Metcalf Reflection

A Metcalf Fellow's Journey through the Blue Zones: Longevity and Well-Being

By Jedd Horowitz, Class of 2027
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I sat frozen, staring at my computer screen in disbelief. It was just another afternoon of clearing my inbox, but there, buried among the newsletters and junk mail, was a reply from Dan Buettner’s assistant. Three months and 13 cold emails later, I had almost given up hope, but here it was – the email that opened the door to working with the creator of Blue Zones, a role model in a field that I had admired for so long. My career advisor helped me swiftly apply for a Metcalf Grant, and this incredible summer was actualized.

Blue Zones are regions around the world where people live significantly longer, healthier lives due to specific lifestyle habits and environmental factors. Rooted in Dan’s research on the world’s longest-living populations, our work focuses on promoting lifestyle changes that improve lifespan. A few of the fundamental tenets found in the Blue Zones include strong social connections, a sense of purpose, stress-relieving routines, proximity to loved ones, and a light, plant-based diet. My role at Blue Zones had three main components – media operations, business development, and science research – each of which offered unique learning experiences.

Media

My role in the media operations for the Blue Zones business was diverse. I organized speaking engagements, managed podcast appearances, and coordinated content creation for Instagram. I wrote blog posts, devised social media strategies, oversaw the website, and worked on the bi-weekly newsletter that has over 100,000 subscribers. From these tasks, I learned a valuable lesson: your message is only as powerful as your ability to convey it, and the key to success is not only delivering the right message, but doing so in a way that resonates with your audience and across multiple mediums.

Business Development

On the business side, I explored a wide variety of potential partnerships to expand our outreach. This included looking at major brands – such as clothing and outdoor companies – and niche companies, like a wealth management firm that predicts healthspan to advise for retirement savings, or an EdTech nutritional platform that allows users to explore how their food affects their health. Additionally, I worked with Blue Zones Kitchen’s frozen meal line, and refined an AI recipe generator where users take a photo of what’s in their refrigerator and are instantly delivered a recipe inspired by Blue Zones principles. The biggest takeaway? In an ever-evolving industry, like health and wellness, adaptability and innovation are essential for continued growth.

Science Research

I contributed to Blue Zones' science research by reading and summarizing scientific journal articles to inform future longevity research and generate content for social media. This part of my internship reinforced a crucial point: we significantly underinvest in preventive health. 98% of the United States’s whopping $5 trillion dollar healthcare bill goes towards treatment. The human population could be healthier and wealthier if we can incentivize better lifestyle choices, before people get sick.

Bringing Blue Zones to Campus

Building on my learning about the Blue Zones, I wanted to see how students like myself – especially in an often cold and busy UChicago environment – could incorporate these principles to better our health. As a result, I am collaborating with UChicago Student Wellness to take my findings back to campus. To celebrate World Mental Health Day on October 10th, I’m helping organize a Teaching Kitchen to explore the brain-boosting benefits of the Mediterranean diet and omega-3s (Ikaria, Greece is one of the Blue Zones, and the homeland of the lowest dementia rates in the world), as well as a meditation session. I am working to replace vending machine snacks with healthier options, like nuts and dried fruits, and fixing a “Happy Hour” for grad students – mirroring Blue Zones' “Wine at 5” – to discuss health and well-being (yes, wine can be a part of living a longer life). My future projects include healthy options at UChicago’s infamous late-night “Study breaks,” and a Longevity Panel, bringing in experts from across various disciplines – biology, public policy, economics – to address the status of global health and health systems.

Looking Ahead

Through my work this summer, and building off my brief introduction to UChicago Economics, I’ve also come to realize that the best way to increase demand and drive interest in longevity is to help people appreciate the value of even one additional day of life – whether it's through maintaining well-being or simply learning to live in the present. Inspired by my other role model, Sam Harris, who emphasizes that “Attention is your true source of wealth, even more than time, because you can waste time being distracted.” I want to investigate how to build both the favorable conditions for a good life and the understanding to fully appreciate it. My goal is to build upon Dan Buettner’s work on longevity by incorporating a focus on enriching life itself. Together, these two approaches form a holistic view of life: not only living more years, but making the most of each one.

During a break from my internship, I traveled to Nepal, where I lived in a monastery and later participated in a meditation retreat. These experiences gave me a deeper (and slightly alternative) understanding of the “good life” and prompted me to join two UChicago labs. I plan to explore the conditions for well-being in the Oishi Lab, and to research the experiences and factors that help us fully appreciate the richness of life in the Human Nature and Potentials Lab.

None of this would have been possible without the support of the Metcalf program, which provided me with the opportunity to have such a rewarding and impactful summer experience. Considering I hold a strong interest in a field that lacks established and paid internship programs, Metcalf gave me the funding I needed to pursue work that advances my personal and professional development, and hopefully, society as a whole. I am now back in Hyde Park for preseason with the UChicago Men’s Soccer team. Though running around all day on Stagg Field may seem quite different than spending hours sitting silently in a cave in Kathmandu, much like meditation, soccer can be a self-transcendent experience that brings me deeper into the present moment and a greater appreciation for the world around me.

I’m excited to continue this journey of helping people not only live longer, but live better, and I plan to start by bringing all these learnings into real, beneficial experiences for UChicago students.