Health Beyond the Blog: Dan Buettner and “Living to 100” Docuseries

How Our Daily Behaviors Can Help Us Live Longer

by Alexa Morales

I was taught to celebrate death throughout my childhood in Mexico. Not in a morbid kind of way but by remembering our loved ones and commemorating them through the Dia de Muertos, or Day of the Dead.

Still, celebrating death does not make me less afraid of it, even though I grew up with this tradition. It becomes even harder to not be afraid when many chronic diseases are skyrocketing worldwide.

To lessen this fear, some start looking for “a fountain of youth”, things that will keep us young, and that will maintain “natural” appearances. Many fall victim to marketing schemes of different products, from vitamin and protein supplements to expensive skincare, for the promise of a fleeting youth.

Dan Buettner, an explorer and National Geographic journalist, says in his Netflix documentary series Live to 100: The Secrets of the Blue Zones that, with this mindset of constant fear of aging and death, we also forget to live. He shares lessons learned from the “Blue Zones” expedition, which started in 2004 in Okinawa, Japan and aimed to learn more about the longevity reported amongst its residents.

Buettner’s documentary episodes feature his travels around the world to find more about the diets and lifestyles of people with high indices of longevity. He travels to the different blue zones in each of the four episodes—Japan, Italy, Costa Rica, and Greece—to uncover how people in small communities of these countries have been successful at living longer and healthier lives.

There is no magic solution or method to evade aging and death, as Buettner shares across the docuseries. Instead, how long we live is often a reflection of our day-to-day behaviors, from our diets, and our physical activity to our vices. We miss what makes life truly special if we spend most of our days fixated on the inevitable passing of time. Watching this documentary has helped soothe my own fears and has allowed me to realize that life and death isn’t as scary as it seems.

You can watch Live to 100: The Secrets of the Blue Zones with Dan Buettner on Netflix.