Blue zones are regions of the world thought to have a higher than usual number of people who live much longer than average, identified by Gianni Pes, Michel Poulain and Dan Buettner. Five “Blue zones” have been posited: Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya, Costa Rica); Icaria, Greece; and Loma Linda, California.

The concept of Blue Zones grew out of demographic work done by Gianni Pes and Michel Poulain, published in 2004 by the journal Experimental Gerontology, who identified Sardinia’s Nuoro province as the region with the highest concentration of male centenarians. As the two men zeroed in on the cluster of villages with the highest longevity, they began referring to the area as the “Blue Zone”. Building on this demographic work, Dan Buettner pinpointed four additional locations Okinawa, Japan; Nicoya, Costa Rica; Icaria, Greece; and Loma Linda, California. Blue Zones support the ideas of healthy eating, active lifestyles, and community involvement.

The Blue Zones have uniquely active, healthy lifestyles that are indicative to their region of the world:

• Icaria (Greece): Icaria is an island in Greece where people eat a Mediterranean diet rich in olive oil, red wine, and homegrown vegetables.

• Ogliastra, Sardinia (Italy): The Ogliastra region of Sardinia is home to some of the oldest men in the world. They live in mountainous regions where they typically work on farms and drink lots of red wine.

• Okinawa (Japan): Okinawa is home to the world’s oldest women, who eat a lot of soy-based foods and practice tai chi, a meditative form of exercise.

• Nicoya Peninsula (Costa Rica): The Nicoyan diet is based around beans and corn tortillas. The people of this area regularly perform physical jobs into old age and have a sense of life purpose known as “plan de vida.”

• The Seventh-day Adventists in Loma Linda, California (USA): The Seventh-day Adventists are a very religious group of people. They’re strict vegetarians and live in tight-knit communities. They commute more by bicycle or walking than by other motorized means giving them more exercise.