323: Social Engagement & Blue Zones: Keys to Health & Happiness | Dr. Rizwan Bukhari

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  00:00

When they were studying these areas, and they were looking at maps, they had circled some areas in blue. And when they started looking at the map, they were like, you know, okay, every everywhere we've identified these healthier, longer living populations, they had little areas circled in blue, and so they decided to call it Blue Zones.

Maya Acosta  00:18

This is the healthy lifestyle solutions podcast, and I'm your host, Maya Acosta. If you're willing to go with me, together, we can discover how simple lifestyle choices can help improve our quality of life and increase our longevity in a good way. Let's get started. And today we have another segment of doctor in the house with our guest expert, Dr. Rizwan Bukhari. Welcome Dr. Riz.

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  00:47

Thank you very much. It's good to have you back.

Maya Acosta  00:48

Yeah, you know what I'm excited about this four part series that we're doing. I think we both enjoy having four part series, because they really allows us to dive deep into topics, what are we talking about in this series?

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  01:05

Today, and for the next few weeks, we're going to be talking about Blue Zones,

Maya Acosta  01:08

awesome Blue Zone living. And so you and I learned about Blue Zones soon after, or around the time that we learned about lifestyle medicine. And so what we're going to do is kind of parallel and show you how, what we're always usually talking about lifestyle medicine is very close to Blue Zone living.

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  01:30

In fact, I think for me, the BlueZone stuff preceded a lifestyle medicine. And that's probably what got me to the lifestyle medicine. Yeah,

Maya Acosta  01:39

Doctor was I thought we would do an icebreaker by going back to these conversational cards that we have referenced. And we did in the past, I thought it was a fun way to get started and to show people how they can have conversations. You want to do this? Sure, go for it. Okay, are you city or country? I think the question is, Which do I prefer the city or the country? Before I answer it? Do you want to guess for me?

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  02:08

I think you're gonna say country.

Maya Acosta  02:11

Why is that? Well,

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  02:12

you live in the city, but you really enjoy the lifestyle components that the country offers.

Maya Acosta  02:18

Yeah, I want to say I recently had this conversation with someone else about that, about that. And I actually said that. I'm both I love the fast pace aspect of a city. Being in New York, I loved having all that immediate access to to like different restaurants and coffee shops and venues. And like when we've been in New Orleans, I love that there are jazz places everywhere. And you can have entertainment right across the street from another venue. I love all that fast paced part of the city. And then I need to go and hide in my little hole. And so I love nature, and I love the country a lot. So it's, I think that that introvert part of me comes out sometimes it wants to socialize and be surrounded by a lot of busyness. But the part of me that needs a lot of quiet time and self nurturing goes to the country.

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  03:14

Yeah, I think that's probably similar for many people. Yeah. And, you know, maybe the, it's the hard part is finding that right balance, or maybe finding the right place to live where you kind of live in that country nature type thing, but are close enough to the city to enjoy it.

Maya Acosta  03:31

Yep. Okay, your turn,

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  03:33

okay? Is your glass half empty or half full,

Maya Acosta  03:37

you can answer it or skip, or get a better one.

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  03:40

That's an easy one. For me, I'm a I'm a glass half full kind of person. That's kind of the way I've always been my entire life. For me, you know, I kind of accepted already acknowledged that life is about having daily challenges. Some more than others, some days are better than others. But for me, it's always kind of the glass is half full in the sense that I look at those as not obstacles that set us back. But it's things that just problems that need to be solved. And so you know, no matter what it is, whether it's personal, or professional, I kind of I look at things from the half full, you know, kind of the optimistic standpoint.

Maya Acosta  04:21

And you know, what, as we're segwaying into the topic of Blue Zones, it kind of reminds me that when you have an E is a reason for getting up every day, your perspective does tend to be more the glasses half full, and with an actually half full with more to feel in many ways because you wake up with this fresh perspective and excitement when you're very driven by the passion that you love. So I you know what the iki guy is?

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  04:54

Absolutely and I think that that may be part of what when people try to create their own life create their own Blue Zone living, which is the things we're going to be talking about. One of those things is to try to find your, your purpose and your passion and the thing that gets you excited.

