Do Blue Zones hold the key to women’s longevity?
Published on JourneyWoman on August 4, 2025
by Diana Ballon
Featured image: Perhaps learning about Blue Zones can help us live longer, healthier lives/ Photo by microgen via Envato
Since turning 60 this year, I’ve refocused my energy on a healthier life, both in my personal choices and in my work as a mental health and wellness writer. When I learned about the concept of Blue Zones — geographic regions where people live much longer and healthier lives — I wanted to learn more.
But how much of longevity is within our control as women, and how much is due to genetics? According to aging researcher Henne Holstege, quoted in Science (2024), genetics accounts for about 20 per cent of your likelihood of reaching 70, but it accounts for a whopping 60 per cent of your chance of reaching 100. In other words, lifestyle plays a strong role in earlier aging, but genetics takes over when you are much older.
Regardless of statistics, what is incontrovertible about healthy aging is that it doesn’t rely on high-cost interventions and super-human powers. It is about being in environments where we can easily make health choices. The real challenge is to adapt our lives to make room for a basic commitment to move, eat well, connect socially and have a strong sense of purpose. These are all simple lessons that Blue Zones teach us, and ones I plan to embrace.
(Photo Credit Martinique Tourism)
What is a Blue Zone?
Now a trademarked name, Blue Zones™ are areas in the world with high numbers of centenarians, longer life expectancy and low rates of chronic disease. The concept was popularized by Dan Buettner, a National Geographic fellow, American researcher, author and award-winning journalist who spent almost 20 years studying the lifestyle habits and environments conducive to people living long healthy lives.
The first five regions Buettner identified as Blue Zones were: Okinawa in Japan; Ogliastra, Sardinia in Italy; the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica; the island of Ikaria in Greece; and Loma Linda in California. Since then, other researchers have added to this list and refuted some of his choices, creating controversy about what regions qualify.
In the Science article, for example, Australian researcher Saul Newman criticized the research for “methodological errors” and unreliable record keeping, including fabricated birth dates and misreported ages. Critics also voiced scepticism about whether people are still living as long as they once were in regions originally identified at Blue Zones, such as in Nicoya, Okinawa and Sardinia. Also described is contention between Buettner and two of his early collaborators, Belgian demographer Michel Poulain, and medical doctor Gianni Pes, from the University of Sassari in Italy. This has resulted in two separate Blue Zone lists, Buettner’s and another curated by Poulain. The two agree on the first four Blue Zones — Sardinia, Okinawa, Nicoya, and Ikaria. But Poulain doesn’t consider Loma Linda a Blue Zone since it’s a religious community and has added the Caribbean island of Martinique to his list.
Buettner is promoting Singapore as a new ‘engineered’ Blue Zone, where high longevity has not been achieved by traditional wisdom, but through public policies, such as increasing access to healthy food or helping people connect more. According to Science Magazine, Buettner now admits that he added Loma Linda to the 2005 National Geographic piece because his editor wanted a place in the U.S., and “I never bothered to delist it.”
(Photo by SeanPavone via Envato)
What women can learn about long, healthy lives
Although the actual Blue Zone regions are fascinating, both as destinations and sources of research, their real value comes from identifying what factors contribute to longevity so we can emulate this healthy lifestyle wherever we may be living.
Based on his researcher, Buettner came up with a list of nine recommendations for longevity. As outlined in an article entitled,” Shades of Blue,” written by Ignacio Amigo and published in a 2024 Science article, recommendations include “low intensity activity” in daily life; a diet that, while not strictly vegetarian, focuses on whole plant foods with minimal meat and processed foods; having a “life purpose”; reducing stress; and prioritizing family, a strong social network and being part of a spiritual or religious community.
These recommendations may sound like common sense, but many have to be very consciously followed in a world where sedentary jobs, high stress, endless hours in front of screens, and a high cost of living can make them difficult to follow.
Two others — reducing caloric intake by 20 per cent, so essentially stopping eating when you’re not totally full (or until 80 per cent full) and drinking red wine in moderation — are less intuitive. The Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction’s low-risk drinking guidelines now advise no more than two alcoholic drinks per week, while some critics suggest that any alcohol at all may pose health risks. Also missing from this list is not smoking, which Buettner purportedly thought was too obvious to mention, as well as sleep, which is well recognized as essential to healthy living.
An original Blue Zone: The Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica
Residents of the Nicoya Peninsula often live measurably longer, some even to over 100. No doubt the region’s calcium-rich water, a primarily plant-based diet, family-based living, outdoor activity — along with a more simple, less stressful life — may well contribute to this. In fact, Costa Rica has, in the past, been purported to have the longest life expectancy in Central America.
