The current fitness ideals strive for perfection. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but the truth is that most of us travel on a scale somewhere between perfection and lousiness unable to keep up with extreme demands. In the event that striving for perfection makes you depressed, I want you to embrace your normality/averageness. I want you to do...
A growing number of individuals feel it necessary to bridge the gap to a more ecologically friendly lifestyle by embracing natural foods, recycling and using public transportation. Almost everything in our lives can be made more natural or ecologically friendly. Unfortunately, this natural and ecologically friendly way of living is not often connected to that central masterpiece that should be...
The popularity of sitting is not entirely due to how easy it is. The internet, television, and videogames are all available in front of you as soon as you take a seat. Sitting is the gateway to the new digital age - the digital age that has consumed us all. All the knowledge in the world these days can be...
There is little need for muscle activity these days, but there is just as little opportunity for muscle activity. The sitting position is a dominant, wanted, and suggested position to complete just about anything. Can you even think of standing while in a meeting or waiting your turn at the bank? Sitting is so popular because it is easy, there...
What about our free time? Fortunately the amount that people participate in physical activity in their free time has increased, at least according to questionnaires. This has had at least a small positive effect on our bodies that typically suffer from sitting all day. Unfortunately, this is not the whole truth. The more energy that we save from technology and automation,...
In September I moved from Washington State in the USA where I lived for 26 years, to Jyväskylä in order to study. In America I drive a lot, as many do. I drove approximately 250 km a week - the drive to school was 25km, the gym 4km and the grocery store 2km. My hobbies included running and mountain biking,...
While the decrease in daily energy expenditure in our working environments can explain, in part, the obesity epidemic, the other parts of our daily life are not without blame. At work we sit and move primarily just our fingers, so maybe it is a good idea to increase our daily energy expenditure via our daily commute. Unfortunately, during the last 35...
In the 1960s almost half of jobs required moderate physical activity. Nowadays, only 20% of jobs require at least moderate physical activity. It is no surprise that four out of five Finns does their work sitting in front of a screen. These days, making the grade at work is about being smart and less about having endurance, strength and skills. Here...
Work has traditionally been a significant part of our lives and our identity. Professions have been passed on from fathers to sons for generations while both physical labor and handcraft have been valued. At the same time, physical labor has played a significant role in our daily energy expenditure. Think about how men used to work long hours in the...
Expending energy includes a lot more than just recreational exercise. We can do shoulder shrugs for other reasons than to simply indicate our lack of knowledge. In other words, we can exercise every day. Researchers in the USA asked approximately 10000 people what they do during a 24 hour period. Subjects reported all of their activity from driving in the car to...
Let’s examine the energy equation from the perspective of spending energy. As I told you before, the number of adults participating in recreational physical activity is larger than ever before. According to questionnaires used in studies the number of adults that participate in recreational physical activity at least twice per week has increased from approximately 40% to 70% in the...
I have news for you: According to studies, our energy consumption, the amount of food we eat, has actually decreased or stayed the same over the past 20 years. In Finland the results of the large “Finnravinto” study suggested that energy consumption has decreased an average of 20%, which means approximately 600 kilocalories in men and 400 kilocalories in women per...
In the USA over 6 billion dollars a year are spent on diet foods. Close to a billion cans of low calorie “diet sodas” were sold in 2010 alone. In Finland, we are following this trend. Up to half of Finns have stated that they are trying to lose weight, and one fifth of Finns are using some sort of...
The models of the health and wellness business are images of dazzling perfection. Sharp shadows are cast by the light bouncing off of glimmering oiled muscles and the fitness machine’s lofty being justifies its confident and goal-oriented smile. The bronzed statue is covered by tight clothing that does not leave any room to imagine what might be below it. The message of...
Overweight is no longer a valued ideal but a prevailing condition. Ideals have changed. The worshiping of a round belly has given way to a craving to lose weight and be thin. These changes have made overweight a favorite topic in the health and wellness sector and an extremely important part of health marketing. People want to lose weight. Thankfully,...
Basically, weight gain is the result of an imbalance between energy consumption and energy expenditure. This balance is partly regulated by our genetics, our environment, and psychosocial factors. One, or many of these factors, has gotten members of our society to consume more than we expend, or to expend less than we consume. At the same time we have noticed...
At the same time as the offerings of the new virtual age are developing beyond our understanding, our waistlines are expanding at such a rate that statistics can barely keep up. Overweight/obesity is a hot topic that evokes a number of different responses. Overweight may cause feelings of shame and consumes the thoughts of many. Sometimes these feelings lead to...
PhD in Sedentary Behaviour and Everyday Activity