During Dan Buettner’s search for another blue zone, a man in his mid-60s immediately caught his attention. Douglas Foo is a self-made millionaire who started the Sakae Sushi food chain in Singapore in 1997 at the age of 28. Buettner describes Foo as family-centered, driven, and full of energy. He enjoys exercising and getting involved in the community through volunteer work. Most importantly, he had fun doing it.
“Every time he laughed, he leaned back, opened his mouth, and poured out his soul,” said Bitner, a National Geographic fellow, best-selling author and founder of Blue Zones LLC. wealth in a sit-down interview. “You can’t help but feel happy around him.”
For two decades, Bittner traveled the world to study the happiest and healthiest cities. During his exploration, he drew lessons from the inhabitants and environments of the five blue zones, which produce the longest-lived communities.
After a nearly 15-year hiatus, Buettner announced Foo’s hometown of Singapore as the latest blue zone to join the ranks. In many ways, Foo embodies the spirit of this newly recognized blue zone, which Buettner details in his new book, Blue Zones: The Secret to Longevity.
“With boundless enthusiasm and irrepressible energy, Foo embodies the Singaporean ideal of success,” Bittner wrote in his introduction to Singapore.
Bittner recalls Foo telling him: “Singapore has given me a lot, but I haven’t given back enough.”
Since Gianni Pes designated the Italian island of Sardinia as the first Blue Zone city in the early 2000s, Buettner has set his sights on finding other cities with similar statistics and communities. Since 2009, four more blue regions have joined the ranks: Loma Linda, California; Ikaria, Greece; Okinawa, Japan; and Nicoya, Costa Rica.
Bitner calls Singapore “Blue Zone 2.0 – the next frontier of ageing” in his new book, which highlights more than just the enthusiasm of the residents themselves. Health data, landscapes and policy incentives make this multicultural island influenced by India, Malay and China a beacon of health and wellbeing.
Introducing the sixth blue zone of the world
Bittner told us he first became interested in Singapore in 2005, when he wrote a cover story on happiness for National Geographic wealth. Since then, he has met with residents and pored over data, analyzing health indicators on the island. Life expectancy has increased by 20 years since 1960, and the number of centenarians has doubled in the past decade, Bittner writes in his book.
“In addition to having very high life satisfaction, they also produced the longest and healthiest populations,” he said.
Unlike other blue areas whose longevity indicators stem from years of history, culture and tradition, Singapore’s status comes from changes over time.
“It’s a blue zone that’s been carefully designed, not one that came out organically like the other five,” Bittner said, noting how Singapore has transformed into an urban center over the past few decades. “They’ve clearly produced the results we wanted.”
Singapore has policies designed to engage people intergenerationally, walk and buy healthy food, which stands for Healthy Longevity.
Transportation and Sports
During his travels, Bittner observed how Singapore’s sidewalks protect residents from the sun through “aesthetically pleasing green spaces”.
Pedestrian-focused signage covers the entire city, making it safer for people to travel on foot. He added that the island also taxed cars and gasoline, funneling money into a robust subway system where people lived no more than 400 yards from a station. In addition to the environmental benefits of public transit, people can be physically active and connected by walking and taking public transit.
“Pedestrians are favored over motorists when driving around town,” Bitner said. “They walk 10 or 20,000 steps a day without thinking about it.”
get healthy food
Bittner is amazed by Singapore’s food shopping scene. Healthy food is subsidized, incentivizing people to buy nutrient-dense whole foods rather than more processed foods (Bitner has yet to see this move widely implemented globally or in other blue zones).
The Singapore government has systematically reduced the amount of sugar in sugar-sweetened beverages and added healthy food labels to products with limited sugar, fat and sodium.
“People are unknowingly reducing their sugar intake,” Bittner said.
against loneliness
Cities play an important role in building people’s sense of community.in polls conducted on behalf of harris wealth Earlier this year, the number one reason people planned to move within the next two years was to be closer to a support system.
“Loneliness is largely a function of environment,” Bitner said. “If you live in a cul-de-sac in the suburbs, especially if you don’t like your neighbors, you’re less likely to run into someone and have a conversation.”
Singapore’s architecture itself is an antidote to loneliness. People live in high-rise buildings, which reflects the diversity of the population. Residents can gather at local food vendors, markets and outdoor spaces.
“You’re sharing a table, you’re interacting with booth users, you’re interacting with the person next to you,” Butner said. “Your chances of meeting old friends or making new ones are multiplied.”
health care
Bittner described a hospital in Singapore as a “Four Seasons Resort”. He wrote that the layout of the hospital resembles a luxury hotel, with outdoor spaces, restaurants and classes that bring the wider community together. The hospital that Bittner visited is dedicated to optimizing the healthy lifespan of the elderly by preventing chronic diseases in the elderly. The hospital has developed a plan to send nurses to the community. They help with free screenings and provide patients with healthier meals when needed.
Officials also implemented a “National Step Challenge,” where residents log 10,000 steps a day and can redeem points and use them at local restaurants and stores.
intergenerational gathering
Bitner said Singaporeans can get tax breaks if their elderly parents live with them or live nearby. It encourages families to stay in close contact with their children and grandchildren.
“Aging parents are a wonderful source of resilience, agricultural wisdom and culinary knowledge that we just store in nursing homes,” he said. “In Singapore, partly because some sensible policies encourage it, it’s being exploited every day.”
Another project called Kampung Admiralty, developed in 2018, aims to connect the elderly with nature and generations.
“If we also want a healthy, disease-free population, the fact that we have this population health engineering provides us with a lesson that U.S. policymakers should be heeding,” Bitner said, noting that 70 percent of Singapore residents trust their healthy government.
Kampung Admiralty features an indoor park, performance center, food court, apartments and a medical center; an elderly care center and kindergarten are designed adjacent to each other, Bittner writes.
“(In the U.S.), we live in a toxic food environment and an environment that promotes a sedentary, solitary lifestyle. This won’t happen unless we start passing policies that make walking easier and making healthy food easier than junk food.” Change. We have to stop treating personal responsibility like a dead horse,” Bitner said.
As Bittner searches for blue zone contenders, he admits he’s having a hard time finding another “organic blue zone.” Blue Zone 2.0, on the other hand, is up for grabs.
“When it comes to social connection, moving more mindlessly, our big lesson is that our governments should be thinking about designing spaces that bring people together on foot,” he said.
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