Add Years To Your Life: Sign Up For The 'AARP®/Blue Zones® Vitality Project' To Be Part of '6 Weeks To Longevity' Kicking Off September 8
Washington (Sept. 1, 2009) – People don’t want to just live
longer; they want to live healthier and more purposeful lives. Now,
through the AARP®/Blue Zones® Vitality Project
sponsored by United Health Foundation, people from across America will
have the opportunity to add healthy years to their lives by joining the
project at AARP.org/BlueZonesProject and signing up for the “6 Weeks to
Longevity,” which kicks off on September 8, 2009.
One small town, Albert Lea, Minn., has been working hard since January
2009 to prove that by making a few simple changes, a community can add
years and purpose to its residents’ lives. Now, others can join the
last six weeks of the unprecedented AARP®/Blue Zones® Vitality Project and learn easy ways to strive for additional good, healthy years of life.
All participants registered for the AARP®/Blue Zones®
Vitality Project will be a part of the "6 Weeks to Longevity”
initiative. The six-week online experience will include a
comprehensive lifestyle makeover, with each week focusing on a key area
of attaining longevity.
“By staying active and living with purpose, AARP’s 40 million members
demonstrate every day that age is not a defining number,” said Nancy
Graham, Editor of AARP The Magazine. “This collaboration is a unique
opportunity to show America that they have a say in determining how
many good years they will have in their lives, and offers them the
tools to extend that time.”
The “6 Weeks to Longevity” will focus on:
Week 1 Live Longer, Better - Introducing Blue Zones and the Vitality Compass
Week 2 Creating Your Longevity Circle - Creating and improving your social networks
Week 3 Rethinking How You Eat - Making food choices that will extend your longevity
Week 4 Mindless Moving - Build physical activity and movement into your everyday life
Week 5 Finding Purpose - Identifying your life’s purpose can also extend it
Week 6 Making Your Community Healthier - Changing your
community’s walkability, bikeability and food options can encourage
good behaviors
“Improving health is not just about what we eat and how much we move,”
said Dan Buettner, founder of Blue Zones. “Albert Lea residents have
learned that it’s about who we hang out with, about having strong
social networks and about an entire community effort. Now it is time to
teach America those same lessons.”
To get involved in the AARP®/Blue Zones® Vitality Project go to AARP.org/BlueZonesProject and take the Vitality Compass®
- an interactive tool that measures an individual’s projected life
expectancy based on current behaviors. Additionally, the site will
provide the number of extra years people can add to their lives if they
optimize their lifestyle. Participants can then enroll in the Vitality
Coach®, which offers personalized emails to help them make healthy changes to their habits.
“The United Health Foundation supports projects that can strengthen the
health of a community, while actively engaging its citizens,” said
Daniel Johnson, executive director of the United Health Foundation.
“The AARP®/Blue Zones®
Vitality Project is one way that individuals can take a novel and
innovative approach to improving health through small, meaningful
changes.”
About AARP
AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization that helps
people 50+ have independence, choice and control in ways that are
beneficial and affordable to them and society as a whole. AARP does not
endorse candidates for public office or make contributions to either
political campaigns or candidates. We produce AARP The Magazine, the
definitive voice for 50+ Americans and the world's largest-circulation
magazine with over 35.5 million readers; AARP Bulletin and AARP
Bulletin Today, the go-to daily news source for AARP's 40 million
members and Americans 50+; AARP Segunda Juventud, the only bilingual
U.S. publication and multimedia brand dedicated exclusively to the 50+
Hispanic community; and our website, AARP.org. AARP Foundation is an
affiliated charity that provides security, protection, and empowerment
to older persons in need with support from thousands of volunteers,
donors, and sponsors. We have staffed offices in all 50 states, the
District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
About Blue Zones
Founded by Dan Buettner as an ongoing project that is part of Quest Network, Inc., Blue Zones®
studies the world’s longest-lived populations for wellness information
and lifestyle management tools that can help Americans live longer,
healthier lives. For each Blue Zones® expedition, Buettner
and his award-winning team journey to a specific region whose
population is reaching age 100 at an extraordinarily high rate. These
longevity hotspots are called “Blue Zones®.” Buettner and
his team of scientists identify and study the regions’ common threads
in lifestyle behavior, diet, outlook and stress-coping mechanisms.
Through this ongoing study, Blue Zones® has developed a
formula of the world’s best practices in healthy longevity that people
can put to work in their own lives. In short, Buettner aims to help
everyone live within their personal “Blue Zone.” Buettner’s research
and his insight into enhancing longevity has been published in his New
York Times bestselling book, THE BLUE ZONES: Lessons for Living Longer
by the People Who’ve Lived the Longest, which was published by National
Geographic Book in 2008. Partially funded by the National Institutes on
Health, Blue Zones® is advised by an internationally
recognized panel of academic and scientific experts on the topic, and
supported by the National Geographic Expeditions Council. For more
information, visit www.bluezones.com.
About the United Health Foundation
Guided by a passion to help people live healthier lives, United Health
Foundation supports activities that expand access to quality health
care services for those in challenging circumstances and partners with
others to improve the well-being of communities. The Foundation also
provides helpful information to support decisions that lead to better
health outcomes and healthier communities. Since established by
UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) in 1999 as a not for profit private
foundation, the Foundation has committed more than $160 million to
improve health and health care. For more information, visit www.unitedhealthfoundation.org.