Maya Acosta  05:09

That's right. Oh, right. I love this topic. I am so excited. So let's get started on explaining to you what Blue Zones are. All right before we actually give you a description if you're watching the video, I want to show you a couple of books that you might be interested in reading for yourself. This one is called Blue Zones. Actually, there's it's a second edition because it was revised. And it's blue zone second edition nine lessons for living longer from the people who will live the longest by Dan Buettner, who is also the author of thrive. So this is one of the books that I have. I also had the cookbook, but I don't reference that as much. And we'll talk about why. And then the blue zones of happiness. So this is a little bit different than the actual Blue Zones of longevity. When it comes to the nine lessons. This one it goes on to describe the happiest places on earth. And it all has to do with your immediate surroundings and says lessons from the world's happiest people. This just another book by Dan Buettner. But the one that we're going to reference is really blue zones, the nine lessons for a living longer. If you're watching the video, you'll see that between us between myself and Dr. Riz, we have a yoga figuring, and the word relax. And so this is one of the things that Dr. Is and I really try to work towards because of the fast paced lifestyle that we live here in really the United States. We're affected by our immediate surroundings. All right, Dr. Risk for those people that may not be familiar with Blue Zones. I'm going to give you a description of the five places on Earth where this the blue zones were discovered. The Blue Zones refer to specific regions around the world where people tend to live longer, healthier lives compared to the global average. These regions were identified by the National Geographic fellow and longevity researcher Dan Buettner Buettner and his team traveled the world to study the lifestyles and habits of people in these regions and identified common factors that contribute to their exceptional health and longevity. So we have Sardinia, Italy, Okinawa, Japan, Nicoya, Costa Rica, Li Korea, Greece, and Loma Linda, California.

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  07:34

Yeah, who knew? There's one here in the United States. Yeah,

Maya Acosta  07:37

as a matter of fact, we have a friend who we met here in Dallas, she went on to medical school, and now she's doing her residency at Loma Linda University. And guess what she's interested in culinary medicine and lifestyle medicine and all of that, you're going to begin to see how the Blue Zones are sort of what we're also trying to achieve with lifestyle medicine.

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  08:01

Yeah, maybe creating your own Blue Zone lifestyle? Yes, yeah.

Maya Acosta  08:05

So the Blue Zones provide valuable insights into lifestyle factors that contribute to longevity, and overall well being. By setting these regions, we gain valuable knowledge and inspiration to adopting healthier habits and improving our own quality of life. So in case you're wondering, why are these regions called Blue Zones in the first place? I think you're gonna find this very interesting.

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  08:28

Yeah. So I got an idea. I mean, I kind of know the general story, but maybe you can probably tell the audience the exact story and might, my understanding is that when they were studying these areas, and they were looking at maps, they had circled some areas in blue. And when they started looking at the map, they were like, you know, okay, every everywhere we've identified these healthier, longer living populations, they had little areas circled in blue, and so we decided to call it Blue Zones.

Maya Acosta  08:55

Absolutely. The term Blue Zones was coined by Dan Buettner and his team during their research and exploration of areas with exceptional longevity. The name Blue Zones was chosen as a tribute to Dr. Gianni pass the demographer who originally circled the areas on the map using a blue pen. While researching the regions Buettner and his team worked with demographers, medical researchers and scientists to identify areas where people consistently live the longest, healthiest lives. They examined demographic data, conducted interviews and study the lifestyle and habits of the residents in these regions. During the process Dr. pesce mark the region's have exceptional longevity on the map with a blue pen. When Buettner later presented the findings in the 2004 TED conference, he used the term blue zones to describe these areas. The term resonated with the audience and has since become widely recognized and used to refer to these regions of exceptional health and longevity The concept of Blue Zones has gained significant attention and has been further studied and expanded upon to understand the factors contributing to long and healthy lives. And it has inspired numerous research studies, documentaries and initiatives aimed at promoting healthy lifestyle habits based on the principles of served in these regions. What I'm going to do is in the book, The Blue Zones, you'll see that there are nine lessons associated with blue song living and the column like principles. So rather than going into all nine, what I wanted to do, it was pull from the nine that pair with the pillars of lifestyle medicine, and real quickly, Dr. Is your board certified in lifestyle medicine, I thought maybe you can cover that area, tell our listeners, what the pillars of lifestyle medicine are.

