Original subtitles

[serious, contemplative music]

No, man. I gotta get out of Hollywood, dude. I'm done.

It's just not a place...

conducive to living a long, happy...

uh... mentally...

sound life.

[birds singing]

[bucolic folk music playing]

[goats bleating]

[Zac] No, I'm not leaving Hollywood.

[Darin] Hey!

[trills] Hey!

Whoa!

[Zac] I would never do that.

[Darin] Hey!

[Zac] Oh, yeah, get it.

-[Darin] Whoa! -[Zac] I'm doing research.

All right. You're an expert.

[Zac] Not to play a shepherd...

I admire your work. That was beautiful.

[Zac] ...but to find the secret to living a long life.

It smells.

[goat bells ringing]

[Zac] Life.

The one thing we're guaranteed when we're born...

is that we will die.

We just don't know when.

The quest to extend life on Earth...

is as old as the dawn of time.

From ancient, mythological fountains of youth

to the modern-day, scientifically-designed elixirs.

The topic of longevity brings us to this European island

because it boasts one of the longest human life expectancy rates.

What year were you born?

[speaking Italian] August 9, 1918.

[Zac] In fact, they have ten times more centenarians,

people that live into their hundreds, per capita than the United States.

So what do they do differently?

[female] Buon appetito.

I'm so happy that I'm eating carbs again.

What are they avoiding?

What did they feed the animals?

[speaking Italian] How beautiful, Zac!

Can we learn from this local lifestyle in any way?

Low protein, high carbs, natural foods.

[Zac] Ciao. Thisis for you?

And apply it to our own lives.

This is Sardinia.

I hate you.

Let me start at the beginning.

A few years ago, I met Darin.

-Can't feel my feet or my hands. -Proud of you, bro.

Yeah.

He's a guru of healthy living and superfoods.

Yeah, it's great. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

You could say he wrote the book on the subject. Literally.

[Darin] A healthy lifestyle, solid principles.

Darin and I are traveling around the world to find some new perspectives

on some very old problems.

[Darin] That's Mother Earth, bro.

Searching for healthy, sustainable living solutions for the planet...

[Zac] Wow!

...and all who live on it.

Woo-hoo!

Ignore the crazy white guy.

-And, hey... you gotta eat, too, right? -[Darin] You don't have to eat it.

-How does it move like that? -[woman] Oh, my God.

It's time to get... Down to Earth.

Trippy.

[Zac] Sardinia, Italy, is a 9,300-square-mile island

in the Mediterranean Sea.

And while it's beautiful by any standard,

what makes the region so interesting

is that it's a Blue Zone.

Blue Zones are five regions in the world

with the highest concentration of centenarians.

The original concept

of the phenomenon of Blue Zones

started right here,

in the village of Seulo.

Which brings us to this building,

the Ecomuseo,

where we're meeting biochemist Dr. Valter Longo

and medical statistician Dr. Giovanni Pes,

two men dedicated to studying the nutrition

and lifestyles associated with long life.

[man] Seulo.

It is very well known as one of the place where the number of centenarians,

compared with the population,

is one of the highest in the world.

That's why we are actively studying this village and we are collecting data.

What is it about this Blue Zone?

Like the diet, the eating...

What are, like, the things that you notice most consistently?

Little bit of meat, particularly lard, that they use to put in the minestrones.

Lots of vegetables.

Mostly things that they could, uh... cultivate in the backyard.

And they had a low protein diet.

[Darin] You guys know that, especially in the States,

high protein, high protein...

there's some sort of weird connection with health and strength.

But, in fact,

what you're finding is a low protein for longevity--

Yeah. Let's say you weigh 120 pounds. That's probably about 50 grams of protein.

-That's enough. And past that-- -For the entire day.

For the entire day.

Because there's people that do that in one sitting.

But this certainly contributed to what we showed,

which was the risk of cancer in those that had the highest intake of protein

was four-fold higher.

And that turns on the Tor gene.

[Zac] "Tor," short for Target of Rapamycin,

is a regulator of cellular growth in the body.

When you're young and growing, you need rapid cellular growth.

When you're past middle age,

it's best to slow that cellular process down.

Otherwise, too many may lead to mutated cells or cancer.

That's like pouring gasoline on the potential of cancer, right?

-Not just cancer. I think it's really... -[Darin] More diseases.

