Name: What the only U.S. ‘blue zone’ city can teach us about long life
Uploaded: 2023-08-11
Duration: 4 min 52 s
Description: In certain pockets of the world, so-called blue zones, people live longer and healthier lives on average than the rest of us. The U.S. has only one: Loma Linda, Calif. Home to the world’s largest concentration of Seventh-day Adventists, the Southern California city boasts a mature population that’s serious about health and wellness.

In certain pockets of the world, so-called blue zones, people live longer and healthier lives on average than the rest of us. The U.S. has only one: Loma Linda, Calif. Home to the world’s largest concentration of Seventh-day Adventists, the Southern California city boasts a mature population that’s serious about health and wellness.

What the only U.S. ‘blue zone’ city can teach us about long life

Health

Home to the world’s largest concentration of Seventh-day Adventists, this blue zone city is serious about health and wellness.

What the only U.S. ‘blue zone’ can teach us about long life

Home to the world’s largest concentration of Seventh-day Adventists, the Southern California city boasts a mature population that’s serious about health and wellness.

Statistically here in Loma Linda, people live some 8 to 10 years longer than average. It's a beautiful place to live. Lomeli, California is about 70 miles southeast of Los Angeles. It's a warm sunny climate, rolling hills, easy access to nature and it has the highest concentration of seventh day adventist in the world. Seventh day admins worship on Saturday the seventh day rather than Sunday the first day. And they believe in the second coming of Jesus. Unlike other Christians, they celebrate their Sabbath on Saturday. And you said to yourself, what does that have to do with longevity? Well, it makes them a little bit different. They tend to hang out with other adventists because their kids can't play football during the Sabbath. They have these potlucks every Saturday afternoon. So they tend to have a, a tighter bond. The history of the evidence church began in the early 18 forties and one of their primary principles had to do with health, very health conscious. Pretty much from the beginning, they advocated a vegetarian diet, adventists take their diet directly from the Bible. Essentially the diet of the garden ven and every tree that bears fruit and every plant that bears seeds. And so the adventists take that quite literally and they're mostly vegetarian. The reason they had here do it is because they surround themselves with other adventists that makes it easy. Indeed. Mindless to follow the right sort of dietary pattern to stay on track when it comes to avoiding too much alcohol or drugs or tobacco makes it easier for them to stay physically active. In fact, right, in their scriptures in their religious writings is a prescriptive to take a nature walk every Saturday afternoon, I walk 20 minutes twice a day. And I was born as 1/7 day Adventist. So I'm very used to this kind of lifestyle. When we were young. We had no car. I didn't even have a bicycle. I didn't have to go out and say, oh, I need to exercise today. Life was exercise. I have my own acronym called the Safe Road System to health and fitness. The s is for sunshine. We need to get out in the sun, get the rays and then air naturally. Fresh air f is for fluids, water, primarily at least, you know, eight glasses a day. E is exercise every morning. I do 25 push ups and 25 knee bends and walk for 45 minutes. Then rest. We need to get good night's sleep, take time off. Relax. O for me is very important and that's to be open, to be open to new ideas. And then a abstinence to abstain from drugs, alcohol, tobacco, things such as that. And then diet 70 Advent is, are quite vegetarian. We eat eggs and fish and we don't drink alcohol. Of course, we don't smoke. Now, of course, I exercise six days a week and it's, it's mostly moving limbs to some, it's difficult. But to me it's, it's all easy so far. So I'm very grateful for that. Also. It's a community that warm and friendly and caring, the people I associate with give me a lot of compliments. I don't know why we joke a lot. We are honest and we go to church on Saturday. You can't measure spirituality, but you can measure religiosity. And that's essentially how often people show up to church, temple or mosque. And we know that people who show up at least four times per month, live 4 to 14 years longer. And we don't exactly know why it might be because people who belong to a faith based community are less likely to engage in risky behaviors. It might be because they have a better social community. It might be because they downshift and destress one day a week during their Sabbath. But it seems to work and it's worked for centuries. Not everybody lives this long. And I can't say that I have done something marvelously special. I can only thank God for his blessings by God's grace. You know, you got to love people. You got to be open to people, be open to seeking be open to a higher power.