Living Beyond 100 in the 'Blue Zone' of Pakistan's Hunza Valley

For years, I had promised to join my husband on a trek through the Karakoram Mountain range, a wilderness spanning the border between Pakistan, China and India, to see the summits he had climbed on hair-raising expeditions in the 1980s and 1990s.

Last Summer, the stars finally aligned, and we set off for the Hunza Valley, for centuries an independent princely state until it was captured and used to defend the British Raj against Russia. It was still cloaked in legend: were the Hunza people really the descendants of Alexander the Great’s soldiers? And was it true that they lived beyond 100, on a diet of dried apricots and meltwater from the glaciers?

There were even whispers that it was the last undiscovered “Blue Zone”, a term coined in 2004 by Dan Buettner, a National Geographic Explorer and journalist, to describe areas which were home to the world’s longest-lived peoples. He began his research on the Japanese island of Okinawa, but extended the term to include Sardinia in Italy, the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica and Icaria in Greece and Loma Lima in California.

As a professional working in the field of longevity I was intrigued, particularly because there appeared to be little academic research published into the phenomenon. The Hunza Valley has been cut off by politics as much as by its remote location. It only became accessible to the outside world from 1986, when the Karakoram Highway was opened to the public.

Tourism was blighted in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attack of 2001 and sectarian terrorism in the frontier zones neighbouring Afghanistan.

Now, tensions between Pakistan and India have ratcheted up, and tourism is once again at risk, but last Summer, when we arrived in Karimabad, formerly Baltit, the capital of the princely state, the mood was relaxed as we strolled around the fort, listed by UNESCO.

The Yak Bar in Karimabad offers welcome relief from the local hotels’ staple diet of dal and chapati bread, and its founder, Saleem Baig, 26, was an engaging host, with a good command of English. Within minutes he had mentioned that his neighbour, Qalander Shah, was 102 years old- and would we like to meet him?

Which is how we found ourselves in pitch darkness, nervously bumping and sliding up a rocky track in a battered taxi. After more than half an hour, we had left Karimabad far below, and Saleem signalled that we had arrived at our destination.

Guided by the light of our phones, we made our way to Mr Shah’s home. His extended family began to appear out of the gloom and motioned to us to sit down on cushions scattered on the floor. Then suddenly, he appeared: a tiny bird-like creature, probably weighing no more than 6st (38kg) and carried reverentially by two of his grandchildren.

A friend of the family, Musharraf Karim, founder of Security Lense, a think tank focused on women’s rights and climate change, volunteered to act as interpreter, and I found myself conducting an impromptu interview, recorded by my husband on his smartphone (see the unedited recording here). At times the generator failed, and our talk continued for twenty minutes in flickering light, with a dozen or so family members gathered around.

Perfect conditions for him to share the secret of his longevity.

Mr Shah told me that in his youth he was “fast like a cat” and served as a soldier for ten years in the Pakistan army. On the death of his father he returned to become head of the family and went on to have a family of his own, with four sons and six daughters.

He recalls long spells when there was not enough to eat, and he had no option but to become tough and resilient. In Musharraf’s translation, Mr Shah explained: “There was not much food, and it was only for survival. We went by the philosophy of minimum food for greater productivity, and our mantra was "work more and eat less.”

His meals today are served with walnut oil and apricot oil, and he has rarely suffered from sickness. There was a hint of darker forces when he said his strength had recently deteriorated. He blamed “the evil eye” and spoke of “people who wish me not to have good health”.

It was time to lift the mood, and a family member whispered to me that Mr Shah was an avid dancer. In my professional life, I study the impact of music on creating joy in our lives: it is part of a fundamental shift in understanding the complex environmental factors which influence our health. I am a member of the steering group of the Exposome Moonshot Forum which is about to launch a colossal scientific endeavour studying the non-genetic influences on health and disease. I also moonlight at nightclubs as a techno DJ with my venture ‘Longevity Rave’.

So, I dropped that into the conversation and, as if a light had come on, his eyes began to sparkle and he sang his favourite song- ‘Pehla Qadam’, traditional ‘hareep’ music - with a quavering voice.

We all clapped after the first verse, but he wasn’t done yet: to the amusement of his family, he continued, as if daring anyone to silence him. The phone footage captured the sparkle in his eyes. I felt his joy and could not suppress some tears. I later found out he even showed off his dance moves on YouTube a few years ago.

We set off down the mountain track, back to Karimabad, and onward to start our trek into a panorama of giant peaks, marching easterly in the direction of K2.

Mr Shah left us thinking about his final message which, written down, may sound somewhat trite, but at that moment felt true. “You should always follow your heart and be hard working. God will help you have a better life. But most importantly, be happy. Be happy in your heart. If you are happy, you will be in a good state’.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS

Mr Shah’s lifestyle echoes Dan Buettner’s guiding principles of the Blue Zones: physical activity, mental outlook (happiness, purpose, and optimism), and healthy diet (locally grown, plant-based foods) and positive relationships. The latest scientific research suggests that caloric restriction and physical activity work across multiple genetic, cellular and physiological pathways in the ‘Hallmarks of Aging’ and enhance healthy life expectancy.

Research on the exposome (the external exposures humans face across their lifetime and their interaction with internal factors, such as genetics, epigenetics and physiology) also shows the powerful effects of feeling happy that Mr Shah identifies as a contributor to his own longevity.

I also spoke with Maula Madad, a guide from Baltit Fort in Karimabad who knows several centenarians in the Hunza Valley. He warned that modern life is posing a threat. He pointed to air pollution, junk food, excess traffic and claimed there was a rise in diabetes, obesity, heart disease and respiratory diseases.