thank you very much. (Applause)
Romanian
Asa numitul Studiu al Gemenilor Danezi a stabilit ca doar aproximativ 10 procente din durata
de viata a unei persoane obisnuite, intre anumite limite biologice, sunt dictate de genele
noastre. Celelalte 90 de procente sunt dictate de stilul nostru de viata. Iata deci premisa
Zonelor Albastre: daca putem gasi stilul de viata optim pentru longevitate putem veni cu o
formula de facto pentru longevitate.
00:28
Dar daca ai intreba americanii de rand care e formula optima a longevitatii, probabil n-ar putea
sa ti-o spuna. Probabil au auzit de dieta South Beach, sau dieta Atkins. Aveti piramida
alimentara USDA Avem ceea ce ne spune Oprah. Avem ceea ce ne spune Doctor OZ.
00:42
Adevarul este ca exista multa confuzie cu privire la ce anume ne ajuta cu adevarat sa traim mai
mult si mai bine. Ar trebui sa alergati la maraton sau sa faceti yoga? Ar trebui sa mancati
carne organica sau ar trebui sa mancati tofu? Daca vine vorba de suplimente, ar trebui sa le
luati? Cum e cu acesti hormoni sau cu resveratrolul? Si a avea o tinta, are si asta un rol?
Spiritualitatea? Si cum anume socializam?
01:08
Ei bine, abordarea noastra asupra longevitatii a fost sa ne asociem cu National Geographic, si
cu Institutul National de Gerontologie, pentru a gasi cele patru zone confirmate sub aspect
demografic, care sunt geografic delimitate. Si apoi sa aducem un grup de experti acolo
pentru a cerceta metodic ce fac exact oamenii aceia, pentru a extrage esenta trans-culturala.
01:29
Si la sfarstiul acestui material, va voi spune in ce consta aceasta esenta. Dar la inceput as dori sa
demontez cateva mituri cunoscute cu privire la longevitate. Iar primul mit este ca daca va
straduiti puteti trai 100 de ani. Fals. Problema este ca, doar aproximativ unul din 5000 de
americani traieste 100 de ani. Sansele d-voastra sunt foarte mici. Chiar daca inregistram cea
mai rapida crestere demografica in America este greu sa atingeti 100. Problema este ca nu
suntem programati pentru longevitate. Suntem programati pentru ceea ce se numeste succes
procreativ. Imi place cuvantul acesta. Imi aminteste de zilele cand eram la facultate.
02:13
Biologii dau termenului de succes procreativ sensul de varsta la care aveti copii si apoi, la o alta
generatie, varsta la care copiii d-voastra au copii. Dupa aceasta varsta, efectul evolutiei se
disipeaza complet. Daca sunteti un mamifer, daca sunteti un sobolan sau un elefant, sau un
om, si orice intre acestea, e aceeasi poveste. Deci pentru a atinge varsta de 100 de ani, nu
trebuie doar sa fi avut un stil de viata foarte bun, trebuie, de asemenea, sa fi fost castigator
la loteria genetica.
02:41
Al doilea mit este ca ar exista tratamente care sa va ajute sa incetiniti, sa inversati, sau chiar sa
stopati imbatranirea. Fals. Daca va ganditi, sunt o mie şi unu de lucruri care ne pot
imbatrani. Privati-va creierul de oxigen doar cateva minute; si celulele creierului mor, si nu
se mai refac niciodata. Jucati tenis suprasolicitandu-va genunchii, distrugeti-va cartilajul;
cartilajul nu se va mai reface niciodata. Arterele ni se pot infunda. Creierul nostru se poate
imbacsi cu placi si putem face Alzheimer. Sunt prea multe lucruri care pot sa mearga rau.
03:11
Corpurile noastre au 35 de trilioane de celule, trilion cu "T". Vorbim de numere ce seamana cu
datoria nationala. (Rasete) Acele celule se regenereaza o data la opt ani. Si de fiecare data
cand se regenereaza sunt si defectiuni. Si defectiunile se cumuleaza. Si se cumuleaza
exponential. Seamana putin cu vremurile in care toti aveam albume cu Beatles sau cu
Eagles si faceam o copie pe o caseta audio, si-i lasam si pe prietenii nostri sa-si faca o copie
a casetei, si foarte curand, cu fiecare generatie succesiva banda va suna mai dezastruos. Ei
bine, aceleasi lucruri se intampla si cu celulele noastre. De aceea o persoana de 65 de ani
imbatraneste cu o rata de 125 de ori mai rapida decat o persoana de 12 ani.
