Photograph by Mark Thiessen
Dan Buettner is an internationally recognized researcher, explorer, and New York Times best-selling author. He founded Blue Zones®, a company that puts the world's best practices in longevity and well-being to work in people's lives. Buettner's November 2005 National Geographic article on longevity, "The Secrets of Living Longer," was the cover story of one of the magazine's top-selling issues in history and made him a finalist for a National Magazine Award. His books The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest and Thrive: Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way, appeared on many best-seller lists and were featured on Oprah. In 2009 Buettner and his partner, AARP, applied principles of "The Blue Zones" in Albert Lea, Minnesota, and successfully raised life expectancy and lowered health care costs by some 40 percent. Buettner is currently working with Healthways to implement the program in the beach cities of Los Angeles. Their strategy focuses on optimizing the health environment instead of individual behavior change. Buettner also holds three world records in distance cycling and has won an Emmy Award for television production.
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News
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The Island Where People Forget to Die
Stamatis Moraitis tending his vineyard and olive grove on Ikaria.
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Longevity Genes Found
Can you live to be a hundred? Specific sections of your genes might provide the answer, according to a new study.
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Want to Live Longer? Stop Worrying
If you want to live to a hundred, you'd better lighten up.
Inside National Geographic Magazine
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The Secrets of Long Life
Residents of Okinawa, Sardinia, and Loma Linda, California, live longer, healthier lives than just about anyone else on Earth.
In Their Words
Set up your life, your home environment, your social environment, and your workplace so that you're constantly nudged into behaviors that favor longevity.
—Dan Buettner
Videos
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Thrive Challenge
Are you happy? Take the True Happiness™ Test, then follow Thrive author Dan Buettner’s daily video tips about simple things you can do right now to be happier.
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Photos
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Sardinia, Italy
In a cluster of villages in the mountains of central Sardinia, residents enjoy extraordinary longevity, particularly among males.
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Audio
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00:09:00 Dan Buettner
Ten years ago, National Geographic author Dan Buettner identified the places in the world where people live the longest. He called the regions “Blue Zones.” Now he has found a hotspot of longevity where, on average, men live longer than anywhere else on Earth. Buettner joins Boyd to share the secrets of this small village in Sardinia.
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