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  10:51

So sure, so you know, I guess my my story, as far as my involvement with lifestyle medicine, started with the blue zones. And, and our story, I guess, because we learned about it together. And, you know, the so you've already talked about how we discovered these are the areas of longest life and longevity and healthy life, you know, you're living a longer, healthier life. So this was very interesting to us. And, and there was some basic tenets of the Blue Zones. And there were nine of them, I don't know, if you want what you want to call them, the nine pillars are called nine principles, the nine principles of blues of living. And, you know, so we were, we studied those, and we began to understand them, and they all make a lot of sense. And then I, I actually learned about the American College of lifestyle medicine. And interestingly enough, they have their six pillars. And when you start to look at their six pillars, there's a tremendous amount of overlap between the six pillars and the nine principles. And, and actually, you know, when you look at these pillars and principles, they even overlap with each other, you know, when you talk about, and we'll get into, but when you talk about stress management, sleep and rest, and social connections, those all overlap, they do similar things, but they kind of tried to categorize them, so we can understand them and use them as guides. But there are there is a lot of overlap. And so even though one is nine, and one is six, they actually tie together very nicely.

Maya Acosta  12:13

Yes. And so as you're getting ready to describe the six pillars, I want to remind everyone, because sometimes we have new listeners, like someone might be listening to the podcast for the first time, and they're listening to this lesson, this topic on the blue zones is that the podcast healthy lifestyle solution really is what I consider to be under the umbrella of lifestyle medicine. And as Dr. Riz goes on to describe the pillars, you'll see that I try to cover the six pillars on the podcast. And as you see that the that the principles of the Blue Zones, there's research that shows that, you know, they're making correlations are saying, These are the things that the blue zone people have in common, that may contribute to their longevity, the six pillars of lifestyle medicine actually are evidence based. And so that's important for us to always default to the research that has been done. And this is why you became board certified in lifestyle medicine, because of the evidence that has shown that these pillars when you apply them into your life can either help prevent disease, heart disease, and in some cases reverse

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  13:23

disease. Yes, indeed, in fact, so yeah, to kind of restate that, from my own personal experience. The you know, they they identify these areas, and they look for commonalities, and they found these nine principles. And so, you know, there's kind of research and demographics behind that in finding the common things. But the American College of lifestyle medicine and lifestyle medicine in general takes that a step further by understanding the science behind it, which then helps prove the benefits. Yes, number one is nutrition. And so then, the Blue Zones, emphasis on a plant based diet with a focus on whole foods aligns with the importance of nutrition and lifestyle medicine. Number two is physical activity. Stress Management is number three. Number four is sleep and rest. Number five is the avoidance of harmful substances. And then number six is social connection and support. Again, I'd like to reiterate that these six principles or core pillars, are all evidence based and supported by the scientific literature. Yes,

Maya Acosta  14:22

yeah. So I love the field of lifestyle medicine. And so what we're going to do is we're going to tell you the four topics that we're going to be covering over the next four weeks, two things that we're not going to really emphasize. What we find in the blue zones is that people have a strong connection to a higher being the sole their faith is also something that they have in common throughout the world. And so we're not going to cover it for the sake of just kind of being more consistent with lifestyle medicine. The fifth pillar moving away from harmful substances is one thing that I do cover on the podcast separately, but we're not going to do it. For this sake. We're just going to give you four different topics to focus on. Now, you know, Dr is that on the podcast, I promote sober, curious life. A year ago on July 3 was the last time I had any wine. And that's because the more that I dive into the research related to lifestyle medicine, the more that I learned, according to the World Health Organization, Dr. risk in 1988, they said that no amount of alcohol is safe. They actually said that alcohol is carcinogen.

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  15:31

Yes, absolutely. I mean, I think that it's that's a tough topic just because alcohol is so pervasive in our society and around the world. And but the data, the preponderance of the data, without a doubt is shows that alcohol is not healthy. In fact, it's not only not healthy, it causes disease.