03:56
Deci, daca nu puteti face nimic pentru a incetini imbatranirea sau pentru a o opri ce fac eu aici?
Ei bine, realitatea este ca stiinta ne spune ca, capacitatea corpului uman, al meu, al d-
voastra, este de aproximativ 90 de ani, un pic mai mult pentru femei. Dar speranta de viata
in aceasta tara este de doar 78. Deci undeva pe parcurs, pierdem aproximativ 12 ani. Acestia
sunt ani pe care i-am putea castiga. Iar cercetarile arata ca pot fi ani fara boli cronice, boli
de inima, cancer sau diabet.
04:38
Noi credem ca cea mai buna cale pentru a castiga acesti ani este sa ne uitam la culturile din
lume care beneficieaza efectiv de acesti ani, zone unde oamenii traiesc pana la varste de 100
de ani cu niste rate de 10 ori mai mari decat cele inregistrate la noi, zone in care speranta de
viata este cu o duzina de ani mai mare, rata mortalitatii la varste mijlocii este o fractiune din
cea inregistrata in aceasta tara.
04:59
Am gasit prima noastra zona la 125 de mile de coasta Italiei, pe insula Sardinia. Si nu intreaga
insula, insula are aproximativ 1,4 milioane de locuitori ci doar zona din munti, o zona
numita provincia Nuoro. Avem aici zona in care barbatii traiesc cel mai mult, de
aproximativ 10 ori mai multi centenari decat avem noi in America. Si este o zona in care
oamenii nu doar traiesc 100 de ani, ci o fac cu o extraordinara energie. Locuri in care
oameni de 102 ani inca merg pe bicicleta la lucru, sparg lemne, si pot infrange un tip cu 60
de ani mai tanar decat ei. (Rasete)
05:32
Istoria lor incepe din timpurile lui Hristos. Este de fapt o cultura a epocii bronzului care a fost
izolata. Pentru ca solul e atat de sterp cei mai multi dintre ei sunt pastori, ceea ce le da
ocazia sa faca activitate fizica moderata cu regularitate. Dieta lor se bazeaza in cea mai
mare parte pe plante, marcata de mancaruri pe care le pot lua cu ei la camp. Au inventat o
paine de grau integrala nedospita numita notamusica facuta din grau arnaut, o tip de branza
facuta din animale ce se hranesc cu iarba asa incat branza este bogata in acizi grasi Omega-
3 in loc de acizi grasi Omega-6 ce provin de la animalele ce se hranesc cu porumb, si un tip
de vin in care nivelul de polifeloni este de trei ori mai mare decat in oricare alt vin din lume.
Se numeste Cannonau.
06:14
Dar adevaratul secret sta mai mult in modul in care este organizata societatea lor. Si unul din
elementele cele mai proeminente ale societatii sardiniene este modul in care ii trateaza pe
batrani. Ati observat ca aici in America, echitatea sociala pare a fi maxima la varsta de 24
de ani? Uitati-va doar la reclame. Aici in Sardinia, cu cat esti mai in varsta, cu atat ai parte
de mai multa echitate, si cu atat intelepciunea iti va fi mai mult cinstita. Daca veti merge in
barurile din Sardinia, in loc sa vedeti calendarele Sports Illustrated cu costume de baie, veti
vedea calendarul “Centenarul lunii”.
06:46
Asta, dupa cum reiese, nu e bine doar pentru parintii d-voastra varstnici pentru a-i tine aproape
de familie; ci aduce un spor de aproximativ patru pana la sase ani la speranta de viata,
cercetarile mai arata ca asta face bine si copiilor din acele familii, care au o rata mai mica
de mortalitate si de imbolnaviri. Asta ne numeste “efectul bunica”.
07:04
Am descoperit cea de-a doua zona Albastra in cealalta parte a planetei, la aproximativ 800 de
mile sud de Tokyo, in arhipelagul Okinawa. Okinawa este formata din 161 de mici insule.
Si in partea de nord a insulei principale, este kilometrul zero al longevitatii. Aici este locul
in care a fost gasita populatia cu cele mai varstnice femei din lume. Este locul unde oamenii
au cea mai lunga speranta de viata fara disabilitati de orice fel din lume. Ei au exact ceea ce
vrem noi. Ei traiesc mult si tind sa moara in somn, foarte repede, si de multe ori, v-o spun
eu, dupa ce au facut dragoste.
