Man 'cheated death' for almost 40 years because of scientific 'blue zone' where people live longer

A man who 'cheated death' for almost 40 years put his survival down to living in a 'blue zone', a part of the world where people are scientifically proven to live longer.

It's been described as 'the island where people forget to die', and while such a reputation might sound fanciful, the science (sort of) bears out the hype.

It's the Greek island of Ikaria, which is described as one of the 'blue zones' in the world where people live significantly longer than the average life expectancy, and one man managed to cheat death for decades.

The BBC spoke to Ikaria resident Stamatis Moraitis, who explained that in 1976 he'd been given a cancer diagnosis and told he had between six and nine months left to live.

Thinking the cost of funerals in the US was very high, he decided to move back to his native island home where he could 'start drinking wine and wait for the day' death claimed him.

However, as time went by he instead found that he was feeling stronger and after passing nine months without dying he realised he might have much longer to live than the doctors had told him.

Told he had at most nine months left to live, he instead lasted for almost 40 more years and died aged either 98 (officially) or 102 (according to him) in 2013.

BBC

He put his health and recovery down to clean air, good food and a stress free life on the island, also joking that 'the wine helped'.

According to the National Library of Medicine, studies have demonstrated that only about 20 percent of a person's life expectancy is determined by their genetics, the rest is down to lifestyle.

However, studies into 'blue zones' found that leaving the onus for a healthy lifestyle down to the individual does not work, but having people living in healthy places does appear to.

If you want to go somewhere in the world where the people live longer then you've got quite the list of travel destinations on your hands.

robertharding/Alamy Stock Photo

Along with the island of Ikaria in Greece other 'blue zone' locations around the world include the Japanese island of Okinawa, Mediterranean island Sardinia, Loma Linda in California and Costa Rica's Nicoya Peninsula.

People living in these parts of the world statistically live longer, healthier lives and are less likely to pick up serious afflictions later on in life.

As for why this is, Healthline claims it's because people in these areas have much healthier diets with the foods produced in the local area being the type doctors always say you should be eating more of.

Some of these places also practice certain customs thought to keep them alive longer than normal, as residents of Okinawa only eat until they're about 80 percent full, and the slightly lower calorie intakes are meant to be good for you.