Maya Acosta  15:49

I'm gonna I'm gonna have Janet Goron from tribes sober join me in July to talk about her podcast and how she supports people going sober, and I have had sober coaches on the show as well. So you know, I'm that topic, I'm going to leave for other episodes associated with the podcast for the sake of keeping it light hearted and really encouraging you to sort of take a 30 day challenge related to the Blue Zones, we're going to stick with four topics. And let's go ahead and jump into what those will be. Today, we can cover building a sense of community. And then next week, we're going to talk about moving naturally in our environment. And then the third week, we're going to talk about a plant slant or plant forward diet. And the last episode on Blue Zones, we're going to talk about downshifting and stress reduction. What do you think?

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  16:45

Sounds good to me. And you know what I'd like to say about this as this, you know, wherever you live, you're not obviously going to be living in a blue zone. But the idea here is to create your own Blue Zone living lifestyle. So it's not just because you don't live in one of these five areas, doesn't mean you can't create an environment of BlueZone living.

Maya Acosta  17:07

All right, let's start talking about community, Dr. Riz, we are actually in the process of organizing an event for July 16, where we're bringing in Dr. Laurie Marvis to the Frisco area, which is just north of Dallas. And that's going to help people come together as a community. I've had people say they're coming in from Houston, some are coming from Midland, some are coming from Fort Worth, Texas, which is about an hour away. Why do you think people are willing to drive that distance for a short, say, two to three hour event?

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  17:41

Well, I think that this that sense of community, and, you know, if you people, this is part of what we talk about, or what we're going to emphasize is that you need, it's important to try to find your community, find people who are like minded and who have similar things that they enjoy, and then go and participate in those things that reinforces that sense of community.

Maya Acosta  18:03

Yeah, that's right. So I was recently listening to Dan Buettner, he was on several shows he was promoting another book about a year ago. And he was teaching adults how to make friends. He says something to the effect that in the last five years, most people have not made a new friend. And I started to think about that, like I've been in Dallas for about 10 years, I was thinking, how many friends have I made? And if you look at the last five years, have you made a new friend? No. Fortunately, over the last year, I have been making an effort because I think I learned a lot from the pandemic. And so I've started to build a nice friendship with another with other vegan ladies in the Dallas area where we try to make an effort to meet just for dinner, and we catch up about what's going on in our lives. So that's been really nice. It's actually been very fulfilling. And the most interesting thing about this group of ladies, there's four of us is that we all range in age, I'm the oldest of the group, and then the youngest of the group, I think, is 30.

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  19:10

Well, yeah, I think this is a good point, and a good time to bring up that isolation and loneliness are a very significant part of our society today. And that was exacerbated by the pandemic. And then, so there's, you know, depending on the study to look at, there's a significant proportion of the population that feels isolated and lonely anywhere from, you know, upper 20s percent to 60%, depending on what you're looking at the, you know, are you looking at the general population? Are you looking at the elderly? And again, that was made worse by the pandemic. And then I also think that it's important to look at our social media. And and you know, we it's a kind of a oxymoron, the thing we call it social media, because you kind of think well, is that putting us closer together? Is it more socializing? But in reality, I think a great deal of social media is further isolating us, and leading to those feelings of loneliness. I think social media has its place, but we need to be very, very deliberate about how we use it.

Maya Acosta  20:13

Yes, it's very addicting to it's so hard once you get started on watching some of the reels that show up, like on your feed. It's so addicting.

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  20:23

I think that I just learned a term from social media. It's called Doom scrolling. I'd never heard of that before. But I think it's just when people just sit there. And they're just scrolling and scrolling and scrolling and scrolling. Yeah, I call it Doom scrolling. Oh, my goodness. And you can sit there and end up doing it for half an hour an hour before you realize you've been there that whole time.