...pushing the accelerator on almost every age-related disease.

Oh, my gosh.

I ate so much protein when I was...

I just... I had a diet completely based around protein

for almost ten years of my life.

[laughing] It was...

[Dr. Longo] The good news, if you look at...

If you look at smoking, at some point your risk,

so many years after you quit,

it's the same as for people that never smoked.

So the good news is, what you did for ten years--

[Zac] There's hope.

-Yeah. -Yeah. I think there's more than hope.

Probably, you know, after a while, it won't make that much of a difference.

If you keep a good diet, what you did, you know, ten, 15 years ago.

'Cause that's the resiliency of the body, right?

Well, thank you. I literally just took a deep breath.

That makes me feel a lot better.

One question I have: why the Blue Zones?

Uh... Almost 20 years ago, I was working with a colleague.

At that time, I had no computer with me, but only a map of Sardinia

and I had a blue marker.

So every time I visited this municipality,

and I found that the level of, uh... longevity,

based on the number of centenarians, was higher than expected,

then I put a blue dot.

So after six months, I had this cloud of blue dots,

and when we decided to write the first articles, scientific articles,

my colleague asked me, "How we can name this area?"

And I suggested the name of "Blue Zone," because it was created by the blue dots.

[Zac] Are you serious? Wait, wait, so the term "Blue Zone"

you invented because you only had a blue marker?

Yes. If I had a red marker, this was the "Red Zone."

[Zac laughing]

Oh, my gosh. That's too... That's too good.

[Zac] That's amazing.

To find out how the term "Blue Zone" came to be

is almost worth the trip alone.

So, we're interested in your studies.

Is there a way that we could potentially see some of that work?

Yes, I suggest to go to see an old lady

that we are going to interview,

and you can see how we work and how we collect the data.

-Awesome. -We can... We can go right now.

Straight to the source.

[Zac] As we continue to wonder what it is about this area

that lends itself to a greater longevity,

we arrived at the home of the doctors' next test subject.

-[Zac] Ciao. -A 98-year-old woman named Liliana.

[Dr. Longo, in Italian] Tell us the year you were born, the date you were born.

[speaking Italian] I was born the 15th of April, 1920.

[speaking Italian] And your husband, he lived to a big age?

[Liliana speaking Italian] My husband, he lived to 103 years old.

So her husband got to 103 years of age and, uh...

[speaking Italian]

[Dr. Longo] One and a half years ago he died.

Both of them made it to such an extreme age

and, so, probably the environmental factors here

are as important as the genetics,

when you have in the same household two different people

making it to their ages. Extremely, extremely rare.

[Zac] Dr. Pes and Longo study so many aspects of aging.

Put simply, how does aging affect the mind?

This is a standard cognitive test to measure Liliana's brain functions.

How do most, uh... most people fare on these things?

One-third of centenarians are not able at all to do the test.

[Dr. Longo] But keep in mind that at 100 years of age,

you will expect about 60-70% of the people to be demented.

So if it's only a third, that is remarkable.

That means two-thirds are cognitively fairly normal.

[reflective piano music]

You see that she understood that the figures are overlapping.

[Zac] Mm-hmm.

[Dr. Pes] So one of the corners is inside the other.

[Zac] Nailed it!

A simple test, like recreating the numbers on the face of a blank clock,

can show how well the mind is working.

So, wait, just so I'm clear on the test,

she's just putting the numbers on the clock dial?

[Dr. Pes] Mm-hmm.

[Zac] And while it seems pretty straightforward and easy,

to those with dementia,

the numbers will be a jumbled mess on the page.

If they're even written at all.

[Zac] So she's pretty much acing this.

[Zac] Liliana has lived over three times as long as I have.

[chuckles] That's really hard to wrap my head around.

[Dr. Pes] Brava, signora.

Beautiful.

-[Dr. Pes speaking Italian] -[all cheering]

[Zac] We live in a world where it's almost frowned upon to age.

Perfetto. Perfetto.

I guess I never like to think about growing older.

Even though I'm constantly doing it. We all are.

What a cool chick.

-That was amazing. -She was awesome.

The way that she spoke and her energy was so positive and so uplifting.

Like, she was like, "Thank you for having us in." So cool.

-[goats bleating] -[folk music playing]

[Zac] Our next stop is a place where many stories end,

but this one actually began:

the local cemetery.

