Dan Buettner

Did You Know?

• Buettner holds three Guinness World Records for distance cycling, including the 15,536-mile 'Americastrek' from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, to Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.
• He dated American model Cheryl Tiegs until 2009.
• Buettner gave a TEDxTC talk in 2009 titled 'How to live to be 100+' that had over 4.7 million views as of May 18, 2024.

Biography

Buettner graduated with a BA in Spanish and Literature from the University of St. Thomas in 1983. He then worked for Washington Post columnist Remar Sutton and later for National Public Radio in Washington, D.C., recruiting celebrity participation in a fund-raising croquet tournament with journalist George Plimpton. In 1986, he began setting Guinness World Records for transcontinental cycling, including the 15,536-mile "Americastrek" from Alaska to Argentina. He later completed the "Sovietrek" with his brother Steve and the "Africatrek" with cyclist Dr. Chip Thomas.

National Geographic

Buettner approached National Geographic Magazine with the idea to research longevity hotspots and received support to proceed. In 2003, he began leading trips to Sardinia, Okinawa, Monterrey, and Loma Linda, reporting on these communities in the November 2005 cover story "Secrets of Long Life." In 2006, he collaborated with Michel Poulain and Dr. Luis Rosero-Bixby to identify a fourth hotspot in the Nicoya Peninsula, and in 2008 proposed a fifth on Ikaria, Greece. That year, National Geographic Books published his book The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest. His 2015 book The Blue Zones Solution became a New York Times Best Seller.

Blue zones

The blue zones concept was originally developed by demographer Michel Poulain, who proposed five of the six zones, with Buettner included as a colleague. In 2008, Buettner chose Albert Lea, Minnesota, for the AARP/Blue Zones Vitality Project, focusing on creating a healthy environment rather than individual behaviors. The community showed an 80% increase in walking and biking, a 49% decrease in city workers' healthcare claims, a 4% reduction in smoking, and a 40% drop in health care costs.

In 2010, Buettner partnered with Healthways for the Blue Zones Project, which later worked with Beach Cities Health District in Southern California on three communities. In 2011, the project joined Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield to deliver the project across Iowa, eventually working in 18 cities. Projects began in Fort Worth, Texas, and Hilo, Hawaii in 2013, and in Naples, Florida, South Bend, Indiana, and Klamath Falls, Oregon in 2014. Adventist Health acquired Blue Zones LLC in 2020, and in 2024 the company announced a partnership with The American College of Lifestyle Medicine.

Buettner co-produced and hosted the 2023 Netflix series Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones, which won three Daytime Emmy Awards in June 2024 for directing, music direction and composition, and sound mixing and editing.