Michel Poulain in Salamanca: the keys to a long and meaningful life

There are encounters that illuminate the times we live in.

 

On 15 October 2025, the Paraninfo of the University of Salamanca was filled with that light: the kind that emerges when science and wisdom sit down to talk.

 

The protagonist was Michel Poulain, a Belgian demographer and co-discoverer of the Blue Zones, the places on the planet where longevity is not an exception but a cultural way of life.

 

That dialogue, moderated by journalist and writer Jesús Ruiz Mantilla, opened one of the most memorable sessions of the cycle Conversations in Salamanca: Understanding Longevity, promoted by CENIE as part of the New Long-Lived Societies project (Interreg POCTEP 2021–2027).

 

It was not just a lecture but an act of synthesis: the science of ageing finding its human expression.

 

The question that inspires CENIE

 

Why do some communities live longer and better?

 

The answer, Poulain explained, is not found in a genetic secret or a geographical miracle.

It lies in the way people live together, in their daily habits, in their understanding of time and relationships.

 

Since identifying the first Blue Zone in Sardinia in 2000 together with Gianni Pes, Poulain has mapped territories such as Okinawa, Ikaria, Nicoya and Loma Linda.

 

In all of them he has discovered a common combination: local and frugal food, moderate physical activity, a clear sense of purpose and, above all, strong community cohesion.

 

This constellation of factors shows that longevity is not only biology: it is culture.

 

As the scientist summed it up, “living long is not enough; one must live with meaning and in community.”

 

The art of living better

 

For CENIE, the Blue Zones are a mirror of what it seeks through its projects: turning knowledge into well-being.

 

Michel Poulain’s lecture reminded us that the years added to life only become quality when they are built on three principles: prevention, belonging and purpose.

 

Prevention, because healthy lifestyles are the true preventive medicine.

 

Belonging, because social networks and mutual support protect more than any technology.

 

And purpose, because people who know why they live are also those who remain active and happy for longer.

 

Through concrete examples — an elderly woman in Okinawa who still tends her garden at 95, a group of Sardinian friends who meet every afternoon to sing — Poulain offered the audience a powerful idea: longevity is a collective fact.

 

It depends on how each society organises its time, its relationships and its balance between body and spirit.

 

A dialogue that leaves a mark

 

Journalist Jesús Ruiz Mantilla, known for his ability to unite science and emotion, guided the dialogue with the intimate tone of good conversations.

 

He asked, provoked, and connected Poulain’s scientific experience with CENIE’s ethical horizon: what does it really mean to live well in an era where life expectancy exceeds 80 years?

 

The audience — researchers, students, health professionals and citizens — participated actively in a discussion that transformed the lecture into a living forum.

 

They spoke about habits and policies, biology and culture, and the need to design cities and communities that support active ageing.

 

The encounter thus became a shared lesson on how to make longevity an opportunity rather than a burden.

 

Salamanca: a beacon of thought on longevity

 

With this event, Conversations in Salamanca reaffirmed its purpose: to make the university city an international reference point for thinking about long life.

 

The cycle, promoted by CENIE in collaboration with the General Foundation of the University of Salamanca, the Economic and Social Council of Portugal and the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, seeks to open spaces for reflection where science is expressed with closeness and citizens find inspiration.

 

Each edition brings together disciplines: demography, philosophy, medicine, economics, art.

 

And in that diversity lies its strength: understanding longevity as a shared construction of knowledge, culture and values.

 

From knowledge to action

 

The message Michel Poulain left in Salamanca goes beyond the lecture hall.

 

He reminded us that the real challenge is not to prolong existence, but to organise societies that make living a long time desirable.

 

In his words, “a community that cares for its elders is investing in its own future.”

 

This spirit aligns fully with the philosophy of Conscious Longevity that guides CENIE: turning data into decisions, age into experience and ageing into a collective project.

 

Poulain’s thinking, grounded in evidence and open to emotion, reinforces the idea that the health of the body depends on the health of our bonds.

 

A reference for long-lived societies

 

For its scientific relevance, social resonance and power to inspire, this encounter becomes one of CENIE’s Highlights of the Year 2025.

 

Because it encapsulates in a single conversation what CENIE has pursued since its origin: uniting knowledge, ethics and community to understand what it means to age in fullness.

 

When words meet science and both open themselves to the public, something more than a debate emerges: a form of hope.

 

And that is what happened in Salamanca.