6 - Old age and health
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 December 2023
Summary
“Only the Nordic countries are known for their pared-down simplicity … The Nordic Guide to Living 10 Years Longer applies this ethos to health – and it is important for me to express that to live a healthy life, you do not have to go to extremes. It's the small and simple changes that amount to a happier, healthier life.”
Bertil Marklund, author of The Nordic Guide to Living 10 Years LongerThe secret word
There has been a recent boom in books about how, if you live the Nordic way, you too could live longer. Hundreds of little tips essentially all boil down to an instruction to be more Swedish, more Danish, more Finnish. Each country has its own special word that signifies the secret to success. In Swedish, according to Bertil Marklund, the word is lagom, meaning “just the right amount”. However, in each case we are told that there is no exact translation, and hence an entire book on “the word” is needed for the reader to glean the secrets it holds.
In Denmark the magic word is hygge, meaning an atmosphere of cosiness, closeness and comfortable conviviality, which in turn generates feelings of greater well-being and contentment (Norway has koselig, meaning nearly the same thing, with some subtle differences.) Candles, cushions and closing the door on unwanted intrusions feature heavily in hygge, and wrapping yourself in chunky hand-knitted blankets and indulging in pastries is how the concept was presented to the outside world (Country Life 2017). Inevitably, there is no exact English translation or short definition that quite summarizes the concept correctly.
It is not just the Nordic countries that have received this treatment. In Japan the equivalent concept is ikigai. According to The Times “Forget hygge. It's all about ikigai (that's Japanese for a happy life)” (Country Life 2017; Mogi 2017). Unsurprisingly, the Japanese term also defies translation and requires an entire book to explain it. What none of these books point out are the many similarities between these countries.
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- FinntopiaWhat We Can Learn from the World's Happiest Country, pp. 129 - 156Publisher: Agenda PublishingPrint publication year: 2020