GARDENING is the best exercise a person can do to increase life longevity, according to expert Dan Buettner.

The founder of Blue Zones recently insisted on Instagram that "gardening is much better than joining any gym".

The explorer and educator, 64, dubbed the outdoor activity as "the best longevity exercise you could do" after studying the world's 'blue zones'.

Buettner has become well known for his Netflix documentary 'How to Live to 100' and research into the blue zones worldwide where inhabitants regularly live well into their old age.

One of these regions - the Nicoya Peninsula - has the lowest rate of middle-age mortality "in the world", according to the New York Times bestselling author.

Buettner commented: "In every Blue Zone, almost everybody who is making into their 90s and 100s not only garden their whole life but continue to do so."

The expert noted multiple reasons for this including that gardening is a "low intensity physical activity" that involves "bending over" and a "range of motion".

In his opinion, gardening is also a "nudge".

He elaborated: "When you have a garden and you've planted something you can't wait to eat, it gives you an incentive to go out everyday to weed and water and harvest.

"I've seen the studies that show when you're gardening your cortisol levels or your stress hormones drop and it could very be you get your hands dirty and you wipe your mouth and you're getting the microbiomes.

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"I argue that gardening is much better than joining any gym and the best longevity exercise you can do."

Previously, Dan Buettner shared his advice on the three foods you should incorporate into your diet to help you live a longer life.

He called on people to take note of the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica and three foods that form a prominent part of this region's diet.

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Nicoyans are likely to live well past middle age which Buettner largely attributes to "the best diet human beings have ever invented."

"Their diet is composed of three foods that I would argue are the best diet human beings have ever invented," Buettner commented.

The explorer continued: "Because of these foods, the people living on the Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica are two and half times more likely to reach the age of 92 than people living in the United States or Europe."