Brief

<p>&ldquo;Instead of trying to change individual behavior, optimize a healthy environment.&rdquo; </p> <p>Dan Buettner, a renowned author and National Geographic Fellow, shared his experience in an inspiring session on five happy places he discovered and dubbed them &ldquo;Blue Zones&rdquo;: Sardinia in Italy, Ikanawa in Japan, Loma Limda in California, Nikoya in Costa Rica and Ikaria in Greece. Buettner connects health to happiness, and states that the behavior which encompasses sleeping, eating vegetable servings, moving, having fun, trusting friends, belonging to faith-based organizations, and giving up smoking leads to happiness and long life. The explorer explains that longevity is 20% dependent on genes and 80% on lifestyle. </p> <p>Throughout his journeys, Dan Buettner identified common factors to long life. He pointed out that in Blue Zones, people walk, have gardens and socialize. They have stress but they also rest and volunteer. He refers to studies which clearly show that adherence to diet or gym membership decreases with time. Hence, he advises that changing behavior doesn&rsquo;t lead to longer age as much as changing the environment. In addition, as displayed in Costa Rica, poor individuals might have lives longer than richer persons. Hence, he concluded that health and happiness are not related to wealth.</p> <p>He grasped this secret of life and tried to introduce it to other cities with the help of several NGOs, inspired by North Karelia in Finland where the idea of changing the environment to influence healthy behavior was deemed successful. So far, Dan Buettner and his team have carried this project to 31 cities in the US. In order to improve life radius, Buettner&rsquo;s advisors recommend to focus on five domains: policy, building environment, social network, building designs and altruism.&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

Speakers

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