Gerontology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Gerontology - Essay Example The authors include, Dan Buettner, Sally Beare and Howard S. Friedman. They have applied both different and similar ideologies in their work. Based on health, the authors have different views on the fitness of the individuals in the blue zones. However, they have a common understanding where they believe that health depends on individual body fitness and genetic structures. Sally has done her research on the in habitats on the island by the name Okinawa, located in Eastern China (Beare 2006). She compares and contrasts the health her research samples with those from the Western countries. The island holds a record of the longest living persons in earth. She starts by comparing their physical attributes with those of the Western in habitats. Her results show that signs of healthy lifestyles before she gets into deeper research about the diseases found in the island (Beare 2006). Unlike the West where stroke, heart attacks and cancer related deaths are common, her area of study has less than 20% cases. Most diseases are so rare among the populations raising questions on the causes of the increased health cases. Scientists involved in the research have come up with results that show the strong immune systems found in the old generations. Sally related their strength to those of the young generations where that are able to fight most deadly diseases. Dan, on the other hand, has carried out most of his researches in Central and South America in some of the indigenous communities. However, his focus is on other attributes that contribute to long living other than health (Buettner 2007). For example, his study on Costa Rica reveals the physical lifestyles where his focal point is social ways of life such as how they cook their food and diet compositions (Buettner 2007). With his knowledge from other blue zones, she has come up with different myths that are common in people from other countries such as the U.S. The cultures use