In the 2008 New York Times bestselling book The Blue Zones, author Dan Buettner travels the globe to find the longest living groups of people in the world and report on the common practices lending to their superior longevity. The thought is that if we all can learn their rituals and apply them to our own lives, we too can live longer, happier, and healthier.
From his interviews and interactions with groups located from as far as Okinawa, Japan to our own backyard in Loma Linda, California, Mr. Buettner identified 9 common principles.
- Be active throughout the day
- Don’t stuff yourself at meals
- Eat more plants
- Drink red wine
- Find a sense of purpose
- Relax
- Be spiritual/religious
- Put family first
- Surround yourself with good people
While most of these are no-brainers, I and a majority of the millennial generation struggle with Principle 7, the need to be religious to be happy and healthy.
The Blue Zone dilemma
All of the groups Mr. Buettner researched had strong religious communities, irregardless of the actual religion. Just the act of worship appeared to increase longevity. Among the reasons why, he suggests that religion may improve health by increasing self esteem, fostering social networks, reducing harmful social behaviors, and relinquishing the stress of everyday life to a higher power. (Maybe the act of being in the good graces of God brings you health, you ask? Probably not–just go visit your local children’s hospital and ask who they’ve wronged.)
To achieve this Principle and reap its health benefits, he recommends getting more active in a faith community and attending some type of religious service.
But what if you don’t want to belong to a religious organization or if you don’t even believe? Can you still cultivate these health benefits without religion?
Transition of faith
Throughout my entire childhood and into my early 20s, I was a steadfast Catholic attending mass each Sunday, hoping for eternal salvation after my time on Earth ceased, until one particular semester in college during a seemingly harmless Ancient Civilizations course. In this class, I spent hours reading and discussing pre-Biblical texts from Herodotus and Thucydides who, at times, described wildly extravagant and unbelievable historical events. A few thousand men fending off a million approaching militants? I don’t think so.
What came from this course was the understanding that historical texts contain hyperbole, inconsistency, and inaccuracy about supposedly real events. If Herodotus’ Histories weren’t literal truths, could the Bible also contain such misinformation? For instance: How does one walk on water or change water to wine? If this is physically incompatible with our known world, why should I let slip this falsehood and trust anything else written in the book? If the stories are not to be taken literally and instead meant to convey a message about how to live morally, why should I live my life by Its commandments?
At this same time through my studies of biochemistry, I was pushed further away from the religion upon learning much of life could be explained by scientific phenomena, without calling upon God to explain supposed miracles or everyday occurrences.
This critical evaluation began to erode the foundations of my religious beliefs and simultaneously, my mental wellbeing. Without religion to provide meaning and with the thought that there may be no afterlife, my life turned slightly more gray and purposeless. Perhaps Principle 7 was indeed necessary for health and wellness.
The want to change my negative outlook and come back to happiness set me on a larger course to discover the purpose and meaning of my human existence, with or without religion.
Science, logic, and meaning
In his 2016 book The Big Picture, theoretical physicist Sean Carroll convincingly debates that a divine power may not be needed to explain the way the world is. And while there are aspects of the current world we cannot fully explain now, that doesn’t mean we won’t be able to in the future.
Not only do we not need a divine power to explain our universe, Dr. Carroll states that we are here on Earth without a divine purpose–there is no God guiding our path in life or even caring what we do. Instead, everything is happening because it can.
This logic comes at odds with the ideology of the people living in the Blue Zones, among billions of others throughout the world, who are convinced a Creator brought about the universe and its purpose. But let’s say for a moment that there truly is no supreme being; would the Blue Zones have wasted their lives following their faith?
No.
A major aspect of longevity, health, and happiness is derived from a sense of purpose and meaning in life–to feel that what you do positively impacts others. This is exactly what religion provides to many people, including those in the Blue Zones. Their belief in God and religion gives them a sense of purpose and meaning, which eases life stress and boosts self esteem, and therefore increases happiness and health.
