Partnership Guiding Principles

The Partnership supports a comprehensive approach to addressing health in our community and to provide opportunities to engage individuals, local government, work sites, restaurants, schools, and grocery stores. We have chosen to have the Blue Zones Power 9 Principals be the overarching guide to the work we do in Altoona.

What are Blue Zones?

Blue Zone is an organization founded by National Geographic author and researcher Dan Buettner, Blue Zones® studies the longest-lived cultures on earth and shares their secrets. Blue Zones scientific research and longevity studies have produced lifestyle management tools, content, and products that help people live well, longer.

Community Policy

Where we live, work and play influences the choices we make. Creating a healthy city means creating surroundings where it’s easier for citizens to make the healthy choice – from providing easier access to grocery stores than fast food restaurants to bike lanes with direct access to work, shopping centers and parks. Policies can include complete streets, Tobacco Control and Nutrition and Physical Activity.

What are the principles of Blue Zones?

Researchers found that people who live in Blue Zones share nine common lifestyle behaviors that have a direct impact on their increased well-being and longevity. These principles called Power 9 Principles are as follows:

Move Naturally: We get more physical activity naturally if we live in walkable communities, de-convenience our homes, and grow gardens.
Know Your Purpose: People who know why they wake up in the morning live up to seven years longer than those who don’t.
Down Shift: To reverse inflammation related to every major age-related disease, find time each day to meditate, nap, pray or enjoy a happy hour.
80% Rule: It takes your stomach 20 minutes to tell your brain it is full, causing most people to accidentally overeat; so stop eating when you feel 80% full.
Plant Slant: Eat mostly a plant-based diet that is heavy on beans, nuts, and green plants. This is consistent with the USDA’s MyPlate recommendations to make fruits, vegetables and grains the majority of your intake.
Wine at 5: If you have a healthy relationship to alcohol, one to two glasses of wine daily could help add years to your life, especially when consumed with a healthy diet.
Family First: Living in a thriving family is worth half a dozen extra years of life expectancy. Invest time in your kids, nurture a monogamous relationship, and keep your aging parents nearby.
Belong: Recommit, reconnect, or explore a new faith-based community. No matter which faith, studies found that people who show up to their faith community four times a month live an extra 4-14 years.
Right Tribe: Your friends have a long-term impact on your well-being. Expanding your social circle to include health-minded, supportive people might be the most powerful thing you can do to add years to your life.