Show Notes
Singapore is Live to 100's evidence that a Blue Zones approach can work in a modern city-state. But just how well does Singapore meet the Blue Zones definition - and, after exploring six different 'Blue Zones', three of which do not contain higher-than-average concentrations of centenarians, one of which was based on faulty data, and one of which isn't even a geographical zone, what does this phrase even mean? Furthermore, how well can these lessons be applied to completely different countries, cultures, and climates?
In this final episode of Blue Zones: Revisited, we examine the final evolution in the Blue Zones project: what started out as a humble research project conducted by an academic, then morphed into a worldwide phenomenon after being picked up by a National Geographic journalist, has reached its final, tradedmarked form with the corporate sponsorship of giant insurance companies. We search for the actual data on this great experiment, question just how likely it is that the entire US could become a 'Blue Zone' (whatever that now means) within 10 years, and reflect on what lessons we can actually take away from the Blue Zones book and series.
Thank you for listening to Blue Zones: Revisted. We hope you've learned something - most especially, not to worry too much!
Further Reading:
Life expectancy in the 1950s worldwide
Singapore's life expectancy projection
List of countries by past life expectancy (with links to each country's profile discussed)
US health insurance costs
Drug use in Singapore
Making the Blue Zones
Neuroliberalism and Beyond
A Commentary on Blue Zones
Cedar Falls Blue Zone Project
Blue Cross Blue Shield
More from Blue Zones: Revisited
After visiting Blue Zones all over the world, today, we're visiting our home country, Australia. Not because Australia has been declared a secret seventh Blue Zone, but because, months after the first six episodes of this podcast dropped, an Australian researcher, Saul J. Newman, has been awarded an Ig Nobel Prize... for debunking the Blue Zones phenomenon.
Nicoya, Costa Rica is, according to Dan Buettner, home to the 'most extraordinary centenarians on the planet'. One which, for many years, he contends, went unnoticed because researchers couldn't believe the residents of 'such a poor country' could possibly live past 80, let alone 100.
Ikaria, Greece might not have gotten a big feature in the first edition of the Blue Zones book, but it certainly made a splash in the second edition - and the Live to 100 Netflix series. After all, who doesn't associate the beautiful blue Mediterranean sea and sky with a healthy lifestyle?
Loma Linda, California is the long-awaited American Blue Zone... or is it? Not only does it turn out to be not so 'blue' (we don't see a single centenarian), but it's not even really a 'zone' - at least in a geographical sense.
Sardinia isn't just a 'Blue Zone', an area with a higher concentration of centenarians than usual. It's better described as the beginning of the Blue Zones phenomenon. And it's also a place where you can buy a home for as little as one euro. In this second episode of Blue Zones: Revisited, we ask what happens to the people whose villages are designated as Blue Zones, consider whether red wine, goats milk, or even pizza might be the secret to a long life, and untangle what is knowable from what researchers maintain is unknown.