Because in this cemetery lie the remains of 20 centenarians.

[Dr. Pes] This was the first hint

that the population of Seulo is really exceptional.

[Dr. Pes] Ciao, Pino.

[Zac] This is Pino,

another doctor who has been studying the longevity phenomenon here.

[speaking Italian]

[Dr. Longo] This is the genealogy tree that he built.

[Zac] Oh, my gosh. Look at that.

[Zac] The common denominator is that they were all residents of this area.

[Darin] Wow.

[Pino speaking Italian]

[Zac] But more importantly,

Dr. Pino discovered that, going back all the way to the 1500s,

77% of people here can trace their lineage back to just five names.

So this is 500 years ago.

-Four hundred and fifty years ago. -Yeah.

[Pino speaking Italian]

-[Darin] Oh, my God. -[imitates explosion]

[Zac] And that fact makes doctors believe that a genetic mutation might be

a key factor to the local trend in longevity.

Right, so, in fact, the suspicion that we all have is that

there are genes... they carry genes that make it much more likely

to become centenarians.

But see, this is also interesting, right?

'Cause you can live to that or twice as that

based on lots of the things you do, you know?

Even though you might have the same genes.

[Darin] Right. So the lifestyle factors are playing

-a massive role in this whole thing. -There is no doubt.

[Zac] It's, like you said, it's not a bad spot to rest.

[acoustic guitar playing]

[birds chirping]

-[Dr. Pes] 'Cause you had that hat on... -[Darin] 104... 104, 102...

[speaking Italian]

How many?

-[Dr. Longo] 105, right? -[Darin] 105.

[Zac] I heard cinque.

[Dr. Longo] And she has a... He had a sister of 102.

[speaking Italian]

And three brothers above 95.

So this is the sister, 102 years old.

So, but see, the husband had 90... was 99, and so, again, the environment now

is probably also as important.

[Darin] In the States, the quality of a day-to-day life,

I think, is something missed because when you say longevity,

it's hard for a young person to understand,

"How does that affect me now?"

Absolutely.

[Zac] Living a long life is one thing.

But living it disease-free is what the real goal should be.

I had a cousin lose a battle with cancer. She was just older than me,

we were born on the same day, a few years apart,

and, uh... we were best friends.

She, uh... She lived...

Um...

She didn't live the most healthy life.

Yeah, that's the thing that people don't realize

that now I have so many women in their 30s,

that, you know, were diagnosed with some type of cancer.

Lots of them. Not just I heard of one.

I mean, a man and woman being diagnosed with hypertension in their 30s.

So now this is becoming more and more common

because of what you were saying.

Uh... So we have to, essentially, relearn and learn,

because now anybody, uh... you know, can have 20 million followers

and, you know, give them some crazy idea, right?

Well, that's... And that's exactly what I didn't want to be.

But you'd be surprised how many of your colleagues... [laughing]

I know how many of my... I'm not surprised.

[Dr. Longo] ...don't have that view.

It's shocking to me.

It creates these trends and all of these fads.

And that's why I'm so... I feel so blessed to be here.

And I think here is a great overall lesson, you know?

Learn from the people that've been successful

for hundreds of years in doing it.

And then, of course, the science can make it easier,

can make it better, it can make it... Can do all kinds of things.

My mind's blown. This has been a fantastic day.

Thank you for sharing this wealth of knowledge.

I really appreciate it.

[Zac] The next step is to prove that there's a genetic mutation,

isolate it, then find a way to introduce it into test subjects.

The end result would eventually mean we could extend human life.

[chuckles] That's incredible.

-Come si dice, "Let's go"? -[male 1] Andiamo.

-Andiamo. Andiamo. -[male 1] Andiamo.

[Darin] I'm gonna say that for the rest of the time.

[all laughing]

[Darin] You know, just hearing from Dr. Pes and Dr. Longo,

there's so many different factors, right?

And, it's like, uh, uh... you know, I too, I mean,

even though I'm living in Malibu and under beautiful trees,

I s... I'm not this relaxed.

[Zac] It's the same way when I visit my grandfather and grandma...

and, bless their hearts, I still have them both.

-I love talking to my grandparents. -[Darin] Yeah.

I just, like... They're some of the coolest people I know.

My grandpa might be the coolest guy I've ever met.

He's like 89, I believe, and he still skis.