Maya Acosta  20:42

Yeah, I don't know if you remember the title of that documentary that came out on Netflix, about three or four years ago that talked about how social media was strategically designed to keep us addicted. And most of us are so hooked, and the AI behind all of that knows what triggers us what interests us. So it'll show up on our feed. Do you remember that? I think it's called the social dilemma. Yes. All right. Let's talk a little bit about loneliness. I wanted to pick up, you know, provide you some statistics, because I love statistics and research. And I wanted to share with you first in this episode, we'll talk about loneliness and how it affects our health. And then we'll move on to how just when we try to be plant based and live a healthier lifestyle, how sometimes I can actually make us feel alone when loved ones don't want to be part of our new changes. And I'm going to talk a little bit again about the vegan Women's Summit and what that did for me in terms of connections. And then we're going to talk to you guys about activities that you can do, and platforms where you can search for groups to connect. And then finally, what is the BlueZone say about community and how can we foster community? Okay, so let's start with the loneliness epidemic. You and I know that recently, we heard the the most recent Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, talk about the epidemic of loneliness. So loneliness has been described as an epidemic affecting people of all ages and backgrounds. According to a survey conducted by Cigna in 2020, this is before the pandemic, nearly 61% of adults in the United States reported feeling lonely, the pandemic has further exacerbated feelings of isolation and loneliness for many individuals. So doctor was what are the health implications associated with this loneliness epidemic?

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  22:41

Well, I think their significant loneliness and social isolation have been linked with various physical and mental health problems. Research has shown that chronic loneliness can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, hypertension, weakened immune system, cognitive decline, depression and anxiety, and even premature death. I mean, and certainly, we can relate to the depression and anxiety components. That's, you know, a very easy leap. But the reality is the research has shown all of these other physical ailments can be exacerbated by loneliness. Yeah,

Maya Acosta  23:15

that's actually really scary. And I remember that the suicide rate went up during the pandemic, people couldn't stand being alone and connecting. And I remember saying to you, at some point, as we were seeing how some of the popular tourist spots were just empty, that were void of human beings. I remember thinking, and I probably said it to you. Wow, that destination doesn't seem as interesting when you take the people away.

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  23:44

Certainly, a lot of times when you go to places, there's the social interaction and seeing people that's important, too. There was

Maya Acosta  23:49

this documentary on Netflix about a couple that went on their third date, too, Costa Rica, I think it was and then the pandemic shut them down. And they ended up staying at that venue, that location. It was a long story I recommended but I don't remember the title. I think it's called the longest third date. And so anyway, everyone went home or the tourists just left and they were the only couple left. They're the only people left at the resort and they had the beach to themselves. And initially, you would think, Oh my god, that is an ideal situation. I would love it. But actually, it lost. Its its charm. Once the liveliness the music, the people the tours. Once all of that was removed, it wasn't as exciting. We need social interactions, and we were all impacted now mental health impact on mental health. A meta analysis published in the journal perspectives on psychology Science found that loneliness and social isolation are associated with a 26% increase in the likelihood of mortality. The study also revealed that loneliness has a similar impact. had a mortality as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. And I remember hearing that also come from the Surgeon General.

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  25:08

Yeah. Fascinating. And so and it is our Surgeon General who's talking about the loneliness epidemic. Yeah.

Maya Acosta  25:14

And we know that you know, people that are older, retired, maybe in nursing homes, maybe even hospice probably suffer isolation. And so that's one population that I always keep in mind that of course, they're lonely, you know, family members don't come around, they don't mingle as much. But I don't want to forget the rest of us, that also suffer from that I haven't actually flown to go see my family since 2019. Because a pandemic hit. And then a beautiful bundle of joy came into our lives, our puppy, true low, our dog. And then we have just started to get really busy. So it's been very hard for me to travel back home. But that's a priority of mine that I'm working on. But I imagine a lot of you that are listening have had limitations. Many people who have family overseas, for example, probably have not seen family and a long time. Many people went back to work back to the actual physical office, people were hit hard with financial difficulties. So there have been many reasons why we haven't connected with loved ones.

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  26:26

Yeah, certainly, I think that what we're talking about is a multifactorial issue. There's certainly lots of reasons why people become isolated and lonely. And so it takes a you know, you have kind of have to look at the bigger picture in order to address it.

