Destinations in Turkey that increase life expectancy

After a Turkish university professor and his team collected an unprecedented amount of data on life expectancy in Turkey, daily Hürriyet reporters visited the miracle towns, spoke to their inhabitants and learned from them how they live and age.

The head of Akdeniz University's gerontology department, Ismail Tufan, has been attempting with his team to map the ageing scope of Turkey. For the fourth stage of their project named GEROATLAS, Tufan and his crew have traveled throughout Turkey, have come together with thousands of people, directed questions at them and gathered data. The research aims to demonstrate how the people in Turkey age. Though the expectation of the average life span is increasing, are we growing old in a fit and healthy way? 

Trabzon - Maçka

IF NOT TODAY, THEN TOMORROW, NO WORRIES

Maçka resident Nemide Karaosman (72): "People who step on land remain young."

In the middle of valleys surrounded with immense spruce trees with the Sümela Monastery on one side and the F?rt?na Stream on the other is the evergreen Maçka? At the moment there is a bustle of hazelnut harvests in the county. After a breakfast enriched with butter, clotted cream, fresh-picked tomatoes and cucumbers, everyone hits the field from early on in the morning until sundown in the evening. The locals, who believe being healthy is correlated with working on the land, eat meat moderately and consume lots of fruit. Their tables are never short of collard, chard, corn and green beans. They also consume a lot of water. 

52-year-old Maçka resident Asiye Çal?k states that, on the days she is out in the field, she drinks over two liters of water. Her relative, 73-year-old Remziye Çal?k, even wakes up at night to drink water. 63-year...