Why Is Singapore the New Blue Zone?

Living to 100+?

Lately the author of the famous study on the Blue Zones, Dan Buettner, has added a 6th region of the world to his work on the people who live to be 100 years old, at 30x the rate of the U.S. where supposedly we’re so advanced.

It is the people of SINGAPORE.

While I don’t live there and I’m not an expert on the culture, I have been there and spent some time studying the culture. I figured if I went out into mainstream media, looking for why it’s one of the highest-longevity areas of the world, they’d serve me up a bunch of propaganda about how it’s because they don’t have guns, or because of government policies.

And they don’t disappoint. MindBodyGreen, always a good source of government propaganda, ignored a very important part of Singapore’s culture:

In Singapore, most people have only one child, and it is absolutely important in that culture to take really good care of your parents and grandparents. It’s shameful to not be a good son or daughter in this culture.

You can go read how it’s because they tax alcohol and subsidize whole grains, if you want to, and I’m sure that the sin taxes help in discouraging excessive alcohol use.

And in Singapore it’s really important to note that they eat a lot of leafy greens, as well as fish and tofu and other whole foods, and that is likely part of their success with aging.

But, how we treat our elders in the U.S. is absolutely shameful. It’s in vogue among Millennials to cancel their parents if they disappoint in any way.

Cancel culture isn’t just online; it’s an epidemic in families. I don’t know very many parents in their 50’s and 60’s who DON’T have a child who has canceled them, and some have more than one child who is choosing to live life in exile from their parents, and even denying grandparents access to their grandchildren.

Your parents made mistakes–some of them made big mistakes. But I don’t think in Singapore they live a long time because parents are perfect.

Imagine how much longer the Boomers would live if we didn’t stick them in a senior care facility, with processed and overcooked food, and rarely visit them. What if we gave them important roles in our families and culture, like the Blue Zones do?

Neglect will kill you faster than junk food will.

MindBodyGreen says it’s the government policies governing healthcare for the seniors, but they’re ignoring the culture of honoring, respecting, and always caring for their seniors that likely led to the government policies in the first place.

I know not everybody got perfect parents–actually, almost nobody did–and I know that looking at our phones for hours might seem more interesting than spending time with grandparents.

But forgiveness is good for the child, a child of any age. And you can’t be fully healthy with anger in your heart.

And it might just make our grandparents happy and help them live out their full potential, if we just treat them with more love–and sit and talk with them.

In Singapore, usually the aging relative lives with and is cared for by family. This may be key in why Singapore has joined the Nicoya Peninsula, the Loma Linda California Seventh Day Adventists, the people of Okinawa, and the Mediterranean cultures, in being one of the longest-living places on Earth. 

We have such poor care for our aging population that they’re now deploying AI robots to talk to seniors in residential treatment facilities, because real human beings aren’t doing it.

I don’t know who I wrote this for, but I hope someone finds it in their heart to forgive a parent or grandparent, or reach out to a child or grandchild today.

Or maybe even make a big change in how your family over the age of 80 lives that is OUR responsibility. 

If you prefer to see the video version of this article, here it is.

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