-[Darin] Yeah. -He completes the crossword puzzle

all the way up to Saturday. Sunday gives him trouble.

You know, they get harder throughout the week.

[Darin] Incredible.

-[birds singing] -[insects buzzing]

[wind blowing]

[Zac] Today begins in the neighboring town of Aritzo...

[Zac] Race you to the top.

-Is that the right place? -Yeah, 11.

...where we're meeting a local travel expert... Mario!

Hey! Ciao, Mario.

-Mario. -Mario. Zac.

[Zac] And Mario is taking us to an authentic Sardinian cooking class.

[Darin] Oh, yeah.

[Zac] This is the kitchen of Vittoria Murgia.

What better way for us to study this Blue Zone phenomenon

than through the local diet?

One of the most essential foods in every Sardinian diet

is pane carasau.

Traces of this thin, almost cracker-like bread

go back to before 1000 B.C.

Here on this island, it's been a favorite for shepherds

because it travels well and stays good for up to a year.

Why does the bread taste so much better here?

[speaking Italian]

[Mario] Flour is the key.

-[Zac] Ah... -[speaking Italian]

[Mario] And the people that do it with love.

-[Darin] Ay... -[Vittoria] Ay!

That's right.

-Why do I want to throw this at you? -I'm not sure.

[Vittoria] Prego.

-You've done this before. -[Vittoria laughing]

[Zac] You know what you're doing.

[Zac] They start learning this tradition around age six.

This is a lot harder than it looks.

I'm not joking at all.

[Zac] Hard to make it a circle.

-No. -No?

[Zac] There's something very communal about this experience.

To think that I'm learning a technique

that's been passed down hundreds of years in this very kitchen.

No cell phones, televisions, or computers.

Just a large group of people, of all ages, making bread together.

That they will later enjoy together,

as they've done generation after generation.

[Zac] This is the part I always get wrong. The right ratio of flour during the roll.

-[Vittoria] No. -[Zac] No?

No. [Vittoria chuckles]

[chuckling]

[Darin] No, no.

[Darin] There's a lot of "Nos" coming from that station over there, Zac.

-[Vittoria] Ay, ay, ay... -[Zac] Ay, ay, ay?

-[Vittoria] Ay, ay, ay! -[all laughing]

[Zac] Aw, Jesus.

[Zac] "Zac, you're messing it up"

is a phrase that I understand in any language.

I had a good thing going, now I'm covered in flour,

and this thing's just not working... Thank you.

Thank you. [speaking Italian]

[Vittoria speaking Italian]

-[Darin] Like this? -[Zac] So that's just the transfer.

[in Italian] You have done a better job.

-Yeah? -Sì.

-[all cheering] -[Zac laughing]

I hate you.

[in Italian] Now we have to take the bread to the oven.

In the old times, the ladies will carry this and take it to the oven.

-[woman 2] Sure. -I'll take it.

-[woman 2] Zac can take it. -Zac!

-Sure. -[in Italian] How beautiful, Zac!

Do I have to balance it, or do I use my hands?

No, no balance.

OK, I'll just do it like this.

[accordion playing Italian tune]

-Ciao. -[man] Ciao.

This is for you?

[Zac] The next step is to bake it in the oven.

Oh, that's the oven?

That is awesome.

[Zac] Cool.

It just feels good.

[Zac] By the way, that oven is about 900° Fahrenheit.

The bread only goes in for a few minutes.

Then it's pulled out...

very carefully.

[Mario] That's the difficult part because it's very hot.

[Zac] And then it's split,

and back into the oven it goes for just another few minutes.

[Mario] And then it becomes crispy.

[Zac] And there we have Sardinian flatbread:

pane carasau.

When I think "Italian food," I think pasta.

And Sardinia is no exception to that.

The raviolis are stuffed with a perfect blend of potato,

sheep's cheese, and saffron.

Combined with an old family recipe...

handed down for hundreds of years.

The carbs here are made of fresh, natural, locally-grown ingredients.

No GMOs,

no processing, and no refining.

It goes against every conventional diet I've ever followed.

But here it's working.

And, obviously, it's working really well.

[Vittoria speaking Italian]

[Zac] Wow, that's beautiful.

-OK. -[Mario] Now, we make a difficult one.

[Zac] OK, now we...

-[Darin] Oh, that part was easy. -OK, cool.

[Zac] Now's the hard one.

