A Blue Zone Life?

 

The Netflix series Blue Zones examines areas in the world where there is a higher concentration of centenarians (people who live to 100 or more). And what are their secrets?

 It breaks it down into 4 categories:

1.       Eat wisely. Many eat foods that are mostly plant-based and come from the earth nearby. Also – eat until you’re only about 80% full.

2.       Have a purposeful outlook on life. A Plana Vida. They wake up each day knowing there is something they will do. But they also have a lack of stress, or if they do, it is very short-lived. They work hard, in short, concentrated hours, and then they rest and enjoy life. Contrast this with how we sit at our desks from 9 to 5, even eating lunch there, the keyboard collecting weeks of crumbs.

3.       Move naturally. No gyms for them, but they’re walking everywhere, often uphill; they chop wood and lift heavy pails, ride horses, grind food by hand. No gym membership or machines or weights required. Movement is part of their every-day life.

4.       Connection. Community is everything, it sustains and nourishes them, both literally and figuratively.

Sadly, these blue zones (in Okinawa, Sardinia, Costa Rica, a Greek island and even a town in California) are rapidly reducing as modern life encroaches. More than anything, it is our environment that determines our quality of life and habits. There was one place in Costa Rica where health professionals paid an annual home visit to everyone, assessing their health and well-being BEFORE they became ill. Whereas here, our health system waits for you to become sick, and then, you must wait to be treated, all the health dollars targeted toward treating illness rather than preventing it.

So … how to apply the blue zone lifestyle to one’s own, given the environment in which we live? How to live a relatively simple, healthy, active, stress-free life amidst modern amenities and technology? Is that possible?

I like to think my life is generally low stress, except for an episode this week, which sent my blood pressure spiking. I got on the phone with my Internet/phone/TV service provider who shall remain nameless, but whose name rhymes with Well, although speaking with them leaves you feeling anything but Well, because they put you through their own carefully choreographed version of Hell.

It’s why I avoid calling them, even when I notice my bill creeping up which may or may not include some discrepancies. I’m always reluctant to look, because I KNOW there’s no way of getting to them (you can’t write to them in an email, which would be my preference), except by calling. And THEN … you are on the phone, simmering with rage, for a minimum of a couple of hours, if not more, as was the case this week.

They had been overcharging me for several months, and I finally summoned up the courage to call, but was questioned (and admonished, the nerve!) as to why I had not called earlier, and no, they couldn’t give me a full refund because I’d allowed months to go by. BUT, as I pointed out, it was THEIR mistake! See what I mean about stress?

My blood pressure rose as I told them that is EXACTLY why I don’t call, because I get shuffled from person to person, repeating the sorry details, while HOURS of my precious time go by in this endless loop of barely contained impatience and irritation. They always have to go off to talk to a SUPERVISOR, or put you through to some other MANAGER, or check notes that can never be found in the system.

NOT A BLUE ZONE kind of day.

Two excruciating hours later (I couldn’t hang up, although I so wanted to slam down the phone, but you can’t slam down phones anymore, such a pity) they informed me, as if they were doing me a HUGE favour, they would put through the full refund. But I’m afraid to look at my account again, because … what if the refund didn’t go through and I have to repeat the whole damn hellish process again?

It’s enough to make you want to eat processed carbs and sugar until you’re 120% full, while lying motionless on your couch flipping through channels.