Look for Blue Zones founder Dan Buettner in these upcoming shows:

April 7: “Oprah”

April 20-24, “CNN’s Anderson Cooper”

May 16: “Today” show

Albert Lea’s centenarians are probably not much different than the centenarians found in the world’s four Blue Zones.

In fact, during the majority of their lives, they probably walked and gardened, they participated in physical activity they enjoyed, and they did not take a lot of medicines, Blue Zones founder and longevity expert Dan Buettner said.

They had the benefit of an attitude of natural movement that yielded longevity.

“These people have benefited from how Albert Lea used to be,” he said.

In the past, more people used to walk to school, and people socialized more often and in person.

Now, that’s not always the case.

Though he has not yet met Albert Lea’s most vibrant centenarians, Buettner said it’s safe to say these people probably have many of the same characteristics as the longest living people he’s met around the world.

Buettner — a National Geographic explorer who has been featured on showssuch as “Late Show with David Letterman,” “Good Morning America,” “Primetime Live,” “Oprah” and “Today” for his research on longevity — has identified four areas on earth where people live the longest, most-fulfilling lives.

He describes his encounters in the Blue Zones in a book titled “The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who Have Lived the Longest.”

He interviewed the elderly in those places, particularly people older than 100, and he’s learned that all of these people, no matter where they live, all follow certain simple principles that put them on a path to a longer life.

The people in each of the Blue Zones moved naturally, took time to downshift each day and had a sense of purpose. They drank wine regularly ate a plant-based diet and stopped eating when they were 80 percent full. They also put their families first, belonged to a faith-based community and had friends who were positive impacts on their lives.

When you ask centenarians what they did to be able to live so long, it’s not uncommon for them to respond that they don’t know what they did to live to be 100, Buettner said.

The secret to finding out how people live to be 100 is to find an area with a large group of 100-year-olds, interview them and see what they have in common. That’s what he did with the Blue Zones.

Though he has not done that in Albert Lea yet, he said he thinks the city can achieve an additional 10,000 years of life by bringing back many of the habits and lifestyles of the grandpas and grandmas of the area.

“We know from just meeting people who are 40 and older that they used to walk to school,” Buettner said.

This has changed.

In January, Blue Zones and AARP officials announced Albert Lea was chosen as the recipient of a 10-month AARP/Blue Zones Vitality Project, a pilot city makeover designed to transform the lives of its participants.

To those who think its too late to change their lifestyles, Buettner said research shows it’s never too late for people to add years on to their lives.

“You could be 96 years old and add years of life by making small changes,” he said.

He’s quick to say that genes account for only 10 percent of the longevity of the average person, while lifestyle accounts for the other 90 percent.

In May, Albert Leans will have the chance to learn simple lifestyle changes they can implement into their lives.

Information about Buettner’s research and on his upcoming quest to Icaria, Greece, to find the fifth Blue Zone can be found at www.bluezones.com.