[Mario] Now we got something more challenging.

[Vittoria speaking Italian]

[Zac] Taco. In America we call this a "taco."

[Darin] Whoa, whoa, what was that little...

-There's some wild moves in here. -I see. I got it.

-[Vittoria speaking Italian] -[Darin] Oy, oy, oy!

[Darin and girl laughing]

[Darin] Is mine a tumor?

[Zac laughing]

[Zac] Dude, that's pretty damn close to it.

[Mario] Nice.

-[Mario] Oh! -[Vittoria speaking Italian]

[Mario] Nice.

[Zac laughing] Redemption!

I feel like I have an...

an enhanced sense of hunger

-and, like, pride because I made it. -We made it.

-Yeah. -[Mario speaking Italian]

-[Vittoria] Buon appetito. -[Mario] Buon appetito.

[Zac] And now it's time to sit back and taste our labor of love.

[Darin] OK.

[Darin] Here we go.

[Darin satisfied] Oh...

So good.

[Zac] What'd she say?

I'm so happy that I'm eating carbs again.

[Darin laughing]

Like, I went, like, years without eating carbs.

[Zac] When I shot Baywatch,

I didn't have a carb for...

like, six months.

I almost lost my mind.

You... You need this.

-Like, it's so good. -[Darin] Absolutely.

[Zac] I still can't get over how this diet of carbs and low protein

is the exact opposite of everything any trainer has ever taught me.

I think the real secret is to find a healthy, happy balance between the two.

This was amazing. Thank you so much, guys.

Grazie mille.

-[Vittoria] Grazie. -[Darin] Grazie. Thank you.

[Mario speaking Italian]

-But before we're done... -[man] Thank you so much.

...our last part of this experience is, of course,

dessert.

We're gonna see how they make an old, traditional favorite.

I'm talking 16th-century old.

-[Zac] Yeah, good. -Bravo.

[Zac] Darin, where'd you get this stroke down so well?

[Darin laughing]

[Darin] Lotta years of practice.

-Years of practice? -Yeah.

-[Darin] How long do you do this? -[in Italian]

-Two hours. -[man] Two hours?

[Mario] Now that it's thicker, he's gonna put the almonds.

[Mario speaking Italian]

[Darin] Wow, that's getting really thick.

-[Darin] Oh, wow! -[speaking Italian]

-[Zac] Is that edible paper? -[Mario] Yeah, it's edible paper.

[Darin] Delicious. I mean, I taste mostly honey and almonds. It's amazing.

In the words of Owen Wilson, "Wow."

"Wow."

-"Wow." -"Wow."

[as Owen Wilson] "Wow. That's really nice. Wow."

[snickers]

Pretty good. Getting there.

[Zac] That was an amazing meal.

Grazie mille. Thank you. Grazie. Thank you.

[Zac] As we're saying our goodbyes,

it's pretty clear that word got out we're in town.

[female chef speaking Italian]

[male] We'll do one group photo.

Yeah, I'm good to go. OK.

[Zac] We've met some of the elders in this community...

now it's time to meet a lot of the younger generation.

Everybody come down.

-[photographer] OK. -A constant reminder...

Yeah, sure.

...never take people for granted.

-[Zac] Ciao, ciao! Grazie! -[woman] Ciao!

[Zac] Always be grateful.

[birds chirping]

Darin and I split up to visit some other, older members of the Sardinian community.

Mario introduced me to a local legend...

Francesco.

I'm very excited to meet him.

[Zac] Francesco is 97 years old.

He's lived here his whole life.

He served in World War II as a pilot.

And later, he was a shepherd.

[speaking Italian]

-[Mario] Nice beard you have. -Thank you.

[Zac] Grazie.

[Mario speaking Italian]

[speaking Italian]

He has a son with a beard that looks like you.

Oh, really? How old is your son?

[speaking Italian]

-Really, you son is more than 60? -[Francesco] Sì, sì, sì.

What's your day look like? What is a typical day?

[speaking Italian]

[Mario] He walks.

[speaking Italian]

[Mario] Walking. That's his main activity.

Well, should we take a walk?

-[Mario] Yeah. -Are you up to take a walk?

[Mario speaking Italian]

[speaking Italian]

[Mario speaking Italian]

-He takes a jacket. -[Francesco and Mario laughing]

Very, very dapper.

