Blue Zones are regions where people tend to live longer, healthier lives. These areas have common lifestyle traits that contribute to their residents’ longevity. If you want to turn your home into a Blue Zone, here are 4 ideas to try:
1. Cultivate a sense of community
Blue Zone residents are known for their strong social connections. Foster positive relationships with your neighbors, invite them over for meals or host events. This doesn’t have to mean a dinner party for 10. This could simply mean tea or coffee on the porch or perhaps a common area if you’re in a condo or apartment.
2. Prioritize plants
Fill your home with plants to naturally purify the air and create a relaxing environment. No green thumb? No problem! There are plenty of plants that even those of us with the weakest gardening skills would be hard pressed to kill. My favorite – and hilarious – book to walk you through all the steps is “The Green Dumb Guide to Houseplants”. You will laugh out loud.
3. Move naturally
Incorporate physical activity into your daily routine by walking or biking instead of driving. Not leaving the house much? Not to worry, you can incorporate a pull up bar into a doorframe you walk through often and simply hang from it (a great way to improve grip strength), stretch from it with your feet on the ground, or even work toward a pull up. My favorite pull up bar, “The Iron Age pull up bar for Doorway” is very easy to take down and put up as often as needed.
4. Eat mindfully
Focus on whole, plant-based foods and avoid processed options. Also, try to eat your meals with others rather than alone. If you are stumped for ideas on what to cook, please check out everything Dan Buettner has to say in his wonderful cookbooks. He is the authority on Blue Zones. “The Blue Zones Kitchen” and “The Blue Zones American Kitchen.”
By incorporating these practices into your daily life, you can create a healthier, happier home and potentially increase your chances of living a longer life.
If you’d like to learn more about Blue Zones, I strongly encourage you to follow Dan Buettner’s work. One of my favorite of his many books is “The Blue Zones Secrets for Living Longer: Lessons from the Healthiest Places of Earth.”
