Mental Health and Religiosity in the Sardinian Blue Zone: Life Satisfaction and Optimism for Aging Well

Abstract

This study evaluated the impact of the sociocultural context on dispositional optimism and resilience, life satisfaction, and religiosity in late adulthood. Moreover, the associations between those psychological measures and religiosity were investigated. Ninety-five older individuals recruited in the Sardinian Blue Zone and Cagliari completed a battery of tools assessing cognitive and mental health, and religiosity. Life satisfaction correlated with resilience and religiosity, whereas resilience correlated with optimism. Furthermore, participants of the rural area reported greater optimism and life satisfaction than peers living in the urban area. In conclusion, optimism and hedonic well-being favor optimal aging in the Blue Zone.

Is the Sardinian Blue Zone the New Shangri-La for mental health? Evidence on depressive symptoms and its correlates in late adult life span

“…Altogether, we found that participants recruited in the SBZ exhibited fewer depressive symptoms, reported better physical health, and spent more time gardening than older individuals recruited in the other Sardinian rural area, which, in turn, were more engaged in other leisure activities. Far from assuming that the actual Shangri-La is located in Sardinia, extending previous research [3,12,17,18], this study documented the significant impact of the socio-cultural environment, time regularly engaged in physical activity, and perceived functional health to promote subjective mental health in late adulthood. Specifically, consistently with previous studies [8,12], the significant contribution of the socio-cultural context as a predictor of depressive signs (i.e., 10% of the variance relative to the CES-D score) let us assume that living in a socio-cultural context such as the SBZ, in which older individuals are autonomous in facing their daily life, play an active role in their community, and are considered a resource for passing on local traditions and cultural values to younger people contributes massively to the maintenance of high levels of mental health in late adulthood [11,12].…”

“…Moreover, physical health and engagement in gardening and leisure activities were expected to predict perceived negative mood [ 9 , 16 , 23 ]. In addition, extending previous evidence [ 12 ] residential context (i.e., SBZ vs. Sardinian rural area) was expected to be a significant predictor of perceived negative mood, that is, older residents of the SBZ were expected to self-report fewer depressive symptoms than participants enrolled in another Sardinian area. Finally, a priori further hypotheses were not proposed, since relevant evidence on the impact of socio-cultural context on the lifestyle of older adults living in the SBZ and in other Sardinian rural villages lacks.…”

“…In this regard, a body of studies revealed that cognitively healthy older people of the SBZ reported fewer depressive symptoms and greater psychological well-being than peers living in the Sardinian town of Sassari and a rural area of northern Italy [11]. Extending this, recently Fastame et al [12] found that older people of the SBZ reported better life satisfaction and optimism than a group of peers living in the Sardinian capital (i.e., Cagliari metropolitan area).…”

“…But if a tradition of research is corroborating the idea that older people of the SBZ are physically healthy and self-report better psychological well-being than peers recruited in Sardinian urban areas, or rural villages located in northern Italy [ 11 , 12 ], very little is known about the impact of lifestyle on the perceived mental health of older people living in Sardinian rural spots not belonging to the longevity area. Concerning this issue, Fastame et al [ 23 ] recently documented that gardening was a significant predictor of depressive symptoms [ 22 ] self-assessed by a sample of older participants enrolled in the village of Arborea.…”

Blue Zones-Based Worksite Nutrition Intervention: Positive Impact on Employee Wellbeing

“…Solutions to these mental health burdens may include therapeutic lifestyle factors such as exercise, proper nutrition, time in nature, supportive relationships, recreation, relaxation, and spiritual involvement (9). "Blue Zones" include five areas where people follow a unique set of nine evidence-based lifestyle principles, living significantly longer than the rest of the world, with significantly better mental health and quality of life (10,11). These nine principles include: move naturally, live with purpose, slow down in life, stop eating once you are 80% full, drink 1-2 glasses of wine a day, find a sense of belonging, put your loved ones first, find your social circle, and one of their main principles, consume a plant-based diet.…”