[Mario speaking Italian]

[speaking Italian, laughs]

[Mario speaking Italian]

[Zac] We're on the move.

Taking a walk that Francesco does about three times a day.

[Zac] This is a fairly steep...

-Yeah. -...walk.

I... He's clearly in good shape.

[Mario] He is.

[Zac] Francesco enjoys the series of hills and steps in his neighborhood.

In total, it's about a quarter of a mile, round-trip.

Well, if there's one thing that I'm gonna take away...

-[Mario speaking Italian] -...and it's one of the simple things,

it's that I'm gonna take walks for the rest of my life.

[Zac] And he brings us to here.

Which is...

What is this?

Is this a bar?

[laughing] Every day, he walks to a bar.

[Mario in Italian] A wine.

[Zac] OK.

Café Americano. No sugar.

-Salute. -Salute.

-Salute. -[Mario laughing] Salute.

[Mario speaking Italian]

[Zac] It definitely seems like

a positive mental attitude is part of Francesco's secret.

[Francesco speaking Italian]

Family is everything.

[Francesco speaking Italian]

[Mario] I miss my wife.

[Francesco speaking Italian]

[Mario] God took her away.

[Francesco speaking Italian]

[Mario] But I want to continue living.

[stammers, speaking Italian]

[Mario] And I stay here, in this world, if they let me.

-[Francesco speaking Italian] -A hundred more years if they let me.

Maybe not 100 more years,

but... [laughing]

I can stay here for a while.

From the moment that we started talking,

-he's had... -[Mario speaking Italian]

He's been smiling and laughing and positive...

And... How does he... How does he keep such energy?

-[speaking Italian] -[Mario] That's the secret.

[all laughing]

-You got it in front of you. -[all laughing]

[in Italian] The most simple thing.

[laughs]

[Francesco speaking Italian]

Yes. He's asking if you're OK with the steps. [Mario laughs]

[Zac] Yeah... They're not easy steps!

[Zac] I think we all fear aging to some degree.

So it's inspiring to see someone like Francesco living so well.

In fact, he makes it look like something to look forward to.

If you live long enough, you end up living several different lives.

Child, military man, shepherd...

husband, father,

grandfather, great-grandfather,

and the list of titles grows longer as you grow older.

[relaxed music]

We're meeting back up with Dr. Pes and Longo

for a traditional, hearty Italian meal.

[Zac] I'm starving.

[Darin] Yeah, me too, man.

[acoustic guitar playing]

[Zac] Minestrone is a soup

usually made from seasonal vegetables, beans, and pasta.

It was originally a humble, blue-collar meal,

created as a way to combine leftover ingredients from other dishes.

[oil sizzling]

But today, it's a main staple in this Blue Zone diet,

which follows the tradition of locally-sourced vegetables,

legumes, and grains.

-[woman speaking Italian] -Mm-hmm.

[Zac] Finally...

I'm getting to try this famous, Blue Zone minestrone.

[sniffing] Oh!

[Dr. Pes chuckling]

Good food, like this, deserves to be eaten with friends and family.

And there's something very therapeutic about the tradition

-of gathering around a table for a meal. -Buon appetito.

-Thank you. I'm excited to try this dish. -Thank you. Enjoy this lunch.

[Zac] Beautiful.

The modern Western world is so carb-phobic.

And they put things in categories where protein is good

and carbohydrates are bad

and fats are good, now they're bad, and now they're good again.

It's really about the quantities.

There's nothing wrong with pasta and bread and even sugar.

It's the quantities. If you have ten grams of sugar a day, that's OK.

If you have 100 grams of sugar a day, that's not OK.

So... I think it's really about all of it.

-Yeah. -That's what people don't appreciate.

So many people are preaching high protein diets.

Say, "OK, fine. You think it's good for longevity,

well, let's go around the world and find a group of people

that is long-lived... for a long time, and eats a high protein diet."

It doesn't exist.

[Dr. Pes] This is the reason why it is not easy

-to transfer what we learn... -Right!

...from the Blue Zone to other populations,

like American population or Australians.

What we need is to, first, to filter

what we have learned from the Blue Zone.

For example, more physical activity--

Yeah, it's... Physical activity doesn't mean, uh... going to the gym.

It means "do everything like they used to do it."

Go up the hill, you know, or lift things. That's OK.

[Dr. Pes] Staying mentally active.

