Trazee In-Depth: Best Places to Live

Deciding on a place to live may be determined by the location’s taxes, housing prices, school district and distance from work, but what about health? Should health and wellness be a factor in where we decide to live? If so, Sardinia, Italy, would be at the top of our list.

Recognized as one of the healthiest places to live in the world, Sardinia is located off of the Italian Mediterranean coast. Along with seemingly endless rugged cliffside scenery, Sardinia boasts impressive health stats with residents living well into their 80s, 90s and 100s. It is no wonder Sardinia is among the five blue zones for health and prosperous living.

The term blue zone was coined in 2005 by a National Geographic story about the secrets of a longer life. Blue Zones are established by considering the lifestyle and environment of the world’s longest-living people. According to researcher and writer Dan Buettner, Blue Zones are broken up into five regions where citizens statistically are reported to live the longest.

The five healthiest and happiest regions to live include Sardinia, Italy; Okinawa, Japan; Nicoya, Costa Rica; Icaria, Greece; and Loma Linda in the United States.

Many of the regions deemed blue zones share common characteristics and lifestyle practices. In a Venn diagram further explaining the similarities of blue zones Sardinia, Loma Linda and Okinawa, it is clear diet, exercise and interpersonal connections greatly affecthuman lifespan.

Diet and exercise may seem obvious attributes to healthy lifestyles and longevity, but the human connection playing a role in a region’s life span statistic is an interesting discovery. Among many similarities between the aforementioned blue zones, each share strong ties to family and community, enjoy plant-based diets, are non-smokers, engage in physical activity regularly and are social individuals.

Dietary similarities of all five regions include moderate alcohol intake and regularly consuming whole grains, soy and legumes.

Alcohol consumption is particularly common in Sardinia, but as a health benefit. The high polyphenol wine typically consumed in the region is plant-based, in keeping with the common dietary practices of the longest-living regions.

Other traits common in the blue zone regions include strong ties to family, faith, female empowerment, outdoor activities and, interestingly, cultural isolation. As remaining social and active seems to be a large factor in lifespan, cultural isolation seems off mark, but in fact, this is an incredibly healthy lifestyle as determined by region. For smaller towns and villages such as Nicoya, Icaria, Loma Linda and Sardinia, a sense of seclusion from worldly stresses has a positive effect on lifespan.

Smaller secluded regions typically breed societies of people who grow their own food, walk miles a day for work or transportation and eat grass-fed meats or entirely plant-based diets. Jobs are more likely to include something rural, outdoors and fruitful such as farming or shepherding.

Fresh clean eating and social and active lifestyles can also be found among New Zealanders as the country’s 4.4 million residents have an average life expectancy two years higher than those of us in the United States. New Zealand’s incredible landscape boasts diverse terrain and a healthy air quality, well below the pollution level we see in most cities.

If migrating overseas is not in the cards, Loma Linda in California is home to some of the healthiest citizens in the world. Much like Sardinia, Nicoya and Icaria, Loma Linda’s residents experience longer, healthier lives when compared to the world’slifespan. Of Loma’s 22,000 residents, one third are Seventh-Day Adventists. This faith encourages believers to treat their body as a temple and follow a vegetarian diet with little to no alcohol consumption. The Seventh-Day Adventists’ faith mixed with secluded community, active lifestyles and a strong sense of purpose lends well to the blue zone’s status.

Central American blue zone Nicoya, Costa Rica, exudes health and prosperity in a small village way. Residents place importance on hard work, living with a purpose, eating light and enjoying the outdoors and sunshine. Culture and common history is important to the Nicoya community and plays a large role in social connections.

Deciding to move for health and wellness may be a bit extreme, but blue zone region-inspired habits can be adapted anywhere. Take a page from the small towns of Italy, Greece, Japan, Costa Rica and California’s book and engage, eat well, stay active and live thoughtfully.

Take the Blue Zone Vitality test to see where your lifestyle ranks!