Blue Zones guru reveals the hobby you should take up if you want to live to 100 – and 9 other longevity tips

IF YOU'RE interested in how to remain active and healthy as you age, you might have heard of the Blue Zones.

There are five spots across the world where people supposedly live the longest, often reaching the rip of age of 100.

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The Blue Zones include Okinawa in Japan, the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica, Ikaria in Greece, Sardinia in Italy and Loma Linda in California.

Though they're scattered across the world, inhabitants of these regions share common traits when it comes to their diets and routines - even their hobbies.

Though genetics might have something to do with their long, healthy lives, longevity guru Dan Buettner reckons certain daily habits might be key.

The author and National Geographic fellow - who actually coined the term Blue Zones after studying centenarians across the world - recently appeared on the ZOE podcast along with Prof Tim Spector and Zoe's CEO Jonathan Wolf.

Dan made the case for taking up an unlikely hobby in order to live longer: gardening.

"In every Blue Zone, almost everybody who is making it into their nineties and hundreds, not only garden their whole life, but continue to do so," he told his hosts.

"And it might be because it's low intensity, physical activity," he explained.

Exercise can be important for staying active and healthy as you age, but Dan says Blue Zoners don't get theirs by hitting the gym.

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Though your not hitting the treadmill or pumping weights, pottering around your garden and tending to plants still gives you "a range of motion", the longevity expert said.

Whether you're bending over, squatting, digging, carrying things, there's a surprising amount of work that goes into this simple hobby.

"I argue that gardening is probably much better than joining a gym, the best longevity exercise you could do," Dan went on.

What makes gardening so special?

Sometimes, the idea of going to the gym to hit your exercise quota for the week can seem like a real faff.

But Dan argues that you might be more motivate to keep your garden thriving, while getting the additional benefits of physical activity too.

"It's a nudge," he explained.

"When you have a garden and you planted something, you can't wait to eat.

"It gives you an incentive to go out every day and weed and water and harvest," Dan went on.

Having a green thumb might also do good things for your mental health too.

"I've seen the studies that show that when you're gardening, your cortisol levels or your stress hormones drop," Dan said.

A King’s Fund report on the health benefits of gardening recently unearthed a string of benefits associated with the activity, such as reductions in depression and anxiety and improved social functioning.

The NHS even added gardening to its Social Prescribing list in 2019, so patients can benefit from being out in their community, connecting with nature.

Getting knee deep in soil might also not be hurting your immunity, Dan added.

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"It could very well be [that] you get your hands dirty and you wipe your mouth and you're getting the microbiomes," he said.

There's a little bit of dirt, but I argue that gardening is probably much better than joining a gym, the best longevity exercise you could do.