There’s new non-profit community-minded organization in your part of the world dedicated to improving your life and those of the people around you. The new organization is called “On Track Saluda.” Its mission is to raise the quality of life in Saluda — and hopefully set an example for the rest of the county — by supplying guidance on how and what we eat, how much we get outside and play, and how much time we spend connecting with each other. The details are drawn from something called the Blue Zones Project, which has its academic origins in a 2004 paper in the peer-reviewed journal Experimental Gerontology about why so many people on the Italian island of Sardinia were reaching the age of 100.
It's turns out that almost 17% of Sardinians were at least 100 years old. Which is kind of crazy if you consider that the comparable percentage in the US is less than 1%. But more important, many of those ultra-old Sardinians were still in great shape.
An endurance cyclist named Dan Buettner wrote a story for the National Geographic magazine the next year about what the scientists were calling “blue zones” — places around the world where people are living longer, healthier lives. Those zones included communities in Greece, Japan, and Costa Rica. Then he set up pilot projects in three California communities to see if he could replicate the lifestyle factors that were responsible for the long, healthy lives. A viral TED talk and 13 years later, and the Blue Zones concept seems to be catching on. And why not? As our population ages, staying healthy into our 80s, 90s and even 100s, is not just a nice idea, it’s going to essential to our economy.
Brevard is now officially a “Certified Blue Zone Community” and a group of folks in Saluda recently decided to follow suit. On Track Saluda is being led by Saluda Living in Place (SLIP), which is devoted to making life easier for our elderly folk. I spoke with one the chief organizers, former Saluda City Commissioner Lynn Cass at her home in Saluda.
Further reading
Blue Zones Project: https://info.bluezonesproject.com/home
Saluda Living in Place: https://www.slipnc.org
Centenarian stats:
https://www.bumc.bu.edu/centenarian/statistics/#:~:text=USA%20number%20of%20centenarians.,or%20a%20prevalence%20of%200.27%25.
"Identification of a geographic area characterized by extreme longevity in the Sardinia island: the AKEA study"
https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00175541/file/2004%20POULAIN%20BZ%20EXP%20GERONT.pdf