The Blue Zone: A Fitness Nerd Book Review

Ask most people why they pursue fitness and longevity tends to show up low on the list. Sure, no one wants to keel-over at fifty, but odds are that you're more concerned about sculpting a to-die-for six-pack than living well past your sixties.

Dan Buettner is an exception, which is why he founded Blue Zones, "an organization that helps Americans live longer, healthier lives." Although this mission statement implies that Buettner feels Canadians, Mexicans and the rest of the planet can go rot in a gutter, in truth, Buettner's work is impressive and his book, also titled The Blue Zones, is a source of wisdom for anyone -- American or not -- who's ever wondered what they could to do add a few extra thousand heartbeats to the old ticker.

The idea for the book came while Buettner was writing a cover story for National Geographic called "Secrets of Living Longer" in which he profiled parts of the world where people tend to, yes, live longer. Extrapolating on that, The Blue Zones investigates four regions where centenarians are commonplace: Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia; Loma Linda, California (who knew?); and Nicoya, Costa Rica . Each chapter discusses the history of the region and profiles several of the aged inhabitants, then summarizes lessons to be learned from these people.

The final chapter features a "personal blue zone," which offers a wide assortment of advice. Here it is in broad strokes.

• Keep busy
• Get moderate exercise
• Have friends
• Don't stress
• Eat nuts
• Drink red wine

In truth, you probably knew all this -- except for the nut thing, which is a little weird -- but it's not these lists that make the book a good read. Buettner can tell a great story, so as he portrays the people of each region, I found far greater lessons in who they were rather than whether or not they ate almonds. For example, shortly after being bested in arm-wrestling by 103-year-old Giovanni Sannai, Buettner asked the old Sardinian goat herder if he'd ever been stressed out.

"Sometimes, but my wife was in charge of the house, and I was in charge of the field," he said. "What's to worry about in a field?" Then he added, "Mostly I've always tried to remember that when you get good things from life, enjoy them, because they won't be there forever."

I strongly recommend the book, as well as the Blue Zone website, which contains the Vitality Compass, a quiz that figures out your life expectancy. Due largely to my temper and lack of nut-eating, I should be in good shape to 75, then experience a slow decline until I bite it at 90. Of course, the moment I got these numbers, I started crunching numbers and stressing out because I'm an American and that's what I do, so if you don't think you can handle this kind of secret knowledge, skip the test and move to Sardinia instead.

And on the flight over, grab yourself a couple extra little bags of peanuts.

The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who've Live the Longest by Dan Buettner. National Geographic. $14.95