The Arling­ton is in the ​“Zone”

Posted Oct 24, 2023

The pop­u­lar 2023 Net­flix doc­u­men­tary series ​“Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones” has intro­duced mil­lions of view­ers to ​“Blue Zones,” places in the world – such as Oki­nawa, Japan and Sar­dinia, Italy – where indi­vid­u­als live remark­ably longer than aver­age. It’s also sparked world­wide inter­est in the relat­ed healthy-lifestyle ini­tia­tive called the ​“Blue Zones Project.”

Bluezones logo

Naples and The Arling­ton did­n’t have to wait for a doc­u­men­tary to get start­ed. Naples is already a cer­ti­fied Blue Zones Com­mu­ni­ty®, along with Immokalee, Ave Maria, Boni­ta Springs, Estero, Gold­en Gate, East Naples, and Mar­co Island. That makes us among the few in the U.S. to achieve this milestone. 

And The Arling­ton is extreme­ly proud to be the first orga­ni­za­tion in South­west Flori­da that is Blue Zones Project Approved®, both as a ​“Work­site” and as a ​“Homeowner’s Association.”

Start­ed in 2009, the Blue Zones Project is ded­i­cat­ed to help­ing com­mu­ni­ties across the world become ​“health­i­er, hap­pi­er and more pro­duc­tive.” A ​“Blue Zone” is a term first intro­duced by founder and Nation­al Geo­graph­ic fel­low Dan Buet­tner. He dis­cov­ered five areas across the world where a large num­ber of peo­ple lived sig­nif­i­cant­ly longer than aver­age and iden­ti­fied the pro­duc­tive lifestyle habits these peo­ple shared. 

Today, over 800 busi­ness­es and orga­ni­za­tions across South­west Flori­da have embraced the Blue Zones Pro­jec­t’s ethos – span­ning sec­tors such as super­mar­kets, restau­rants, schools, parks, faith-based orga­ni­za­tions, work­sites, home­own­ers’ asso­ci­a­tions and local governments.

Com­pared to the broad­er Flori­da region, par­tic­i­pants have seen a dra­mat­ic reduc­tion in health risks: tobac­co use plum­met­ed to an all-time low of 3.6%; poor nutri­tion saw a 28% reduc­tion; stress lev­els were 17% low­er; and obe­si­ty rates dropped by 23%. In addi­tion, over 20% more area res­i­dents are now engag­ing in reg­u­lar exer­cise; and the per­cent­age of indi­vid­u­als who report they are thriv­ing in dai­ly life surged to 79%.

The Arling­ton has always cham­pi­oned a well­ness-based lifestyle – from healthy din­ing and cus­tomized fit­ness pro­grams to life-enrich­ing dai­ly activ­i­ties. This made the Blue Zones Project a nat­ur­al fit with our community.

For exam­ple, with an expan­sive 39-acre Lely Resort cam­pus and miles of near­by walk­ing trails, The Arling­ton was the ide­al loca­tion for the Blue Zones Project’s ​“Track Your Trek Chal­lenge.” Over 70 res­i­dents and employ­ees joined in, walk­ing a total of 25 mil­lion steps over four months. That trans­lates to a remark­able 12,813 miles!

Per­son­al choice is key to Blue Zones Pro­jec­t’s suc­cess. As the Blue Zones Project – South­west Flori­da says, ​“We don’t man­date that you adopt cer­tain health prac­tices. We invite you to make small changes which will lead to big health ben­e­fits in the long run.” At The Arling­ton, we heart­ed­ly agree.

Learn more about the Blue Zones Project – South­west Flori­da and how you can par­tic­i­pate by vis­it­ing south​west​flori​da​.blue​zone​spro​ject​.com.

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