Canadian woman who lives in Sweden reveals the 14 incredible healthy habits she has learned from locals – and how they have transformed her life

A former college athlete from Canada who moved to Sweden as an adult shared what she learned from locals about living a healthy lifestyle.

Keltie O’Connor, 32, spends six months in the town of Sundsvall, north of Stockholm, to be near her hockey player boyfriend during the season. She spends the rest of her year in Vancouver.

It’s no secret that Sweden leads the pack on a number of metrics, including low obesity, overall quality of life and ‘happiest’ country, with the Scandinavian country ranked sixth happiest in 2023.

Reflecting on her time spent in the region, Keltie decided to delve into the “healthy habits” she learned from the Swedes in a new YouTube video, joking, “We love a healthy habits video.” ‘

Keltie decided to focus specifically on Stockholm and embarked on a day trip to map out the “healthy habits that are unique to Stockholm and that I think make Stockholm a city where it is almost difficult not to have a high quality of life.”

First of all, Stockholm is a ‘walkable city’.

“You hear ‘walkable cities’, but what makes ‘walkable cities’?” Keltie said.

“One thing is the accessibility of walking from one place to another in terms of distance, but also the frequency of streets that you can easily walk on in Stockholm, especially because there are so many zebra crossings,” she said.

Secondly, ‘the accessibility of nice gyms.’

“I’m not just talking about Equinox and stuff. I mean spark plug gyms at affordable prices,” she said.

She added that she has a membership at the STC gym in Stockholm, which costs about $50 monthly in Canadian currency, or about $37 USD.

Third (very closely related to her second point), Keltie discusses “the accessibility of fitness classes.”

Then ‘the amount of nature in the city center.’

“As someone who has lived in the center of cities like Toronto, where it’s really lacking — they have a park you can go to, but your daily commute has no trees — you start to feel this nausea.

‘We long for nature. And Stockholm has so many small parks. You can hear birds chirping in the middle of a big city center!’

Fifth, she complimented “Swedish fashion,” which is stylish yet practical.

‘Compared to Canada, everyone is very well dressed. Just more business casual, but practical. Think of wool coats, trousers, sneakers. Everything is very functional. You can tell they are hot, so they go outside, but they could also go to a business meeting.

“For example, compared to a lot of business attire in North America, you can be outside for a few minutes and your shoes aren’t as practical.”

Sixth, Keltie exclaimed, “The water quality for a major is phenomenal, it tastes so good!” So it’s a lot easier to stay hydrated.’

The content creator then spoke about public transportation, exclaiming that both trains and subway are “so accessible.”

‘Every city with good public transport will of course be a bit healthier. And look how beautiful the metro system in Stockholm is!’

Eighth on her list of healthy habits was omega-3 rich foods, including salmon and other fatty fish and seafood. Diets rich in omega-3 fatty acids have been found to provide a range of health benefits, from fighting depression to lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Keltie made it clear that she didn’t want to generalize about what a “healthy diet” is – because she feels it’s different for everyone – and added that she feels like “her body loves carbs and dairy,” which makes her personally is particularly suitable for a Swedish diet.

Ninth, again in relation to nutrition, Keltie claimed that ‘healthy lunches’ are very accessible throughout Stockholm – at ‘almost’ the ‘exact same price’ as fast food in the US or Canada.

Good habits around work-life balance, including ‘fika’ – ‘a break in the middle of the day to have a coffee with a friend and a snack’, was tenth on Keltie’s list.

‘It doesn’t sound that groundbreaking, but I think this is what makes Stockholm Stockholm and Sweden Sweden.

‘We don’t do that in North America. We get the biggest coffee on the road. We work until we burst, when it would be so easy if we just stopped, took 10, 15 minutes, relaxed and got started. But we don’t do that.’

This means that ‘everyone’ has a holiday for the entire month of July, thanks to the ample holiday time. ‘It is expected. It’s not that you grind less. It’s just part of the culture that you need that break. You have a balance between work and private life. You have time for your family, you have time for your friends, you have time for hobbies.”

The eleventh healthy habit was the absence of vaping and smoking. “I don’t see anyone (smoking),” Keltie said. Although, she added, many get their nicotine fix through Snus, a brand of “nicotine patches.”

‘In Sweden it’s a way of life… it’s drastic how little vaping or smoking I see in Sweden, compared to the amount of vaping I see in North America and the amount of smoking I see in the rest of Europe, ‘ she says. continued.

‘Is a nicotine addiction healthy? No. I’m not saying that. But my personal opinion is that it is better than inhaling the smoke from a cigarette. But at this point, that’s just my personal opinion, and I’m not promoting it in any way. Stay out.’

Sauna culture came in twelfth place.

‘We all know the health benefits of the sauna. And nowhere is the sauna a bigger part of their lives than in Scandinavia,” says Keltie enthusiastically.

“Living here has opened my eyes to the extent to which sauna is part of their culture, especially in northern Sweden,” which, she added, shared a border with Finland, believed to be the largest sauna users in the world.

Thirteenth place on her list was about how ‘government help’ results in ‘less stress’, according to Keltie.

She mentioned that health benefits provided by the government included at least “five free massages per year” for citizens.

“There are so many more resources and so many more programs to have a safety net in Sweden, which I think is really admirable.

‘I don’t want to get political. But I just noticed that for the most part, all Swedes – even though it’s still a very innovative country, it invented things like Spotify – still have that balance: for the most part, everyone’s basic needs are met.

‘It’s not perfect, I’m not an expert in this. There is simply less survival stress here in Sweden. And I think if you don’t try to survive, you can thrive. It’s lame, but it’s true.

“It’s so hard to care about your health when all you’re trying to do is survive. I have been there. When you say, “I just have to get to the next day. I just have to pay my bills. I just have to have some food so I don’t starve.” You don’t care what nutrients are in it.

‘And because everyone has that baseline, it gives a little more flexibility to take care of your health and less stress.

‘And I think the lack of stress is incredibly important and that’s why we look at Scandinavia and say, “Wow, it seems like this strange country.”

“And sometimes when I’m here I think, ‘This isn’t real!’

‘It’s not perfect, but they do some things very well!’ Keltie emphasized.

Last but not least, Keltie praised the use of a double duvet on the beds.

‘This is a game changer! I think this can change the world,” she explained.

Essentially, this means that couples sharing a bed each get their own duvet, rather than one large duvet shared across a king or queen mattress.

‘Every couple gets their own side. What does that mean? Better sleep quality!’ she exclaimed.

“You can still sleep with that person, but no one will confiscate the blanket!” I cocoon. I like to cocoon. And I think it improves your sleep quality.

‘I’m just one of those people who I like to cuddle until the moment I go to bed. And as soon as I actually go to sleep, I turn around: “Just stay there.”

In North America, she noted, this practice could lead people to speculate that a relationship is not solid.

‘In Sweden it’s like: “Are you a psychopath? Of course you get two duvets.”

In conclusion, Keltie admitted that she was “just the beginning” of healthy habits in Stockholm.

‘It just makes it more accessible for the average person to be more active and balanced. You can almost easily fill your physical, mental, emotional, financial and spiritual buckets.”