The Running:A FEVER podcast is now heard in 62 different countries, some of which I have never heard of before. But I am grateful for all of our listeners everywhere around the world.
It’s been a long time since I dedicated a whole episode to a listener country, but I decided to do that for one of our newer listener locations because even though Norwegians didn’t start downloading until 2 years into the show, they have risen to the 3rd most downloads ALL time. And in the last couple of months, they are second only to my home country of the US. And English is not even their primary language. Makes me wonder how I would do if I made episodes in other languages. So anyway, you see that I just had to dedicate this episode to these great people.
Weird fact. I’ve known the capital of Norway, which is Oslo since I was very young because my genius brother kept quizzing people on it. So I still remember that to this day. At ANY time I can answer that question. So I’m prepared. Oslo has about a million people, which is about 1/5 of the population of the country. Despite being ranked 118th in the world in population, Norwegians are ranked 6th in per capita income, just above the US.
Now, when I did the episode on Germany I actually attempted to hum their national anthem. I won’t do that this time, but I’m going to try something equally futile by trying to pronounce the name of it, which is “Ja, vi eisker dette landet”, which, in English, means “Yes, we love this country.” Much better than the U.S. national anthem, which is about a flag. Anyway, I found a free (I think) instrumental version, that is very well produced. So here it is, for your listening pleasure.
They also have a Royal Anthem, called Kongesangen, or King’s Song. And, being a constitutional monarchy, they do have a king, currently Harald V. And Harald, and everybody else there, I just apologize to all the Norwegian listeners right now. I hope you are not offended by my lack of Norwegian pronunciation acumen.
The official name is Kingdom of Norway. It’s located WAY north. In fact, on the map, it looks like about 1/2 the country is located in the arctic circle. And it’s technically almost exactly on the other side of the world from Alaska. So although I’ve never been to Alaska, I feel pretty close to my Norwegian friends, even physically. The country also claims has 2 antarctic territories, which I thought was interesting.
The state of Norway was established in 872, which is over 1100 years ago. The name Norway means “northern way”, which is the simplified, English-ified explanation. Check out the references for extensive etymology. Norwegians call it something else, and I won’t insult them by trying to pronounce it, but depending on your dialect it is spelled N-O-R-G-E or N-O-R-E-G.
So let’s get right to the health information, cause that’s what this show is about. First of all, congratulations. In 2013, and again in 2018, Norway got first place on the UN’s Human Development Index, which combines information about lifespan, education, and income to arrive at an overall score.
Diet. Well, Norway is a long, thin country with islands and a lot of coastline. So not surprisingly, fish is very popular. And that’s pretty good for you. Unless you come from my own culture and like to deep fry fish, along with just about everything else. Cheese and Dark Bread are also popular. Hey, you can’t eat all protein.
Life expectancy is 84.3 for women and 80.9 for men. The 2 main causes of death are cardiovascular disease and cancer. But death from cardiovascular disease mostly occurs in people over 80 years of age.
Smoking used to be the biggest health risk, but smoking has decreased from 35% in 1990. Now only 11% smoke on a daily basis. Obesity is somewhere between 20 and 25 percent, way better than the US’s 42%.
Sports!
Norwegian skier Marit Bjorgen is the most successful Winter Olympian of all time, with a total of 15 medals.
The most popular sport is association football, which we call soccer. But that’s just the most popular sport to play. The most popular spectator sports are biathlon and cross-country skiing.
I think Norway is a place I’d like to live. I don’t think cities should have more than about a million people. I mean, I wouldn’t want to live in a city with that many people. The weather is deceptively pretty decent. The gulf stream makes it warmer than you would think. I don’t really like hot weather anyway. And from the pictures I have seen, the scenery is breathtaking. I guess I would learn how to ski and play soccer, but I’m sure there are awesome places to walk as well. If you’re Norwegian, I salute you! Feel free to tell me more about your country and yourself by emailing me at mail@runningafever.com. Please subscribe on YouTube. I think I actually have more listening there than even on apple podcasts.
To everyone else, well, now you know a little more about Norway.
Next time we’ll discuss diabetes.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_circle#:~:text=A%20polar%20circle%20is%20a,circles%20of%20latitude%20(parallels).
https://www.fhi.no/en/op/hin/health-disease/overweight-and-obesity-in-norway—/
https://www.tfah.org/report-details/state-of-obesity-2020/#:~:text=The%20U.S.%20adult%20obesity%20rate%20stands%20at%2042.4%20percent%2C%20the,by%2026%20percent%20since%202008.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population_(United_Nations)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_in_Norway
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norway