Dan Buettner came to SMU’s campus Tuesday evening as a part of the Tate Lecture series. He presented his research on healthy living and applicable ways to integrate it into your daily life.
Presented by SMU Provost Rachel Davis Mersey, Buettner walked on stage declaring, “Go Ponies!” before joking that “we sure showed Syracuse who’s who.”
Buettner began his lecture by telling the audience he could predict their lifespan with eight questions. He asked his audience to raise their hand if they agreed with each following statements:
I get seven or more hours of sleep a night.
I belong to a faith.
I have three or more close friends that I can have a meaningful conversation with.
I have never had unprotected sex with a stranger.
I get more than 30 minutes of exercise a day.
I have not smoked tobacco in the last five years.
I have a clear sense of purpose.
I believe I am in above-average health.
After every statement, a varying number of hands were raised. Notably, when read the first claim, a row of SMU students’ hands stayed motionless in their laps. However, when he read the last one, the majority of students believed they were in above average health.
Buettner claims that if you had your hand raised five times or less, your life expectancy as a woman is 65 and as a man, 60. If you had your hand raised seven times, your life expectancy as a woman is 95, as a man 93. His claims are rooted in years of field and archival research of one simple question: how do I live to 100?
Buettner’s research led him to travel the world to uncover where people are living the longest – and why. With his team of researchers and epidemiologists, he travelled the world to pinpoint five places that have the highest life expectancy. When he found them, he called them Blue Zones, or as President Hartzell jokingly remarked, the red and blue zones.
“Most of what you have heard about what leads to a healthy life is misguided or just plain wrong,” Buettner said. “80% of how long we live is decided by things other than genes.”
Buettner’s research is rooted in the conceptual belief that to live a long life, you need to “mindlessly make better decisions.” He found that in Blue Zones, people consistently live long lives because of natural things they do every day. Not because of modern medicine, fad diets, or complicated workout routines, but because of the way their community is designed.
SMU junior Megan Appel was at Buettner’s lecture. She said that it changed the way she views health, teaching her to start “looking at [her] body as something to sustain me for years to come, rather than looking a certain way next month.”
The five Blue Zones:
Sardina, Italy
Okinawa, Japan
Loma Linda, California
Nicoya, Costa Rica
Ikaria, Greece
Buettner discovered that while the semantics of lifestyle differed across these zones, the principles were largely similar. He boarded a plane and went into the field to have face-to-face conversations with centenarians – individuals aged 100 or over.
After being defeated in an arm wrestle challenge by a man 65 years his senior, Buettner and his team concluded three things that set male centenarians apart from others in Sardinia. Firstly, he first noted the steepness of the village. While conducting their daily business, he noticed that members of this community were climbing dozens of steps a day. The more steps directly correlated to the longer men in Sardinia lived.
He also noticed that men with five or more daughters had a lower rate of mortality. “I’m not sure if it’s because daughters are better caretakers, or because if you live through five [female] adolescent stages, you can live through anything,” Buettner said with a chuckle.
The third most applicable factor was the men’s profession. He recorded that the job that correlated to the longest living individuals was Shepharding. Shepherds, or as he lovingly referred to them, “lazy boys,” have an idealistic daily routine. They wake when “the sun is warm,” spend the morning doing manual labor, take a nap, chase some sheep around and make it home just in time for happy hour.
Before you change your career path, consider the research Buettner conducted in Okinawa, Japan. Here, he found that the most important factor in living a long life is the company you keep.
In Okinawan culture, a moai is a small group of five to seven people who commit to platonically supporting each other for life. While visiting, Buettner had the opportunity to meet a moai of five women who had been meeting up daily for 97 years.
“Every day they get together, gossip, drink sake and argue about who that hot boy liked most back in 1980,” Buettner said.
Loneliness is a leading cause of early mortality. According to Buettner, more than half of Americans report being lonely. “The most dangerous year of your life is the one you retire,” Buettner said.
Whether that’s because work is a main social circle for many, purpose is diluted, or spouses create an unhealthy environment is unclear. But what is certain is that a lack of community is a net negative. The people you invest in impact your life in countless ways.
“If your three best friends are obese, there is a 150% chance you will be obese yourself,” Buettner said.
Perhaps there is no better way to explain it than the age-old sentiment: “You are who you surround yourself with.”
In Nicoya, Costa Rica, Buettner took note of the health care system, and in Greece of the pure Mediterranean diet. In both, he noted that wine was an indulgence that rarely went ignored. He noticed that in America, we prioritize making sick people less sick, while abroad, they use their resources to keep healthy people healthy.
When he arrived back in the USA, Buettner hoped to find a Blue Zone in the West. After much research, he discovered that Loma Linda, California, was the zip code with the highest life expectancy in America.
“The first thing I saw was a Del Taco and a Weiner Hut,” Buettner said with a laugh.
Loma Linda has the largest population of Seventh-Day Adventists in the nation. In this community, there was a large emphasis put on biblical living. From the community they engaged with to the plant-based diet they followed, most of this community’s actions came directly from scripture.
After finishing his field research, Buettner went to work implementing what he learned in actual communities in the United States. Starting in Albert Lea, Minnesota, he applied what he learned into physical changes in American cities. This looked like making neighborhoods more walkable, taking bread off restaurant tables, hosting community events that promoted relationship building and discouraging the commercialization of small communities. In his first two years in Albert Lea, Buettner and his team increased the life expectancy by 3.2 years.
He ended his lecture by outlining specific changes that can be made everyday to increase life expectancy.
Buettner’s tips to live longer:
Eat a 90-100% plant based diet with 65% carbohydrates
Indulge in a cup of beans a day
Avoid cow dairy
Eat meat less than five times a month
Use honey as a sweetener, and eat sweets as treats
Smaller plates, consume all calories within an 8-hour window
1-3 glasses of red wine a day, enjoyed with friends, won’t hurt you
“If you want to live longer, don’t change your behavior. Change your surroundings,” said Buettner.
He implored the audience to invest in friendships, form long-term relationships, and get married, joking that the healthiest thing a man can do is find a wife – although that might not go both ways.
Buettner stated that in America, for every five 100-year-old women, there’s only one 100-year-old man. In Saridina, it’s a 1:1 ratio. Men tend to live longer when in a long-term relationship with women, but marriage has no clear impact on a woman’s longevity.
Buettner has authored many books, and his work is featured in a documentary on Netflix titled “Watch to Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zone.” His research has helped encourage a balanced lifestyle rooted in community, one that doesn’t shy from indulgence but prioritizes consistency.
“I think I’m gonna go get a glass of red wine with four friends,” President Hartzell said with a laugh while thanking Buettner for his time.