Maya Acosta  26:40

Yep. So you know, like I already mentioned that older adults are particularly vulnerable to loneliness and social isolation. A study published in the journals of Gerontology revealed that around 1/3 of older adults in the United States feel lonely. Additionally, the National Poll on healthy aging found that 27% of adults aged 50 to 80 reported feeling isolated, you know, kind of makes me sad, just reading it,

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  27:06

it's not surprising to me, because we do our culture today, here in the United States is such that we have an itinerant society, people are moving around, families are split up. As we get older, a lot of people live in institutions of some sort. And so I think loneliness is kind of an isolation is kind of fostered in those in that way. And then also, you know, as we retire, we lose those social connections that we had with work. And so when you start, you've retired, and now you're staying at home, and you don't have much going on. And that's why it's important to address those issues. And in my opinion, you know, I don't know that people should necessarily retire, they should find, you know, some way to stay engaged and involved. And, you know, it could be a different form of retirement, you know?

Maya Acosta  27:54

Yeah, absolutely. I'm so glad that you say that. So let's talk about what the Blue Zones say about social connection. And of course, we know this is also part of lifestyle medicine, lifestyle, medicine encourages you to build healthy relationships. So the Blue Zones teach us that cultivating meaningful relationships and fostering a sense of community are essential aspects of a vibrant and long lasting life. Numerous studies have shown that social engagement is linked to better physical and mental outcomes, increased longevity, and a higher overall quality of life. We see doctor is that in the Blue Zones, the elderly are very important to the community. They're valued citizens of the community. They're involved in supporting the immediate families, especially helping to raise the children.

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  28:45

Yeah, I think that, that speaks to what I just said, you know, as opposed to what we have here. In a more westernized society in the United States, where people are moving around and families get split up in these societies, there is still like, coherence of the family and multigenerational in that respect. And so there, they not only might live close together, they might live on the same plot of land, or they might even live in the same home, there is this multi generational aspect to BlueZone living where the elders live together with even the younger the new newborns. And and so there is this family community that exists. Yes,

Maya Acosta  29:23

you know, for me, growing up family was important gatherings were common. And as a matter of fact, we often laughed that I it's four daughters. So I have three sisters. Each one of us may have had one or two friends growing up. And the rest of the people we mingled with were families. So aunties, uncles, cousins, there were always gatherings in our home and our house was sort of like the hosting family as more people came from Mexico. We would support the families as they got started here. And so I'm used to being around a lot of family That was just my thing. We learned together that in Japan, what has been common at one point, part of the tradition is that groups of people are raised in a more why they call it more i, which is friendships that are encouraged early on, as they're growing up, say for it. So for example, you if you were in Japan, at three or four years old, are introduced to other little boys, for example, that are of similar age, probably in the same neighborhood, and then you grew up together as a support system. So you support each other fan financially to you support each other as you're going through life, which I think is fascinating. Now, I don't know what the prevalence of that is, like, I don't know how common it is today. But that was one of the things that was brought up in the Blue Zones.

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  30:47

Yeah, I think probably that was more prevalent in past times. And as the world has become more open, and travels become more prevalent, that probably exists less and less. But again, that was, you know, we're studying societies that are a little bit more closed. And again, they're all raised together, they don't move around, they kind of stay in the same place.

Maya Acosta  31:06

Right? You know, again, lifestyle medicine, talks about having healthy relationships, and also Dr. Risk. So we just talked about the family network, that sense of belonging is so important in the Blue Zones, they call it the right tribe, finding those people that again, are aligned with their values, add value to you, and who, in a sense, become a support system.

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  31:30

Yeah, I think that's where, you know, it takes some effort on your behalf to find those people and find, you know, what are your interests and not everybody has the same tribe? Right. So everyone has their own different interests, you know, and, and then you see what's interesting to you, and what is important to you, and then and go out and find those people. Okay, I think today, you know, with our internet and all those other things, there's a lot of resources available to find people with common common ideas.

