Systad, Jørgen, My favourite healthy activity

Norway is a country were 10% of the BPU are used for health services. That is 60 000 NOK per inhabitant, and the amount is rising every year. The government wants to prevent it from increasing further and tries to invest smarter in healthy activities, and also set some economical changes. Some examples are cheaper fish and vegetables in grocery stores, and more expensive alcohol and tobacco. Some schools have also received free fruit. The local politicians can also give money and fund organizations and clubs who contributes to a healthy environment in the neighbourhood. Examples could be funding soccerteams, building a playground or marking of hiking trails.

I will tell a bit more about my favourite non-cost activity to do in Oslo, which is disc golf. The capitol of Norway has four great courses, and the well known website udisc.com rated Oslo as the second best city to play disc golf in, outside the US. The courses are great for both beginners and professionals, and besides very important funding from the government and local politicians, many of the players also contribute in volunteering. In the last couple of years, disc golf has become a lot more popular in Norway, and there are now thousands of players.

Disc golf is similar to regular golf, but we throw frisbees instead of hitting balls with a club, and therefore, some also calls it frisbeegolf. The agenda of the game is to throw the disc in a basket with as few throws possible, just like regular golf. There are most often 18 “holes” on the course, and you finish all 18 in one round. Many of the expressions in the game are borrowed from regular golf, such as par (you should normally hit the basket on your third throw), put, driver, bogey and birdie. The game continues in rounds, and the person who has the lowest number of throws, or throws under par, wins. The game is fairly easy, since you only need a couple of discs as equipment, and many are familiar with throwing frisbees as a kid. You could also play all my yourself, and people of all ages and shapes can participate.

For me, disc golf is not an actual workout or training, but I would categorize it as physical activity. On a single round you could walk several kilometres or reach 5-10000 steps. Some of the courses are also in the woods, and the player walks up and down hills, breathes in fresh air, socialize with other and uses their body without even thinking about it. The pace is often quite slow; you throw, wait and walk, so anybody could do it. We now that physical activities have many good effects on our body (Bahr, Karlsson, & Norge, 2015), both physically and mentally. In my experience many people who like to play videogames, or who don’t like sports, often likes disc golf. Most people learn the technique fairly quick, and although it is a social sport, you are not in a team setting where you can be judged.

This is a picture of my brother after throwing his first “hole in one”!