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Blue Zone 2.0 — How Did Singapore Do It?

Did you know that Singapore is ranked among the top in the world in terms of the healthiest (it’s number one!), happiest and longest-lived citizens?

It’s also improved life expectancy for its citizens by 20 years since 1960 and was named a Blue Zone in 2023!

The Singapore blue zone is slightly different, though, so let’s go over why!

How Were Blue Zones Created?

‘Blue Zones’ is a term coined by American journalist, Dan Buettner. These are regions where people reaching 100 years of age were found to be a common occurrence, although it’s important to note that many of these blue zone lifestyles are changing with changes in diet, technology and industrialisation.

Blue zone countries include Sardinia (Italy), Nicoya (Costa Rica), Okinawa (Japan), Loma Linda (United States) and Ikaria (Greece). The Mediterranean diet has long been said to help in staying healthy, as is stopping eating when you feel about 80 per cent full, like the in the case of the Japanese region, but there’s more to it than that.

The 9 core factors, known as the Power 9, that represent Blue Zones are:

• Move naturally in everyday life
• Keep routines to destress
• Have purpose
• Eat a more plant-based diet
• Stop eating when 80 per cent full
• Be part of a community
• Keep loved ones close
• Drink alcohol moderately and regularly
• Be surrounded by people with healthy habits

Official studies into longevity have been ongoing for decades, with research going into our bodies, diet and supplements to extend our lifespan, but blue zones can help uncover a little about how to naturally increase your health span.

In 2023, Singapore was added to the list of blue zones, with the country being unique since it is considered the world’s only urban blue zone.

Further Reading: The Ultimate Guide to Longevity

Why is Singapore Considered a Blue Zone?

In recent decades, Singapore’s life expectancy has been increasing and in the past 10 years, the number of centenarians has doubled, causing it to become a Blue Zone.

It’s different from other regions as it’s not isolated, cut off from other areas where it could develop certain eating habits, community living or active and outdoor lifestyles. Essentially, it didn’t come about naturally.

Instead, Singapore is full of cultures and a variety of foods and is a city with a booming economy, like other major cities around the globe.

So, how did it become a Blue Zone?

How is Singapore Engineering a Blue Zone?

As mentioned, Singapore is different than in other regions as diet wasn’t a key factor in creating this Blue Zone, Instead, the country has been implementing various regulations that are bettering the lives of its citizens.

Here are some ways they are doing so:

• There is a junk food tax.
• Healthy food is subsidised.
• Food labels include the fibre, sugar fat and sodium content to help inform consumers.
• Higher taxes were placed on cars and gasoline, and the public transport system was improved, helping people opt for walking and riding bikes.
• There are government initiatives that reward citizens for exercising, such as the Health Promotion Board’s Healthy 365 app.
• Incentives were introduced for people to live closer to their aging family members, known as the Proximity Housing Grant, such as tax breaks.
• Spaces were created for seniors to have a more active lifestyle, helping create a family-based community that kept them active. This has the added benefit of lifting loneliness rates, too!
• The city is known as a ‘concrete jungle’ due to the number of green spaces created all over the island, helping people relax and relieve stress.
• The country has universal health care, including prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care.
• Policies are in place to subsidise healthcare costs.
• Guns and drugs are illegal.

While some of these measures may not be able to be replicated in other countries, such as a dedicated higher car tax due to country size and distance citizens have to travel, it goes to show that dedicated thought into finding strategies that improve the lives of citizens goes a long way into actually increasing lifespan.

How Xandro Is Furthering Singapore’s Growth as A Blue Zone

As a Singapore-based company, here at Xandro, our team is dedicated to extending the efforts of our government and helping improve the health span of our customers.

The whole reason Xandro Lab came into being was because we’re a group of exercise and biohacking enthusiasts who want to help make longevity science affordable and easily accessible.

How do we do this?

1. Our supplements are high-quality and scientifically-research-backed, helping our customers improve their health at the click of a button.
2. We value knowledge and transparency, so we have our research and supplement purity levels available on our website. We also release multiple blogs a week sharing research and knowledge to educate our customers on various health issues and updates.
3. Our supplements are on the cheaper end of the supplement spectrum, helping make longevity science affordable, without compromising on quality.
4. We partner with various organisations and institutions to improve our supplements as well as to become a part of the community in sharing our knowledge about longevity, including the National University of Singapore, Temasek Polytechnic and various researchers.
5. We aim to increase awareness about the available solutions to improve health span. Yes, we’re a supplement manufacturer, but our community initiatives and blogs go further than that. We talk about nutrition, exercise, skincare, health, updates in the field and what longevity experts and other supplement brands are doing to keep both ourselves and our customers educated.

Longevity and an improved health span are a community effort. Let’s work together to improve our health and enjoy the remainder of our lives.

Further Reading: The Best Longevity Supplements

End Note

So, is Singapore a Blue Zone? Yes, it’s an engineered Blue Zone that sets an example for other countries and cities in the world to follow to better improve the lives of their citizens.

It’s not a single act that will help a city’s citizens live longer lives, but a community effort that starts from the top.

Learn more about longevity through Xandro Lab’s blogs!

You can also try out our Longevity Plus kit, a longevity bundle perfect for helping you age slower and healthier!