07:41
Traiesc aproximativ cu sapte ani batuti pe muchie, mai mult decat un American obisnuit. De
cinci ori mai multi centenari decat avem noi in America. Au o cincime din rata cancerului
de colon sau de san, mari criminali aici in America. Si o sesime din rata bolilor
cardiovasculare. Si faptul ca aceasta cultura realizeaza aceste performante sugereaza in mod
clar ca au ce sa ne invete. Ce fac ei? Inca o data, o dieta bazata pe plante, plina de vegetale
cu multa culoare in ele. Si mananca de opt ori mai mult tofu decat americanii.
08:14
Mai important decat ceea ce mananca este cum mananca. Au tot felul de mici strategii care sa-i
fereasca de supraalimentatie, care, dupa cate stiti este o mare problema aici in America.
Cateva din strategiile pe care le-am observat: mananca din farfurii mai mici, asa ca tind sa
manance mai putine calorii la fiecare masa. In loc sa serveasca masa in stil familial, putand
astfel manca, fara sa va dati seama, in timp ce conversati, ei se servesc la tejghea, pun restul
alimentelor la loc, si apoi isi duc portia la masa.
08:40
Au deasemenea un proverb vechi de 3000 de ani, care, cred ca e cea mai grozava sugestie
inventata vreodata cu privire la dieta. A fost inventata de Confucius. Iar aceasta dieta este
cunoscuta ca fiind dieta Hara, Hatchi, Bu. In esenta este o mica zicala pe care acesti oameni
o spun inaintea mesei ca sa-si aduca aminte sa se opreasca atunci cand stomacul lor este 80
la suta plin. Ia cam o jumatate de ora ca acea senzatie de satietate sa ajunga de la stomac la
creier. Si reamintindu-ti sa te opresti la 80 la suta te ajuta sa te abtii tocmai de la acel lucru.
09:08
Dar, ca si Sardinia, Okinawa are cateva structuri sociale pe care le putem asocia cu
longevitatea. Stim ca izolarea ucide. Acum 15 ani, un american mediu avea trei buni
prieteni. Am coborat la unul si jumatate acum. Daca ati fi suficient de norocos sa va nasteti
in Okinawa v-ati naste intr-un sistem unde aveti automat un set de prieteni cu care sa
calatoriti prin viata. Ei il numesc Moai. Daca sunteti intr-un Moai se asteapta din partea d-
voastra sa impartiti premiul la noroc, si daca se intampla lucruri rele, copii se imbolnavesc,
mor parintii, aveti intotdeauna pe cineva care sa va sprijine. Acest moai particular, aceste
cinci doamne au fost impreuna 97 de ani. Varsta lor medie este de 102 ani.
09:54
Tipic in America ne-am impartit perioada maturitatii in doua parti. Este vorba de viata noastra
activa, cand suntem productivi. Si intr-o zi, bum, ne pensionam. Si in mod obisnuit asta
inseamna retragerea in fotoliu, sau plecatul in Arizona, la golf. In limba celor din Okinawa
nu exista nici macar un cuvant pentru pensionare. In schimb exista un cuvant care iti umple
intreaga viata, iar acel cuvant este "ikigai". Si, tradus grosolan, inseamna "motivul pentru
care te trezesti dimineata".
10:31
Pentru acest maestru de karate in varsta de 102 ani, ikigai-ul sau a fost sa transmita aceasta arta
martiala. Pentru acest pescar de 100 de ani a fost prinsul pestelui pentru familia lui de trei
ori pe saptamana. Si iata o intrebare. Institutul National de Gerontologie ne-a dat de fapt un
chestionar pentru a-l da acestor centenari. Si una din intrebari -- au fost foarte atenti la
aspectul cultural, ma refer la cei care au facut chestionarul. Una din intrebari a fost, " Care
este ikigai-ul dumneavoastra?" Au aflat instantaneu de ce se trezesc ei dimineata. Pentru
aceasta femeie de 102 ani, ikigai-ul ei a fost pur si simplu stra-stra-stra-stranepoata sa. Doua
fete separate in timp de 101 ani si jumatate. Si am intrebat-o cum se simte tinand in brate
stra-stra-stra-stranepoata. Si si-a ridicat capul si a spus, "Simt de parca am intrat in rai" M-
am gandit ca era un gand minunat.
