There are certain places in the world where people live longer, happier, healthier lives, and a new Healthways Inc. project is drawing on the pioneering research by author and explorer Dan Buettner on these “Blue Zones” to make long-term improvements to longevity and well-being in a trio of California beach towns.
Working with National Geographic and a team of longevity researchers, Buettner found that communities where people live to age 100 at rates 10 times the national average shared a set of common characteristics. Residents of Okinawa, Japan, Sardinia, Italy, Loma Linda, Calif., Nicoya, Costa Rica, and Ikaria, Greece were more likely to be physically active; eat a healthy diet rich in plant-based foods and light on meat; be connected to their family, friends, and community; have a sense of purpose in their lives; and employ effective stress-prevention strategies.
In several of these communities, leaders made specific environmental changes that led to increased longevity, noted Buettner. “They made it easier to eat the right foods, and harder to do bad things, like smoking,” he said. Rather than a silver bullet, Buettner and his team found that these Blue Zone communities took a “silver buckshot” approach — making many small changes and interventions that added up to better well-being.
Examples include building more bike lanes so people can bicycle rather than drive to work, and banning drive-thrus to make it slightly less easy to choose unhealthy fast food. “You need to do 50 things that move people one percent, not one thing to move them 50 percent,” said Buettner.
Community the Key in Albert Lea
In a 2009 pilot project in Albert Lea, Minn., the defining Blue Zone characteristics were applied in an effort to improve the vitality, life expectancy, and social engagement of a target community. Blue Zones LLC and the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) partnered with local leaders to improve the community environment and public policy to make permanent changes in support of well-being.
To make dining out a healthier experience, for example, restaurant owners were educated on the financial benefits of serving smaller portions (such as charging 70% of full price for a half portion), and schools began offering healthier menu options. Walking groups were organized (including a “walking school bus” for children), bike lanes were expanded, and more than 70 community gardens were planted to improve access to healthy foods.
The project also was informed by the social-networking research of Nicholas Christakis, M.D., Ph.D., and social scientist James Fowler, Ph.D., coauthors of “Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives,” who found that people who associate with others engaged in positive activities are far more likely to make such changes themselves. In Albert Lea, Blue Zones organizers engaged the local faith community to promote a “vitality pledge,” walking groups, and potluck dinners where congregants shared healthy recipes. In such efforts, the focus is put on building relationships and friendships, not exercise or better eating per se, in hopes of nudging participants toward making healthier choices, according to Joel Spoonheim, a former city planner in St. Paul, Minn., who is leading the implementation of the Vitality Cities project.
The Albert Lea city government established a Vitality Center as a community resource and a sustainability committee to ensure that the project continues to grow in the future. “There’s so much going on in communities that people aren’t aware of, so we want to coordinate that information and make it more identifiable,” said Spoonheim. “People will make healthy choices when they’re really available.”
More than one in four Albert Lea residents took part in the project. An assessment estimated that, as a result of the community-wide changes, life expectancy increased an average of 3.2 years for residents, participants lost an average of 3 pounds each, workplace absenteeism fell an average of 21 percent for key employers in town, and healthcare costs full 49 percent among city employees.
A Wave of Well-Being in the Beach Cities
Based on the success in Minnesota, Healthways and Blue Zones LLC announced in December 2010 a Vitality Cities project to bring the concept to Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, and Manhattan Beach. A team of experts is developing a blueprint for well-being improvement in the beach towns and using the knowledge and tools developed by Blue Zones and Healthways, Inc. — including benchmarking with the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index — to create lasting improvements over the course of the three-year project.
“Community well-being is about physical, social and emotional health, which impact the vitality of citizens and businesses. The Healthways Blue Zones Vitality City initiative is unique because it strives to put in place comprehensive and sustainable solutions to improve well-being for the entire community,” said Healthways’ Chief Executive Officer Ben R. Leedle, Jr. “We commend the beach cities for taking this important step, which demonstrates forward thinking and real care for their citizens, and trust their good work will inspire communities across America to join the movement to greater well-being.”
Funding for the project comes from Healthways and the Beach Cities Health District. Rich Amico, senior director of strategy, planning and development at Healthways, said that the Vitality Cities team will assess a wide range of community assets and liabilities around well-being, from community walkability and bikability to the healthy food options available in local schools and restaurants.
Once this inventory is completed, the program will focus on making positive changes in problem areas by working with everyone from political leaders to restauranteurs. The Vitality Cities website will support the project with information on program philosophy, progress, events, and volunteer opportunities, as well as serving as a collection point for community data and a vehicle for social networking.
Progress in the beach cities will be measured in part with the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index; six domains of well-being (life evaluation, emotional health, physical health, healthy behaviors, work environment, and basic access) will be used to assess community-wide improvements. “Our work with the Vitality City team will result in greater well-being for our residents and serve as a model for other cities seeking improved health and happiness for their citizens,” said Lisa Santora, Beach Cities Health District chief medical officer. “And through its use of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, we’ll have measurable results to prove its effectiveness.”
Employers located in the three beach communities will receive free Well-Being Assessments from Healthways to help companies better understand the impact of employee well-being on their bottom line. Firms can also pay for an organization-specific well-being blueprint with recommendations from Healthways experts.
Healthways also will bring to bear several of its other well-being related products and programs, including the stop-smoking Quitnet community and the Blue Zones Compass, used to calculate community-wide longevity gains based on the Vitality Cities improvements. Quitnet, a mindfulness application, and email-driven coaching on making positive life changes will target individuals.
MeYou Health‘s free Daily Challenge — which encourages people to take small actions each day towards lasting improvements in health and happiness — will serve as a tool for promoting well-being within the Vitality Cities program. Users will be able to assess their well-being through the program’s Well-Being Tracker and connect with others in their community to share in the completion of Daily Challenges together.
“Anybody will be able to come into the Vitality Cities website, and people who register with a zip code from the beach cities will be able to take part in the free activities,” said Amico.
Healthways ultimately would like to offer Vitality Cities services to other cities and towns that want to make lasting changes to their community well-being. “The goal is to work with communities across the country that are excited enough to pay for it,” said Spoonheim.
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- Queen Cities: The Healthiest Places for Women to Live
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