If you are travelling to Japan to support the Irish Rugby team it might be worth making the effort to visit the Island that is home to some the healthiest people in the world to find out their secret.
Okinawa is one of 47 prefectures of Japan and it is comprised of over 160 islands with a population of 1.4 million.
Okinawa is one of five Blue Zones around the world and the term “Blue Zone” describes the healthiest places in the world to live, and is the research of Dan Buettner.
The Okinawan diet consist of low-fat, low-salt foods, such as whole fruits and vegetables, legumes, tofu, and seaweed.
Okinawans are known for their longevity. Five times as many Okinawans live to be 100 as in the rest of Japan, and Japanese are already the longest-lived ethnic group globally. There are more than 400 centenarians in Okinawa and they also have the title of world’s longest-living women, due to diet and attitude to life.
Perhaps their greatest secret is a strong dedication to friends and family. They maintain a powerful social network called a “moai”. A Social support group that forms, often at the age of 5, in order to provide varying support from social, financial, health or spiritual interests and is regarded as safety net for life.
Research shows good social connections means you can:
- Experience Less Stress – always someone there
- Be Happier – happy friends increase your happiness
- Live longer – your wellness is improved with friends
Okinawans also have a strong sense of purpose in life, a driving force that the Japanese call “ikigai.” It roughly means the reason for being or the reason you get up in the morning.
The word derives from iki, meaning life and kai, meaning the realisation of hopes and expectations. It focuses on joy, a sense of purpose and a feeling of well-being or in other words happiness in life is about more than money.
You can see that a lot of these philosophies have been carried across to the sporting and business world in terms of people management and building culture.
This is something that Bluezone Technologies have tried to incorporate into their thinking as we aim to make your business as close to a Bluezone as possible, where the health and safety of your people and therefore buildings and assets are paramount.
Bluezone technologies develops products for the management of compliance, contractor management, health and safety, inductions and eLearning.
We are a Northern Irish company based in Newry.
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