Maya Acosta  32:00

That's right. All right. So let's talk about how you can make friends as an adult. It's so funny that I'm even saying that because I myself have to work at this very different than when your place in the school system when you're young. And you're placed around a lot of peers that you can choose from the as we get older, as you know, we have less people to socialize with. So like any other thing that you're interested in any other activity, you're going to find like minded people. So if you're interested in tennis, you're going to find out where you can play with someone. And so meetup has for many, many years has been a significant tool for me because I have been that person that relocates from city to city. So I always have to start fresh with people. So meetup has, I don't even know how long they've been around. But that was my go to. I've also have found in the past, like these kind of leisure magazines that show you where classes are happening. So I some of my hobbies have been photography, cooking, and just being physically active. So I've always found ways to meet up with strangers. And I'm the person that shows up and I'm like, I'm here. Like, I hope I can make friends. In my most recent trip to New York at the vegan Women's Summit, I went by myself, I had hoped that we can go together and then you just had a lot on your plate. So I went by myself. And I came back with numbers, emails. And of course, I went there to interview. But I made amazing connection with incredible women. And so that reinforced in me that I have to make the effort to go out and make connections. I don't care if people live in different states, because for me, I mean, my podcast is virtual anyway. And I when I interview people, they're never ever, hardly ever in the same location as me. They're not in Dallas. And so this is my way of connecting with people. So meet up conferences.

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  34:04

Yeah, I mean, I think the point is that the resources are out there. There's lots of social groups. There's lots of opportunities. You can get on facebook and join, you know, Facebook groups where there's people with similar interests as you. I think Meetup is a great one because it's organized by locale. So they actually emphasize getting together. And it's, you know, we have our monthly walking group Walk With A Doc and people find us through meetup. Yeah. And they come out and then that the way they get to socialize, doing something they enjoy getting out and walking, and also participating in learning about their health and meeting other people. So that's just one example. And there's a million examples right now, you can join you can go to, you can join a dance class, or you can go to a meet up thing where they go different places every week for dancing. You can join a meetup group for tennis or the big thing now is pickleball. Yeah, and you So you know, you can there's, I think endless opportunities when you find the right resources. So

Maya Acosta  35:04

now that you bring up the walk, I'm not trying to promote it. But this coming Saturday is our next walk here in the Dallas area. And I'm really excited about it. I'll put a link in the show notes. But I'm always excited when we have a walk. Specially when we have new faces, because I I'm an introvert, you guys, I know that I'm on this platform, I interview people and all that good stuff. But I'm actually an introvert. And I have to make an effort to not to be friendly, because I am social that way. But more in terms of I get nervous to I get really nervous meeting people for the first time.

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  35:40

Well, you know, I think that what I enjoy, not only, I mean, I really enjoy the fact that we have a central core of returning people. So we get to see these people over and over again. Yes. So, you know, that's our one of our social groups. And then it's a lot of fun to have new people come and join us and incorporate them into the group. And, you know, so we get we get the best of both worlds there. Yes. And, and so yeah, it's a every third Saturday, normally at noon, and I'm bringing this up, because it's hitting the summer now here in Dallas, and it's getting warm. So this will probably be our last one that we do at noon. Yeah. And we're going to probably move it a little bit earlier in the morning. So it's cooler.

Maya Acosta  36:20

That's right. And that's why we have a wet app group for people that walk with us so that we can communicate with them directly if there's a time change, because I know that the main website has it consistently at one location at a particular time and day. And so if you join our WhatsApp, if you're part of the group, like if you walk with us, you can join the WhatsApp then we keep you informed about that. Also, so other things like faith based organization organizations, social clubs, Dan Buettner talks about being playful with all of this saying, hey, you know, would you be interested in dating me as an adult to another potential friend like saying, Would you like to go on a date with me, like, as I'm learning to make friends again, so allowing yourself to be a little bit vulnerable and open about it, that you're feeling nervous that, you know, a lot of us don't make a lot of new friends as we get older. And, or we try to see if there's a connection, we might go on one or two dates with a friend and then realize, hey, we're not as compatible as we had hoped. But the key is to keep trying, and, you know, we get hurt along the way. Not everybody is as kind as gentle and as you know, aligned with our values. But that's part of going through life and allowing ourselves again, to be vulnerable.

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  37:45

Yeah, I mean, you do have to put yourself out there a little bit. And in order to make friends. Yeah, you know, I think another another good way to get involved is, if there's a path, something you're passionate about, and is to volunteer. Oh, I

Maya Acosta  38:00

love that. Yeah.

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  38:01

I mean, it's a, it's not only a way to interact with people who have, you know, who are similar minded, but you're also giving back and that and that's very satisfying, and feeds the soul as well. Yeah.

