The mysterious Blue zones; places in the world where people are claimed to live the longest and healthiest lives. You may have an opinion about the dependability of the Blue Zones study, but there’s no doubt it presents some good ideas that could help all of us to improve our health and happiness.

That said, as Singaporeans, we were not expecting to wake up to the news that we’re now living in a Blue Zone! Our first reaction was it must be fake news. When we realized it wasn’t, we immediately added the new Netflix docuseries about Blue Zones to our watchlist, and Dan Buettner’s new book to our reading list.

Now, here’s what we think.

News Flash

For those who may not be familiar with Blue Zones or are not aware that Singapore has been included as one, here’s a quick newsflash:

• Blue Zones are regions in the world where people are claimed to live longer than normal.

• The five original Blue Zones are: Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya, Costa Rica; Icaria, Greece; Loma Linda, USA

• Singapore is the newly added sixth Blue Zone.

• Singapore has consistently ranked among the countries with the highest life expectancy. A newborn in Singapore today can expect to live about 20 years longer than a newborn in 1960.

• From 2010 to 2020, the number of centenarians in Singapore more than doubled from 700 to 1500.

• In Bloomberg’s annual index of the world’s healthiest nations, Singapore routinely ranks in the top 10, despite spending only a fraction of their GDP on healthcare.

• Unlike the original Blue Zones, whose longevity has been attributed to culture and tradition, Singapore’s status as the sixth blue zone has been attributed to well-planned changes implemented over time, which makes Singapore an engineered, Blue Zone, 2.0.

Our reaction to the news

On one hand, we’re not entirely surprised since we’ve always been aware of our country’s relatively high life expectancy. But at the same time, we had serious doubts over whether we truly deserved the title.

People in Blue Zones are often portrayed as living remarkably simple lives, relying on old wisdom to age gracefully and effortlessly. That didn’t sound anything like the Singapore we know and love.

To illustrate why, let’s compare Singapore with what the team at the Blue Zones project calls the Power 9; nine takeaways believed to be shared in common between the five original blue zones.

#1. Move naturally

According to the Blue Zones project, people in Blue Zones move more as a natural part of their day. But like most modern cities, the typical Singaporean works a sedentary office job.

While shepherds in Sardinia hike for miles through mountainous landscapes, Singaporeans have come to rely on the convenience of readily available private-hire taxis.

We don’t grow our own food and tend to our gardens for hours a day like the Okinawans. What we do have is a robust food delivery network for us to obtain meals without even having to step out of the door.

#2. Sense of Purpose

People in Blue Zones often have a clear reason to get up in the morning. They even have vocabularies for it, such as Ikigai for the Okinawans or Plan de Vida for the Nicoyans.

There are many great things going for Singapore, but the rigidity of our system is a common complaint. From early education to retirement, we are nudged along a preferred path: Study hard, get a job that pays as well as possible, and just show up to work every day.

In a 2015 Gallup poll, only 17% of Singaporeans felt they had a clear purpose in life.

#3. Downshift

Folks in Blue Zones live relatively slow-paced lives and incorporate routines to help them reduce stress.

I think most Singaporeans would agree that life in Singapore can be classified as high-stress.

We certainly didn’t go from a fishing village, to a vulnerable, newly independent nation, to an economic success story in such a short period of time by downshifting.

#4. 80% Rule

People in Blue Zones eat wisely and prevent over-eating by stopping when they’re 70 to 80 percent full. With newfound abundance and prosperity, that’s not a rule many Singaporeans live by anymore.

We can keep going, but we’re halfway through the list and so far there’s not much to suggest we are Blue Zones material!

What’s our secret to living longer?

Numbers don’t lie, and according to the numbers, Singaporeans do tend to live longer than many parts of the world. What’s our secret?

Obviously, the truth is there are no secrets.

The truth is that if you eat well, move more, and worry less, you will be healthier and happier. Yet despite not eating well, moving more, or worrying less, Singaporeans are still living a relatively long time.

In Dan Buettner’s new book, he suggests one lesson to learn from Singapore is to “focus on financial success”. That sounds to us like the most straightforward answer to why Singaporeans are living longer.

Objectively speaking, we have pretty impressive healthcare — we’re good at detecting diseases early and managing conditions well. But even more importantly, the average Singaporean can afford to get the timely medical care they need, within reason.

Quick story: One day, my dad felt numbness in his arm, so he called his doctor. The doctor said to come down to the hospital immediately and admitted him into an intensive care unit. Shortly, five stents were inserted into his heart, and today, he has total quality of life with the help of medication.

All of that was possible largely thanks to the country’s focus on “financial success”.

It may have come at a cost, though. Across the board, trends show that Singaporeans’ health is declining. There’s been an increase in chronic diseases like diabetes and high blood cholesterol, an increase in obesity, and our mental well-being has also declined, with young adults more affected compared to other age groups.

Singaporeans are living longer not because we’re healthier and happier. We’re living longer despite being unhealthier and unhappier.

Is there anything to learn from Singapore?

Referring back to the Power 9, there’s actually one thing we do that stands out, and that’s “loved ones first”. The Blue Zones project suggests that the healthiest centenarians tend to build their lives around their families. By doing so, it helps them to eat healthier, reduce risks of personal accidents such as heavy falls at home, and also keep their mental and social skills sharp.

Like many Asian cultures, especially ones with Confucian roots, Singapore places heavy emphasis on respecting and caring for our elders. We’re taught from a young age to obey and support our parents. Families tend to live together until adult children start their own family (plus rent is so expensive here!). Sending our parents to old folks’ homes is also uncommon as we’re expected to care for them when they’re older.

On top of that, there are policies that encourage families to keep living with (or at least close to) one another. One example is the Proximity Housing Grant. First or second-time homebuyers of public housing can get a S$20,000 grant if they choose to buy a home near their parents, or S$30,000 if they choose to live with them. Singaporeans love “free money”, so the Proximity Housing Grant definitely has an influence on many of our homebuying decisions.

Add to the fact that we’re a small country to start with, where we’re never much more than an hour’s drive away from one another anyway; you can expect the elderly in Singapore to be well-supported socially and emotionally. We have no doubt that has contributed indirectly to Singaporeans’ longevity.

There are many other initiatives designed to improve the well-being of our people, but not all of them are going to be worth mentioning. It’s also hard to say whether they’re substantial enough to overshadow the fact that we simply have great healthcare, and citizens can afford it.

Does Singapore deserve the title of Blue Zone?

In our interpretation, the embodiment of a Blue Zone should be a place where people not only live longer and healthier, but also happier and with more purpose. What we liked about the original Blue Zones ideology was that they presented good reminders of the less talked about and less tangible things that contribute to our well-being.

Outside of nutrition and exercise, it’s just as important to slow down, prioritize our loved ones, have a strong social support network, and find a greater sense of purpose in life.

To be fair, they did make it clear that Singapore earned the title of Blue Zone under a different criteria compared to the original Blue Zones. We’ve been described as “the next frontier of aging”; a blueprint for what future Blue Zones are going to look like.

We have nothing but love for our country, and we feel extremely fortunate to be here. But while Singapore has done many things right, we just don’t think we can call ourselves great role models when it comes to health and happiness at this point in time.

With all that said, titles like Blue Zones mean very little. There’s only one place we need to be concerned about making a blue zone, and that’s the individual bodies we live in. Any “body” can be a healthy and happy place to be if we take good care of it!

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