Danes and their health in 2030
Marianne Levinsen, M.Sc. Political Science, futurist / 21. nov 2017Health has gone from being a private matter to a public mega-trend where many different actors give advice and guidance on how to optimize our personal health.
The Danes and their health is riddled with paradoxes. We spend a lot of time and energy on thinking about health and new books and recipes for the healthy life appear daily. Meanwhile, our BMI is rising – ca. 50% of Danes are moderately overweight or obese. (Danish Health Authority – the Danish national health profile)
We are challenged and confused by the many options, products and more documented knowledge about healthy behavior for us and our families.
Toward 2030 we will see four significant trends.
1. The personally designed health where the optimal diet and exercise for the individual is found through various tests and analyses. Everyone get a personal “health GPS” to navigate by in their everyday life
2. The digital health where the individual with the help of digital devices is guided to do the right things. It could be a diet-app for the phone, which calculates the precise and efficient dietary plan for you based on personal health data that you’ve entered. You can add your budget and perhaps the products you really don’t like.
3. The anarchistic health – “I’ll do what I want”. Many express that there are too many different and opposite instructions and advice on health. The instructions also continually change and confuse more than they elaborate, so people interpret them and use what they think is the healthiest approach as they themselves see fit.
4. The healthy co-creation between authorities and corporations. This means that authorities and corporations, for example food producers that work together to create special and targeted product lines for diabetics, pulmonary disease patients, underweight people etc. In this way healthy behaviors in the store are encouraged.
Personally I think the healthy co-creation in 2030 will win out because it fits into our busy lives and makes it easier for Danes to be healthy.
Published here 2017