Maya Acosta  38:11

I can go on and on about that. I used to volunteer for the Red Cross. But now I've actually been wanting to, you know, Habitat for Humanity was one that I wanted to volunteer with. And then I was like, Oh, my God, it's really hot in the summer. But there are many ways that you can get involved with the talents that you have, and meet other like minded people, even if you know, so for us is lifestyle in the way that we eat. So of course, we're always going to be seeking that, but I I'm not, I'm willing to make connections with other people as well. It doesn't have to be about the food all the time. Yeah.

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  38:46

And you know, I, you know, mentioned Habitat for Humanity, my daughter, it does that she builds homes. Yeah. And she's made some very good friends that way. Yeah. And she's also volunteered for multiple mission trips to Central America, for orphans and she's made some lifelong friends that way, as well.

Maya Acosta  39:05

That's right. And you know what? The other thing that got me thinking about us becoming physically active and putting ourselves out there with pickleball, was that your daughter invited us to her final game for volleyball where she plays with other adults just casual volleyball in I don't know if that's considered like a league or I don't know what they call that when adults play together. Like they just call it an adult League and adult league. And she was the youngest out of the entire group. There were other people that she was playing against. That seemed like a family team, like four people in a family. That's what it looked like. And I just thought, oh my gosh, you know, because I've never been physically active that way. But I started to think well, what if I learn how to, you know, play pickleball? Wouldn't it be fun to play with other people?

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  39:51

Yeah, again, endless endless possibilities to get out there and socialize and yeah, once people Yeah, and we'll get some exercise at the same time that That's right. That's right. All right.

Maya Acosta  40:01

As we start to wrap things up about this wonderful topic of building connection, I want to remind all of you that we're planning an event for July 16. I don't have the link on Facebook yet, I'm partnering with another group in Frisco to do this. So just stay tuned, follow us on social media, follow us on Facebook, all our links are in the show notes. Stay connected to us, you can also join our newsletter. And that's bit bi T dot L y forward slash, join Dr risks, and it's Dr. Dr. And that's another way that you can be connected to our community, we do have a Facebook group as well. And so I'll put a link on there. Okay. The other way that we're building community that I don't want to forget to mention is at the end of the month, we're going to Cleveland, Ohio, for the National Health Association's 75th anniversary. Yeah. And this is a conference and guess what, as pot leaders, as planned peer pod leaders, we will be connecting with other pod leaders. And that's one way that we're going to socialize. And then if you purchase a ticket using our affiliate link for this virtual NHK conference, then you'll be able to connect with us virtually as well. And so we're always looking for ways to connect because we too want community.

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  41:19

Absolutely, I mean, I would be very excited that when we have our kind of virtual community, join us to the meeting, you know, they can ask us questions and participate. And I don't know what you call it. Join us in our room, the virtual

Maya Acosta  41:32

room virtual room. Yeah, it's gonna be a virtual room that you'll be able to access where we can connect together. Friends, this has been such an important topic. You know, social engagements, strong family networks, and a sense of belonging are integral components of a thriving and fulfilling life. The Blue Zones remind us of the power of these social connections in promoting well being and longevity by prioritizing and nurturing our relationships, finding our right tribe, and actually participating in our communities, we can experience the profound, positive impact of social engagement on our overall health and happiness. So in the next episode of our Blue Zones lifestyle series, we will explore the importance of moving naturally in our environment to enhance our well being. Stay tuned as we continue our journey toward creating a life inspired by the wisdom of the Blue Zones. And if you have not read the Blue Zones, here's the I'm putting I'm showing the book again. But it's the Blue Zones nine lessons for living longer from the people who live the longest by Dan Buettner. Dr. Riz, any final words?

Dr. Rizwan Bukhari  42:53

No, I think you covered it all. This has been great, and I'm looking forward to the next episode. I'm all I'm very excited about moving naturally in physical activity.

Maya Acosta  43:01

That's right. You've been listening to the healthy lifestyle solutions podcast with your host Maya Acosta. If you've enjoyed this content, please share with one friend who can benefit. You can also leave us a five star review at rate this podcast.com forward slash HLS. This helps us to spread our message. As always, thank you for being a listener.