After retirement, people stop to do things

and they become passive user of the television, for example.

Of course, in Seulo, it's easier

because many generations are living sometimes together.

So you can exchange ideas with your...

uh... children, with your grandchildren, and so on.

-Yeah. -I've...

That's something I need... I could definitely work on, myself.

Is... uh... just the nature of...

uh... frankly, being an actor or being in the public eye

sort of leads to isolation at times.

It's... It's... I mean, I have, currently have, a roommate.

But, uh... you know, it's... sometimes it's hard to go out.

The sense of camaraderie we've had since we've been on this journey...

We've become friends in a crew.

And I can feel myself...

becoming healthier and being happier every day.

So that sense of community and being around people

is very, very important. 'Cause I'm very aware...

of how I feel when that is not a part of my life.

And it's isolated, it's slow, it's a lot more...

it's not quite as happy.

[Zac] I've learned so much here.

Including that the secret to a long, healthy life

is not just one thing.

It's many.

One major takeaway from this experience

is that the locals maintain a low-stress, yet active lifestyle well into old age.

I'm definitely looking at my life a whole new way

after a short time here in Sardinia.

Yeah, I gotta get out of Hollywood, dude. I'm done.

It's just not a place...

conducive to living a long, happy...

uh... mentally...

sound life.

I mean...

I love California, I just...

I think that that dense population of... of people and city life

is clearly...

-not leading to many centenarians. -Yeah.

[Zac] We're headed a little south

to study one of the oldest professions here in Sardinia:

shepherding.

[goats and sheep bleating]

Sardinia is home to almost 44%

of Italy's entire population of sheep and goats.

I feel like I'm in a real-life meme right now. Like...

[laughing] I know.

[bells ringing]

[Zac] Tending to these creatures takes a lot of energy...

and could quite possibly be another reason for the longevity phenomenon.

[sheep bleating]

Shepherds walk, on average, anywhere from five to 13 miles a day.

Not on a treadmill, like a giant hamster, but out here, in the hilly countryside.

And with purpose...

Whoa!

...doing my favorite thing: milking.

Whoa! [Zac chuckles]

[man chuckling]

[Zac] Can I try?

[man] OK, OK.

Like this?

Wow.

I feel like I'm milking a new thing every episode.

[Zac] Ah... This reminds me of Chimby in Puerto Rico.

I miss you.

Expert milker.

Look at him go, though.

-Oh, yeah. Get it. -Whoa!

-[Zac] All right! -[Andrea speaking Italian]

Professional.

I admire your work.

It smells.

[Zac gagging]

[sheep bleating]

[Zac] Dr. Pes and Dr. Longo, they... Everything they said made so much sense.

They weren't on any life hack,

there was no fad or pill,

not trying to expand their Instagram platform and this is...

-[Darin] Right. -...proven science,

hundreds of years old. Thousands of years old.

[Darin] Yeah. And it's not just one thing,

-it's literally this combination. -No. It's a full spectrum of a lifestyle.

A healthy lifestyle, solid principles...

And that's it.

-Yeah, dude. -Between inspiring people

to live healthfully now and receive those benefits,

but also receive those benefits so they live a long, healthy life,

-and the quality. -And inspire them to constantly improve

and inspire them to take on their own initiative.

-For sure. -You know, and not just...

be, you know, a follower. Not just be one of the sheep.

[both chuckling]

-Exactly. -I had to.

[Zac] Our visit to the Blue Zone has made me rethink

everything I've ever thought about nutrition, diet,

and really my whole lifestyle in general.

I never considered how long I thought I would live.

But now I can imagine what it would be like to make it to 100.

Or more.

And if I do live that long, I want it to be a quality life.

When we're young, we can't wait to get older.

And when we get older,

we do everything we can to slow down the process of aging.

I think the real key... is living in the present.

As best you can.

Each and every day.

Grazie mille.

[Zac] Life is a gift.

And time is all we have.

How you treat it and what you do with it,

well... that's entirely up to you.

[sheep bleating]

["Auntie Earth" by Walter Mitty and His Makeshift Orchestra plays]

♪ Now as our poor young lungs deflate ♪

♪ I'll admit I've gotten older ♪

♪ Mellowed out Chatted up those I used to hate ♪

♪ The feeling that we're lost Will always fade ♪

♪ I present no explanation ♪