Nina Lah investigates a Nia, the latest ‘body and mind’ fitness practice to hit Oulu. It’s supposed to ‘improve your self esteem’ and ‘improve your fitness.’ But does it really work?

“Nia is a body-mind-spirit fitness and lifestyle practice,” says the official website. “Through expressive movement—The Body’s Way—Nia empowers people to achieve physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being.”

Ever thought to live or work in a psychiatric house?

For the first time in my life I had the opportunity. I woke up early on Tuesday May 15 to accompany 22 year-old Anna Feletto and 23 year-old Laura Barbares, from Höyhtyä, where they live, to the psychiatric centre in Kiiminki. Two Italian nursing students, Anna and Laura spent three years at the University of Padova, then three months at Oulaskangas, and later moved to Kimiinki in the Oulu Health and Social Care district. We took the bus to Kiiminki, as they do every morning. I found myself nervous about to spend time with people suffering from problematic pathologies.

Nutritionists and doctors all over Finland are alarmed at deteriorating health figures, especially among younger generations. A rising number of Finnish citizens have eating disorders like bulemia and anorexia, and obesity, and decaying teeth.

On March 29, the TV station YLE commented that “one in five Finns of working age is overweight. On Wednesday, weights were measured in 150 health centers across the country. Last year, nearly half of those measured carried extra weight on their waistline. Weight carried on the midriff also increases the risk of adult onset diabetes, arterial diseases and high blood pressure.”