Dr. Carroll states that a lack of a divine purpose should in no way diminish our purpose and meaning in life. Instead, he states that human life matters exactly because it matters to us. Because we place meaning in our lives and care about what happens is exactly why we have meaning and purpose. Whether we are motivated to do good because of God or personal conviction doesn’t matter, he suggests; only because you have placed meaning to your actions is what gives it purpose.
While it was nice of him to provide a cushion to the psychologically-devastating blow that we aren’t guided by a grand purpose, I can’t help but feel still slightly depressed that we are supposedly only here on Earth because of random chance within our laws of physics.
Explaining the weird
But I don’t know if I believe or even want to believe this lack of divine purpose Dr. Carroll concludes either. What solace is provided knowing we live, we die, and that’s it. Yes, our meaning can be derived in our actions but is there really no universal purpose for our life?
While Dr. Carroll’s conclusion is difficult to scientifically and logically debate, there have been too many weird events in my life that seem too coincidental to not have any deeper meaning.
Not only have I had incredibly timed dreams, conversations, or sightings that seem to explain and rationalize events in my life, take for instance the findings of University of Virginia Associate Professor and psychiatrist, Jim Tucker. Dr. Tucker is one of the few scientists in the world who studies reincarnation and the weirdness that science cannot explain.
Dr. Tucker has documented thousands of cases of children who believe they’ve lived a past life and has painstakingly tried to identify the validity of their claims. While some of the stories are eventually found to be bogus, many are so incredibly detailed that it is almost impossible to disprove, lending to the idea that maybe there is life beyond death or that somehow humans are all consciously connected–as if humans are an FM radio able to pick up and send information to and from the universe.
Now I’m not one to necessarily believe in these sorts of experiences, especially with as little scientific weight as they carry, but they build on a theme that maybe we are a part of something bigger than ourselves here on Earth, despite what Dr. Carroll hypothesizes. Maybe we are all connected here on Earth and even beyond.
Scientifically we are all connected in an abstract fashion to the larger universe. We are built by the atoms born in supernovae, were grown via the energy of the sun through the plants used to provide our nourishment, and largely enjoy the company of and bonding with other humans, animals, and nature. To say we are not connected on some tangible level without greater purpose doesn’t seem entirely believable to me.
Indeed this is what I want to believe: to know that life has meaning beyond what meaning I give it and that we are actually connected on some deeper level.
Religion or not: lessons to take for health
And this is where the logical debate ends. We can never know for sure if we are here because of a Creator or if we are just an isolated human species among the limitless galaxies in the universe doing whatever it is we want to do.
Without God and religion to provide a comfy blanket around reality, life can be quite daunting, fully knowing you are in control of your actions and life story.
And for some, including those in the Blue Zones, religion and spirituality can ease the looming fear of eventual death or the stress of everyday life and provide meaning and purpose for the actions you take. For most, this leads to greater happiness and health.
But unlike the findings from The Blue Zones, I believe the health benefits of spirituality can be reaped with or without religion.
I believe humans can have an even more purpose-driven life without religion. Instead of being comfortable in knowing there is a grand plan for your life or hope for salvation in another, a life without religion puts the onus on the individual to find their own unique meaning and purpose in life. Instead of living up to commandments from a book or to doctrines crafted by a group of men, you can live the way that brings you personal meaning and purpose.
Without religion, the shackles of needing to conform or fear of being judged can be broken and your actions can be tailored to exactly what brings meaning in your life. This can allow you to devote all of your energy on things that provide real meaning: Your family, your health, your friends, your job, your hobbies…or even religion! This becomes your unique purpose in life. All other tasks pulling you away from this goal can be cathartically deprioritized, setting the stage for an even richer and fuller life.
When you do the things that make you happy and nourish the body and soul, health follows. Create a life aligned to your purpose and engage in activities with meaning, whether it includes religion or not.
The Healthy Pharmacist 
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