11:24
Editorul meu de la [National] Geographic a dorit sa aflu zona albastra americana. Si pentru o
perioada am cercetat preriile din Minnesota, unde intradevar exista un procent mare de
centenari. Dar asta e din cauza ca toti tinerii au plecat. (Rasete) Asa ca, ne-am intors la date
din nou. Si am descoperit populatia cu cea mai lunga viata din America printre Adventistii
de Ziua a Saptea concentrata in si in jurul orasului Loma Linda, California. Adventistii sunt
metodisti conservatori. Ei sarbatoresc Sabatul de vineri de la apus pana sambata la apus. Ei
il numesc, un "sanctuar in timp de 24 de ore". Si respecta cinci mici obiceiuri care le ofera,
o extraordinara longevitate comparativ vorbind.
12:12
In America, speranta de viata pentru o femeie este de 80 de ani. Dar pentru a femeie adventista,
speranta de viata este de 89 de ani. Si diferenta este si mai pronuntata printre barbati, care
se asteapta sa traiasca cu aproximativ 11 ani mai mult decat ceilalti americani. Iata, acesta
este un studiu care a urmarit aproximativ 70.000 de oameni pe o perioada de 30 de ani. Un
studiu inestimabil. Cred ca ilustreaza cum nu se poate mai bine premisa acestui proiect
Zona Albastra.
12:40
Aceasta este o comunitate heterogena. Exista albi, negri, hispanici, asiatici. Singurul lucru pe
care il au in comun este un set de mici obiceiuri in stilul de viata pe care le urmeaza cu
strictete aproape tot timpul vietii lor. Ei isi iau dieta direct din Biblie. Geneza: capitolul unu,
versetul [29], unde Dumnezeu vorbeste despre leguminoase si seminte, si intr-o alta strofa
despre plantele verzi, in mod evident, lipsind carnea. Ei iau in serios acest sanctuar in timp.
13:09
Pentru 24 de ore in fiecare saptamana, indiferent cat sunt de ocupati, cat sunt de stresati la
serviciu, unde trebuie transportati copiii, ei opresc totul si se concentreaza pe Dumnezeul
lor, pe reteaua lor sociala, si apoi, legate puternic in religie sunt plimbarile in natura. Iar
puterea acestui lucru nu sta in faptul ca e facut ocazional, puterea sta in faptul ca e facut in
fiecare saptamana o viata intreaga. Nici unul din ele nu-i greu de facut. Nici unul nu costa
bani. Adventistii tind de asemenea sa se intalneasca cu alti adventisti. Asa ca, daca mergeti
la o petrecere adventista nu veti vedea oameni band Jim Beam sau fumand marihuana. In
schimb ei vorbesc despre urmatoarea lor iesire in natura, schimba retete, si da, se roaga. Dar
se influenteaza unul pe altul intr-un mod profund si semnificativ.
13:54
Asta e cultura care a dat un Ellsworth Wheram. Ellsworth Wheram are 97 de ani. Este un
multimilionar, totusi, cand un contractor a solicitat 6.000 de dolari pentru a-i construi un
gard, el a spus, " Pentru atatia bani il voi face chiar eu". Asa ca in urmatoarele trei zile a
iesit din casa la amestecat beton, fixand stalpii de jur imprejur. Si dupa cum ati ghicit,
poate, in a patra zi a sfarsit intr-o sala de operatii. Dar nu a fost el cel de pe masa de
operatie; ci tipul care a operat pe cord deschis. La 97 de ani el inca face lunar 20 de operatii
pe cord deschis.
14:33
Ed Rawlings, la 103 ani acum, un cowboy activ, isi incepe dimineata cu un inot. Si in
weekenduri ii place sa mearga cu surful, starnind trombe de apa.
14:44
Apoi, iat-o pe Marge Deton. Marge are 104 ani. Nepotul ei locuieste chiar aici in Twin Cities.
Isi incepe ziua ridicand greutati. Pedaleaza la bicicleta. Si apoi o vezi in masina de culoare
berii un Cadilac Seville din 1994, sofand pe autostrada spre San Bernardino, unde inca face
voluntariat pentru sapte diferite organizatii. Am fost in 19 expeditii dure. Sunt probabil
singura persoana pe care ati intalnit-o care a traversat cu bicicleta desertul Sahara fara
protectie antisolara. Dar va asigur, nu exista aventura mai terifianta decat o calatorie fulger
cu Marge Deton. "Un strain este un prieten pe care inca nu l-am intalnit" mi-a spus.
