Growing up in Nara, Japan, one food that was a constant in my home was tofu. It’s truly been a lifelong staple. When I was a baby, once I could eat solids, my mom commonly prepared two dishes for me — one was a mix of tofu, rice porridge, sweet potato, kabocha (squash), and nori … Read more
Growing up in Nara, Japan, surrounded by tea fields, matcha has always been a part of my life. The full aroma and the deep bitter and sweet umami taste of this vivid green tea evokes so much nostalgia for me. When I was in high school, I started taking formal tea ceremony lessons. It was … Read more
Working for the rest of your life may sound unappealing but many 100-year-olds around the globe say doing what they love and not retiring is what keeps them feeling youthful and fulfilled. In a popular book about longevity, “Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life,” the principle of ikigai is credited as … Read more
Supplements, superfoods, and health hacks are advertised constantly to those looking to live a long, healthy life, but focusing on just those quick solutions is not very effective, according to leading longevity researcher Dan Buettner. On a recent episode of “Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris,” Buettner, who popularized the world’s Blue Zones, spoke about … Read more
If you, like many others, have ever fallen down a rabbit hole trying to learn more about what causes some people to live longer and feel more happiness, then you’ve probably already heard of Blue Zones like Okinawa, Japan. Blue Zones are areas in the world with the most people living the longest lives. On … Read more
After 20 years of interviewing centenarians and visiting “Blue Zones,” the areas in the world where people tend to live the longest, Dan Buettner learned something that he didn’t expect. “When you take worldwide data on happiness, and you control for everything else, you find that people who live next to water are…happier than people … Read more
Alessandro Biascioli | Istock | Getty Images When it comes to claiming Social Security retirement benefits, experts agree it’s generally best to delay. Yet many people still claim early — either at the earliest possible age of 62 or before their full retirement age. Those early claims result in reduced Social Security benefits for life. … Read more
From beans to greens, there are many foods that make up the traditional diets of people in the Blue Zones, a handful of areas in the world where people tend to live longer. My family is from the Greek Blue Zone of Ikaria — I spend about half of every year on the island and … Read more
When Rubia Daniels heard a town in Italy was selling off abandoned homes for 1 euro each (or roughly $1.05), she had to take a look herself. The Berkeley, Calif., resident booked her first flight to Mussomeli, Sicily, in 2019 and quickly ended up buying not one, not two, but three crumbling properties at a … Read more
Valter Longo has been studying longevity in Italy for nearly 20 years, but having grown up in regions like Molochio, Calabria, he would say he’s been interested in how to live longer basically all of his life. In 1989, Longo officially started researching what it takes to make it to age 100 and beyond. Now, … Read more