(Photo by ashiqkhan via Envato)
Singapore as a Blue Zone: How policy improves longevity
What makes Singapore a particularly compelling example of a Blue Zone is the fact that longevity outcomes are cultivated through public health strategy, social initiatives, government policies and urban planning rather than specific lifestyle factors. As reported in a 2023 Fortune Well article by Alexa Mikhail, many government initiatives have slowly led to positive change.
For example, revenue from taxation on cars and gas are funnelled into an efficient subway system where people live within 400 yards of station, resulting in more walking and less driving. Other efforts incentivize healthy eating (through healthy food subsidies), and encourage social connection with high density housing and other places where people can congregate and foster community, like at markets and in other public spaces.
Nurturing wellness in the modern world
The wellness industry is big business. According to the Global Wellness Institute, the industry reached a peak spending of $6.3 trillion in 2023. Ironically, while Blue Zone lifestyles embrace simplicity, “modern wellness” efforts can be very expensive.
Most of us don’t live a mountain village where there is communal living, fresh food grown locally and walkable paths as a means of transportation. Instead, we are often living in cities or suburbs, and away from nature, with long commutes, sedentary jobs and an overreliance on screens. Buettner’s speaker bio for the 2023 Global Wellness Summit described how Blue Zone communities “are where residents are naturally ‘nudged’ toward daily movement, a plant-based diet, strong social connections, and a sense of purpose.”
Maybe we too can be “nudged” in the same way, by consciously incorporating these same habits into daily life. I have participated in many wellness retreats — from yoga intensives, to fitness programs, to de-stress workshops, and — most recently — a five-day program on creating a longevity life plan at the Modern Elder Academy (MEA) or what is affectionately referred to as midlife wisdom school. While these programs are not always affordable, the lessons learnt can often be distilled into simple, accessible practices.
(Photo by SteveAllenPhoto999 via Envato)
How women can foster a healthy lifestyle
Here are some examples of easy ways we as women can foster a healthy lifestyle, even if you don’t live or travel to a Blue Zone:
1. Keep moving: While many of us don’t have the kind of physical outdoor work that is common to people living in Blue Zones, we can keep moving. We can walk. We can ride bikes. We can go to a gym and do other forms of exercise.
2. Be grateful: Gratitude exercises can be as simple as thinking about or telling someone one or two things you are thankful for at the beginning or end of each day.
3. Be mindful: A mindfulness practice can take as little as five or 10 minutes a day. It could involve meditating in silence, doing a walking meditation, or following a guided meditation with the help of an app or an instructor.
4. Build community: Whether or not you are part of an organized religion, you can live spiritually and connect with others with whom you share interests or beliefs, whether this is spending time in nature; doing acts of kindness (through volunteer work, or less formally); and joining clubs or starting one of your own.
Want to travel to a Blue Zone?
For a Blue Zone experience within the regions, you can find everything from wellness resorts to spas, to longevity centres, to opportunities to meet with centenarians. JourneyWoman’s Women’s Travel Directory partners offer both women-only and co-ed multi-day retreats and trips to several of the Blue Zones.
Sardina, Italy: Sicily and Italy by Experts, a luxury Italian Destination Management Company, offer tours highlighting this Italian Blue Zone that include farmhouse lunches with local products, connections with centenarians, gentle hikes and wine and cheese tastings. “This region offers a rare chance to experience a lifestyle deeply rooted in balance, tradition, and vitality, something that is hard to find anywhere else in the world,” says its CEO & Travel Designer Angela Macaluso. Learn more here.
Okinawa, Japan: Girls Guide to the World offers a two-week trip to Okinawa and Kyushu featuring onsen baths and wellness activities. The 2025 trip is sold out, but you can get on a waitlist for 2026. G Adventures also has a trip to Okinawa.
Costa Rica: Just You, Women Travel Abroad, Bold Spirit, and Adventures in Good Company offer women-only trips to Costa Rica, although not to the Nicoya Peninsula. Find more Costa Rica trips here.
Greece: PackLight Global, Solos, EdlerTreks and Wanderlust Women all offer trips to Greece. Find them all here. JoyRide Charters offers an 8-day sailing trip through the Greek Islands, including Aegina, Spetses, Hydra, Poros, with an exclusive discount for JourneyWoman readers. Learn more here.
Singapore: Globus Vacations offers trips to Singapore (and Bangkok) as does Intrepid Travel and G Adventures.
Martinique: The Caribbean Island of Martinique was named a Blue Zone in 2019. It’s perfect for a solo getaway. To learn more about Martinique, read our article “Discovering French Martinique: The Caribbean’s Best-Kept Secret for Solo Women“, published in 2024.
Editor’s note: Buettner’s books include: The Blue Zones, The Blue Zones Solution, The Blue Zones Challenge, The Blue Zones American Kitchen, Blue Zones Secrets, Thrive and Blue Zones of Happiness. Find them here. Blue Zone is a trademarked name. Learn more here.