sitebaby.blogg.se

In his travels, Buettner observed how Singapore’s walkways protected residents from the sun, with “intentional green space that make it aesthetically pleasing.” With policies aimed at keeping people intergenerationally engaged, walking, and purchasing healthy foods, Singapore represents healthy longevity. “They have manifestly produced the outcome we want.” “It’s an engineered blue zone, instead of one that emerged organically like the other five,” Buettner says, noting how Singapore transitioned to an urban hub in the last few decades. Unlike the other blue zones, whose longevity metrics stem from years of history, culture and tradition, Singapore’s status comes from implemented change over time. “In addition to having very high life satisfaction, they were producing the longest and healthiest population,” he says. The life expectancy has grown by 20 years since 1960, and the number of centenarians doubled in the last decade, Buettner writes in his book. Since then, he’s met with residents and pored over data, analyzing the island’s health metrics.

Introducing the world’s 6th blue zoneīuettner was first intrigued by Singapore in 2005 when he wrote a cover story for National Geographic on happiness, he tells Fortune. The health data, landscape, and policy incentives have established the multicultural island of Indian, Malay, and Chinese influence as a beacon of health and happiness. Since 2009, four more blue zones have joined the ranks: Loma Linda, California Ikaria, Greece Okinawa, Japan and Nicoya, Costa Rica.īuettner calls Singapore the “blue zone 2.0-the next frontier of aging” in his new book, which highlights much more than the enthusiasm of the residents themselves. Since the early 2000s, when Gianni Pes designated Sardinia, Italy the inaugural blue zone city, Buettner set his sights on finding other cities with similar statistics and communities. Buettner recalls Foo telling him, “Singapore has given me so much, and I don’t do enough to give back.”