What blue zone habits have in common, and which could go with you
Suppose you could ask a 100-year-old in each of four places how a day goes. What would you expect to hear?
Dan Buettner and his team did something like this. They gathered what they saw in the places they called blue zones into nine common patterns, which they named the Power 9.
The Power 9, as described by Buettner's team
| Pattern | What it means |
|---|---|
| Move naturally | Daily activity such as walking, gardening and housework, without gyms |
| Purpose | A reason to get up in the morning, called ikigai in Okinawa and plan de vida in Nicoya |
| Downshift | A daily routine for stress, such as prayer, a nap or time with friends |
| The 80% rule | Stop eating when about 80% full, a habit called hara hachi bu in Okinawa |
| Plant slant | Meals built mostly on plants, with beans a staple |
| Wine at 5 | Moderate drinking with food and friends, in all but one zone |
| Belong | A faith community |
| Loved ones first | Family kept close |
| Right tribe | Friends who support healthy habits |
Loma Linda, the exception on drinking, is a community of Seventh-day Adventists.
Some of the claims come with numbers. Sardinian shepherds are described as walking five mountainous miles a day or more. A review of 154 dietary surveys across the zones reported that 95% of centenarians ate plant-based diets. Of 263 centenarians interviewed, all but five belonged to a faith community.
Those figures come from the team that coined the term. We read them in secondary summaries and did not check the original surveys.
The 2025 scoping review lists factors linked to longevity in these places: diet, physical activity, climate, genetic factors and geographic isolation.
The last three are not habits. A climate, a set of genes or an island is hard to take with you. The framework is also observational. It describes what people do and does not test which habit matters.
A Harvard Health article reports that many experts do not think the blue zones are special, and that some feel the evidence rests on weak data. It also quotes a doctor who says some residents are born with good genes, and that a healthy lifestyle is what makes them special.
Another study can help. It looked at habits in a place far from any blue zone. It followed 78,865 women and 44,354 men in the United States for up to 34 years.
Where the two lists overlap
| Harvard five habits | Closest Power 9 pattern |
|---|---|
| Never smoking | No match |
| Healthy weight | The 80% rule |
| 30 minutes a day of brisk activity | Move naturally |
| Moderate drinking | Wine at 5 |
| Healthy diet | Plant slant |
The pairing is ours. Purpose, downshift, belong, loved ones first and right tribe have no match in the Harvard five.
In that study, people with all five habits at 50 were projected to live 12 to 14 years longer than people with none. Four of the five habits resemble something on the blue zone list.
The other five patterns concern purpose, rest and people. The Harvard study did not measure them.
The habits could go with you, and the climate and the genes may stay behind. Which of the nine already shows up in your week?
Tell us in the comments. Someone may be looking for a place to start.
Sources we read
Buettner and others, Blue Zones, American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine (PubMed Central). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6125071
ScienceInsights, What Are Blue Zones and Why Do People Live Longer There? (figures on 154 surveys and 263 centenarians). https://scienceinsights.org/what-are-blue-zones-and-why-do-people-live-longer-there/
Harvard Health Publishing, Living in the Blue Zone. https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/living-in-the-blue-zone
Candal-Pedreira and others, scoping review of blue zones, Aging and Disease, 2025. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40479568/
Li and others, Impact of healthy lifestyle factors on life expectancies in the US population, Circulation, 2018. https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.117.032047
Natural Living Family, How to Live to 100 (note that the framework is observational). https://naturallivingfamily.com/health-nutrition/living-to-100/
Harvard Gazette, 5 healthy habits may increase life expectancy by decade or more. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/04/5-healthy-habits-may-increase-life-expectancy-by-decade-or-more/
Tell us in the comments