15:26
Deci, care sunt elementele comune in aceste trei culturi? Care sunt lucrurile pe care le fac la
fel? Si am reusit sa le reducem la noua. De fapt, am mai facut inca doua expeditii Zona
Albastra, dupa aceasta si aceste elemente comune s-au adeverit. Si prima, si sunt pe punctul
de a spune o erezie, nici unul din ei nu face exercitii fizice, cel putin nu in felul in care il
concepem noi. In schimb, isi organizeaza vietile astfel incat sa fie constant implicati in
activitati fizice. Aceste femei de 100 de ani din Okinawa se ridica si se aseaza, sed pe
podea, de 30 sau 40 de ori pe zi.
16:05
Sardinienii locuiesc in case verticale, sus si jos pe scari. Fiecare drum la magazin, sau la
biserica sau la casa unui prieten este o ocazie pentru o plimbare. Nu au nici un fel de
facilitati. Nu exista nici un buton de apasat pentru a lucra gradina sau prin casa. Daca
trebuie sa amestece pentru o prajitura, fac acest lucru cu mana. Aceasta este o activitate
fizica. Asta arde calorii la fel de bine ca si mersul pe banda rulanta. Atunci cand chiar fac
intentionat activitati fizice, sunt lucruri pe care le fac cu placere. Obisnuiesc sa se plimbe,
singura cale dovedita pentru a opri declinul cognitiv, si cam toti au o gradina. Ei stiu cum
sa-si organizeze viata in mod corect asa incat au perspectiva corecta.
16:42
Fiecare din aceste culturi isi rezerva timp pentru repaus. Cei din Sardinia se roaga. Adventistii
de ziua a saptea se roaga. Cei din Okinawa au obiceiul venerarii inaintasilor. Dar cand esti
grabit sau stresat asta declanseaza ceea ce se numeste raspuns inflamator, care este asociat
cu orice de la boala Alzheimer pana la bolile cardiovasculare. Daca o iei mai usor 15
minute pe zi schimbi acea stare inflamatorie intr-o stare anti-inflamatorie.
17:08
Au cuvinte pentru simtamantul rostului, ikigai, precum cei din Okinawa. Stiti, cei mai
periculosi doi ani din viata d-voastra sunt anul in care v-ati nascut, din cauza mortalitatii
infantile, si anul in care va pensionati. Acesti oameni isi stiu rostul, si sunt activi cat timp
traiesc, ceea ce valoreaza aproximativ sapte ani suplimentari la speranta de viata.
17:28
Nu exista o dieta a longevitatii. In schimb, acesti oameni beau un pic in fiecare zi, un lucru usor
de vandut populatiei americane. (Rasete) Tind sa manance o dieta bazata pe plante. Nu
inseamna ca nu consuma carne, dar mananca multe leguminoase si nuci. Si au strategii de
prevenire a supraalimentatiei, lucruri mici care-i ajuta sa plece de la masa la timpul
potrivit.
17:46
Si apoi, temelia tuturor acestora este calitatea legaturilor dintre ei. Ei aseaza familia pe primul
loc, au grija de copii lor si de parintii lor in varsta. De regula, toti apartin unei comunitati
religioase, care valoreaza intre patru si 14 ani suplimentari la speranta de viata daca te
implici de patru ori pe luna. Si cel mai important lucru este ca apartin tribului potrivit. Ei
sau s-au nascut printre ori s-au inconjurat din proprie initiativa cu oamenii potriviti.
18:15
Stim din studiile Framingham, ca daca trei dintre prieteni tai cei mai buni sunt obezi exista 50
la suta sanse ca si tu sa devii supraponderal. Asa ca, daca te insotesti cu oameni
"nesanatosi" acest lucru va avea un impact important asupra ta in timp. In schimb, daca
ideea prietenilor tai despre petrecerea timpului liber coincide cu cea de activitate fizica,
popice sau hochei, mers pe bicicleta sau gradinarit, daca prietenii tai beau putin, dar nu prea
mult, si mancanca sanatos, daca sunt saritori, increzatori si de incredere, acest lucru va avea
cel mai mare impact in timp.
18:46
Dietele nu functioneaza. Nici o dieta in istoria lumii nu a functionat pentru mai mult de doi la
suta din populatie. Programele de exercitii incep de obicei in ianuarie, si se termina de
obicei pana in octombrie. Cand vine vorba de longevitate nu exista solutie la minut cum ar
fi o pilula sau orice altceva. Dar daca va ganditi bine prietenii d-voastra sunt o aventura pe
termen lung si de aceea, poate cel mai semnificativ lucru pe care puteti sa-l faceti pentru a
adauga mai multi ani vietii voastre, si viata anilor vostrii. Va multumesc foarte mult.
(Aplauze)
Руский