Around 1986, Young participated in a study on enclaves of long-lived individuals undertaken by the US National Institutes of Health's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Twelve scientists including Young did research in a Hunza village adjoining the Himalayas, numerous settlements of Guatemala's Mayan Aborigines, and on Japan's Ryukyu islands.
1986 年前後，楊定一在美國參與國家衛生研究院「非傳統醫學中心」一項關於長壽村的研究，包括他在內的十多位科學家，在喜馬拉雅山旁的 Hunza 村、瓜地馬拉許多馬雅原住民居住的村莊，以及日本琉球等地進行研究。