Dan Buettner Quotes

Have fun, be active. Ride a bike instead of driving, for example.

I wake up in the morning and I see that flower, with the dew on its petals, and at the way it's folding out, and it makes me happy, she said. It's important to focus on the things in the here and now, I think. In a month, the flower will be shriveled and you will miss its beauty if you don't make the effort to do it now. Your life, eventually, is the same way.

Singapore is the happiest place in Asia

Eat your vegetables, have a positive outlook, be kind to people, and smile.

If one fails to develop goals that give meaning to one’s existence, if one does not use the mind to it’s fullest, then good feelings fulfill just a fraction of the potential we possess. True happiness involves the pursuit of worthy goals. Without dreams, without risks, only a trivial semblance of living can be achieved.

The people you surround yourself with influence your behaviors, so choose friends who have healthy habits.

Life expectancy in America is about 79, we should be able to live to 92. Somewhere along the line, we're leaving 13 years on the table. So my quest is -- how do we get those extra 13 years? And how do we make those extra 13 years good years?

The longest-lived people eat a plant-based diet. They eat meat but only as a condiment or a celebration. Nothing they eat has a plastic wrapper.

Gratitude always comes into play; research shows that people are happier if they are grateful for the positive things in their lives, rather than worrying about what might be missing.

The beauty of moving naturally, i.e. walking and gardening, is they're low impact. You're less likely to fall down and break a hip. Setting up your life so you're nudged into general physical activity every day is a strategy for your entire life from age 10 to 100.

Diet and supplements and exercise programs aren't what is achieving longevity. Having a faith-based community can add four to 14 years.

The gym and the treadmill is a good idea. But the problem is we spend so much effort in marketing messaging, deluding people into thinking if you get on your treadmill or you go to the gym, that's what you need. People who join a gym, the vast majority of them have quit within nine months and almost all of them have quit within two years. So if it's a longevity strategy, does not work.

I live on the water. I live in a neighborhood that's consummately connected to my neighbors. I bump into them every day. I can bike to work.

A long healthy life is no accident. It begins with good genes, but it also depends on good habits.

Drink without getting drunk Love without suffering jealousy Eat without overindulging Never argue And once in a while, with great discretion, misbehave

The more things for which you develop a fondness the richer the life you live.

Walking is the only way proven to stave off cognitive decline - it works.

Having a purpose and knowing exactly what your values are will add additional years to your life.

So setting up automatic savings plans, and buying insurance as opposed to buying a new thing. The newness effect of a new thing wears off in nine months to a year, but financial security can last a lifetime.

Inconvenience yourself: ditch the remote, the garage door opener, the leaf-blower; buy a bike, broom, rake, and snow shovel.

True happiness involves the pursuit of worth goals; without dreams, without risks, only a trivial semblance of living can be achieved.

I think we need to think about our physical activity as a reward, as something enjoyable and something we look forward to doing, not something that we regard as self-flogging.

If you’re eating vegetables you are probably pushing unhealthier food out of your diet.

Exercise, from a public health perspective, is an unmitigated failure. The world's longest-lived people live in environments that nudge them into more movement. They don't use power tools, they do their own yard work, they grow a garden.

You rarely get satisfaction sitting in an easy chair. If you work in a garden on the other hand, and it yields beautiful tomatoes, that's a good feeling.

Serve yourself, put the food away, then eat.

It's hard to reach [the age of] 100. We're not programmed for longevity. We are programmed for something called procreative success.

A doctor may know more than a peasant, but a peasant and a doctor know more together.

Actually, when you get into your sixties and above, you want to think about exercise differently. It's not just about you know cardiovascular or lifting weights. It's also about avoiding accidents.

So learning to play a new instrument, learning a new language - those sorts of things will pay dividends for years or decades to come.

Deepen your existing spiritual commitment.

Kids in a home with grandparents are healthier.

The brutal reality about aging is that it has only an accelerator pedal. We have yet to discover whether a brake exists for people.

The happiest people in America socialize about seven hours a day.

You have to know why you get up every morning.

Select your friendships carefully. Gather people around you who will reinforce your lifestyle.