Ikigai summary

Any doctor can tell you that a healthy mind and body are essential to aging with grace; in practice, however, the former is often ignored. Such common neglect of the mind is a shame, as it’s just as important to a long life as your physical health.

In fact, in the same way that a sedentary lifestyle adversely impacts your body and emotions, a lack of mental work weakens your neural connections, which is why it’s important to exercise your brain in different ways. The neuroscientist Shlomo Breznitz even argues that elderly people lose brain flexibility because they get trapped in patterns and routines, refusing to try out new activities.

Anxiety, burn-out, stress; these conditions are becoming more and more common in modern life, and few people can escape them. As it turns out, Japan is no exception, and the country’s working culture can actually be quite intense.

That being said, Japan has a tool that other countries lack. It’s called Morita therapy, and it can help you cope with stress.

Imagine you’re skiing down a beautiful powdery slope. Skiing is your absolute favorite thing in the world, and you’re in a state of complete, blissful, focused engagement. You feel as if you could do this for the rest of your life, you just might want to live forever.

The good news is that engaging in such an activity could, in fact, increase your lifespan.

You already know some habits to increase your longevity, but in the end, nobody knows how to live a long life better than those who are actually living one. So, let’s take a look at the advice of the Okinawan centenarians.

The first tip these old folks recommend is that you worry as little as possible and make a habit of greeting others, even strangers, with a smile and an open heart. By doing so, they say you’ll maintain plenty of friendships throughout your years and make your grandchildren want to visit you all the time. Such constant stimulation will help keep you young.

The Japanese diet has been in the spotlight for years, ever since Japan made a name for itself as the country with the longest life expectancy. That being said, people live even longer in Okinawa province. To find out why, Makoto Suzuki, a heart specialist from Ryukyus University in Okinawa, did several studies on the Okinawan diet, beginning in the 1970s. Here’s what he found out:

First, the Okinawan diet contains an incredible variety of foods. In fact, locals of this island eat up to 206 different foods on a regular basis, including a number of herbs and spices. For instance, every day, they eat five separate portions of fruits and vegetables. They like to determine that they’re getting enough variety by ensuring their plates contain all the colors of the rainbow.

Superfoods have swept the earth in recent years, changing the way people think about diet as medicine. There are a few Japanese varieties of these foods you won’t want to miss out on.

The first is green tea, a rejuvenating beverage loaded with antioxidants.

Have you ever met older people who seemed full of energy despite their age? Well, chances are that they lived that long because they’ve been physically active throughout their lives.

In fact, movement in general is important to living a long and happy life, and it doesn’t have to be too intense either; observing the residents of Okinawa suggests that sports and fitness are much less important than simple, regular movement.