Living with ‘Lagom’: Swedish Moderation for a Longer, Healthier Life

You're reading Living with ‘Lagom’: Swedish Moderation for a Longer, Healthier Life, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you're enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles. Wellness advice from The Nordic Guide to Living 10 Years Longer: 10 Easy Tips for a Happier, Healthier Life.  One of our favorite expressions in Sweden is "Lagom is best." “Lagom is a word that is hard to translate, but an attempt would be “just right”. “Lagom is best” hence means that having just the right amount of something—not too much, not too little—is perfect. This mentality of "everything in moderation" permeates Swedish culture, and can easily be applied when trying to adopt a healthier lifestyle. (I also think it offers a more sympathetic and forgiving way of making life changes than trying to go “all or nothing.”) Take the health benefits of the sun, for example. The sun’s UVB rays give us the very important vitamin D. Spending 15 - 20 minutes a day in the sun is the perfect way to get the full dose of vitamin D your body needs to strengthen its immune system. We see evidence of this from a large Swedish study that followed 29,000 women over 20 years to compare their sunbathing habits as well as the prevalence of disease and mortality. It was found that the women who had avoided the sun the most suffered from diabetes and thrombus, and as a result their mortality rates were double that of those who were su...
Source: PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: diet happiness health and fitness popular Suggested Reading Bertil Marklund best self improvement blog Greystone Books just right Lagom Nordic Guide pickthebrain well being wellness Source Type: blogs