Blue Zones offerings help members live longer and
happier through Blue Shield's award-winning Wellvolution platform,
improving health outcomes for members with holistic care
solutions.
OAKLAND,
Calif., July 31, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Shield
of California members now have
access to the Blue Zones Challenge™ app, a first-of-its-kind
program offered by a health plan to help its customers emulate
sustainable, holistic lifestyle habits of people in the blue zones
regions around the world that live longer, healthier, and happier
lives. These regions were identified by Blue Zones founder,
Dan Buettner, who has spent over 25
years researching the cultures of the world's longest living
populations.
Popularized in the Emmy Award-winning Netflix
docuseries "Live to 100: Secrets of Blue Zones", Blue Zones
principles focus on goals including daily movement, socialization,
and thoughtful food choices inspired by the daily habits of people
living in blue zones regions.
The app is now available to Blue Shield members
following a successful pilot program where 99% of the more than
1,000 participants self-reported improvement in their
well-being.
Blue Shield members can access the app through
the nonprofit health plan's digital lifestyle medicine platform,
Wellvolution, at no additional cost. For the last five years,
Wellvolution has offered a suite of programs that address mental
health, diabetes, hypertension, weight management, musculoskeletal
health, and tobacco cessation. The addition of the Blue Zones
Challenge app creates a new category of program focused on
improving whole-person health and longevity, rather than a solution
to address a specific chronic condition.
"With the Blue Zones Challenge app, members can
not only build sustainable habits relating to healthy eating and
natural movement, but also build personal connections and
community," said Angie Kalousek
Ebrahimi, senior director of Lifestyle Medicine, Blue Shield
of California. "We are in the
midst of a nationwide loneliness crisis, which impacts both the
mind and the body, so we are thrilled to provide a solution that
emphasizes healthy living, including community building."
Upon downloading the Blue Zones Challenge app,
Blue Shield members will complete assessments regarding longevity,
happiness, nutrition and purpose, set up their surroundings to aid
in seamless healthy habits, and write their personal purpose
statement. From there, members will track Blue Zones activities
daily – examples include eating a cup of beans, going on a walk,
and spending 30 minutes on a hobby. Each completed activity has a
point value, with the goal of hitting 400 points per week. The app
encourages activity outside of the phone screen – improving social
connections and one's surroundings by completing these simple
tasks.
"The Blue Zones Challenge app is evidence-based
and science backed," said Ben
Leedle, chief executive officer of Blue Zones. "By working
with Blue Shield of California to
offer the app to members at no additional cost, we can help
Californians build community and live happier, healthier, and less
stressed lives through simple changes to their lifestyle and diet
habits."
Members can go to Wellvolution.com/BlueZones
to sign in or create a new account to get started with The Blue
Zones Challenge app, which is currently available to all fully
insured individual and family plan members, as well as
Administrative Services Only (ASO) groups who buy Wellvolution.
About Blue Shield of California
Blue Shield of California strives
to create a healthcare system worthy of its family and friends that
is sustainably affordable. The health plan is a tax paying,
nonprofit, independent member of the Blue Shield Association with
more than 4.8 million members, over 7,100 employees and more than
$25 billion in annual revenue.
Founded in 1939 in San Francisco
and now headquartered in Oakland,
Blue Shield of California and its
affiliates provide health, dental, vision, Medicaid and Medicare
healthcare service plans in California. The company has contributed more
than $77 million to the Blue Shield
of California Foundation in the last three years to have an impact
on California communities.
For more news about Blue Shield of California, please
visit news.blueshieldca.com.
Or follow us
on LinkedIn or Facebook.
About Blue Zones
Blue
Zones employs evidence-based ways to help people live better,
longer. The company's work is rooted in explorations and research
done by founder and National Geographic Fellow Dan Buettner in blue
zones regions around the world, where people live extraordinarily
long and/or happy lives. The original research and findings were
released in Buettner's bestselling books The Blue Zones
Solution, The Blue Zones of Happiness, The Blue Zones, Thrive, Blue
Zones Kitchen, and The Blue Zones Challenge—all
published by National Geographic books. An Emmy Award-winning
docuseries, Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones, was released on
Netflix in 2023. Using original Blue Zones research, Blue Zones
works with cities and counties to make healthy choices easier
through permanent and semi-permanent changes to our human-made
surroundings. Participating communities have experienced
double-digit drops in obesity and tobacco use and have saved
millions of dollars in healthcare costs.
CONTACT:
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Kelly Nuckols
|
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Blue Shield of
California
|
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510-607-2359
|
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media@blueshieldca.com
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SOURCE Blue Shield of California