According to the Finnish Social Insurance Institution (Kela), six million working days were lost last year due to mental health problems. These absences cost society more than €1 billion a year.
Mental illness currently accounts for more than one in three days of sick leave paid by the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela) in Finland. The annual cost of lost work effort exceeds one billion euros, which is an increase of almost half a billion euros compared to ten years ago.
– The true cost of lost workdays is likely to be even higher than our estimate, Mikko Rissanen, senior specialist at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, told Finnish national broadcaster Yle.
In 2023, almost six million working days will be lost due to mental health problems, which is the equivalent of 26,000 full-time employees being absent from work for a whole year. This is an increase of two million working days compared to a decade ago.
If short periods of sickness, which are shorter than the qualifying period for sickness compensation, are also taken into account, the total number of working days lost could exceed seven million, according to Kela.
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Finland’s population is shrinking and aging at record pace, with the number of births dropping from 60,000 to 45,000 in just over ten years.
— The population pyramid is standing on its tip, warns demography professor Jan Saarela.
Finland is grappling with an accelerating population crisis that threatens the country’s future welfare. New figures show that the number of school-age children is expected to continue declining over the next 25 years, while the proportion of elderly people increases dramatically.
— This is hardly a favorable development for the future, states Jan Saarela, professor of demography at Åbo Akademi University in Finland.
The numbers speak clearly. In the early 2010s, around 60,000 children were born annually in Finland. During 2023 and 2024, the number had plummeted to approximately 45,000 – a 25 percent decrease in just over a decade.
The decline primarily affects the native Finnish population, and consulting firm MDI’s recent report confirms that the population will continue to shrink and the dependency burden for those working will become increasingly heavy.
Rural areas hit hardest
The demographic crisis strikes with varying intensity across the country. Population projections for 2024-2050 show a Finland where rural municipalities shrink dramatically while only a few larger cities continue to grow.
When professor Saarela is asked by Finnish public broadcaster Yle whether Finns in rural areas can expect even worse services in the future, he answers briefly:
— Yes, I believe so. I also think we will see more municipal mergers in the future, considering that the number of municipalities in Finland is still very large. I don’t advocate for municipal mergers, but I note that it will probably become necessary.
Residents in rural municipalities can soon expect significantly worse services. Photo: Reinhold Möller/CC BY-SA 4.0
Although population concentration in larger cities is a global phenomenon, Finland stands out negatively. The same development is seen in other Nordic countries, but Finland fares worst.
— But Finland is, as far as I know, worst in class and has been for several years, says Saarela.
“More children should be born”
To break the negative spiral, the demography professor sees only two possible paths: more births or increased mass immigration.
— One is that more children should be born, and the other is increased immigration, he argues.
Many Finns postpone having children for practical reasons. Photo: Polina Tankilevitch/Pexels
The low birth rate is partly due to many young Finns finding it difficult to combine parenthood with other aspects of life.
— It doesn’t feel advantageous to have children at certain life stages, so many postpone the decision. In some cases, people wait so long that there are no large families at all, explains Saarela.
One proposal is therefore to introduce higher child allowances for the first child.
— Perhaps a higher child allowance for the first child would help. But it requires resources, says the professor, while also noting that resources become increasingly scarce as the number of people of working age decreases.
Increased immigration?
The second path, increased immigration, is politically sensitive and difficult to plan. Recent years’ substantial immigration, particularly from Ukraine, has temporarily increased the population. But many Ukrainians plan to return when the war ends.
— Immigration is affected by global events and is difficult to predict. Statistics Finland’s projections were previously based on a certain number of immigrants, but recent years’ sharp increase has made the projections no longer accurate, says Saarela.
Researchers also cannot say exactly how large labor immigration would need to be to reverse the trend.
Mass immigration is said to potentially slow population decline, but brings with it a range of other problems. Photo: etvulc/iStock
A risky path
Large-scale migration, primarily from non-European countries, also brings a long series of difficult-to-solve problems and negative societal effects in the form of increased insecurity, poverty, crime, growing parallel societies and ethnic conflicts that are imported to the receiving country. Mass immigration has also proven to be enormously costly economically.
Sweden is one of the Western world’s clearest examples – from one of the world’s safest countries to a country plagued by foreign conflicts, segregation, gang crime, shootings and bombings where the majority of serious violent crimes are committed by people with foreign backgrounds.
Finland has so far avoided Sweden’s most acute problems through lower immigration, but the same negative development is visible here as well.
In summary, professor Saarela sees few bright spots. The negative population development is, according to him, very difficult to reverse, and the challenges to Finland’s population structure will likely persist for the foreseeable future.
People who eat more broccoli and cauliflower have a lower risk of colorectal cancer, according to a Chinese study. However, moderate amounts are sufficient to achieve the protective effect.
Colorectal cancer is the third most common form of cancer worldwide and is also the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths.
In Sweden, colorectal cancer has increased among young people over the past thirty years, and mortality from this form of cancer has increased among patients in all age groups for up to ten years after cancer diagnosis.
In the study, which was published in BMC Gastroenterology, researchers analyzed data from 17 previous studies, with a total of 639,539 participants, including 97,595 cases of colorectal cancer.
The purpose was to investigate whether higher vegetable intake corresponded to greater risk reduction for this form of cancer and, if so, the specific amounts at which this effect became significant.
The results showed that those who ate more cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, or Brussels sprouts, had a 20 percent lower risk of colorectal cancer compared to those who ate less.
Photo: Polina Tankilevitch/Pexels
Glucosinolates
These vegetables contain many beneficial substances such as vitamins, fiber, and antioxidants. But what makes them extra special are compounds called glucosinolates. When you chew these vegetables, glucosinolates break down into other compounds called isothiocyanates – particularly one called sulforaphane.
These are the compounds that give the vegetables their strong, sometimes slightly bitter taste and smell. These are also the compounds believed to be cancer-preventive.
The researchers found that the greatest risk reduction was observed between 20 and 40 grams, but no significant improvement was seen above 40 grams per day.
The study was conducted at the Second Clinical Medical School of Inner Mongolia University for the Nationalities in Yakeshi, China.
Every other person with high blood pressure lacks knowledge of their diagnosis. Therefore, new national guidelines are now being developed.
High blood pressure, or hypertension, is very common and it is estimated that nine out of ten Swedes will be affected by it at some point during their lifetime. Having high blood pressure means a higher risk of heart attack and stroke, among other conditions.
Today, approximately three million Swedes are estimated to suffer from it, but half don’t know about it. Women run a higher risk of being affected by cardiovascular diseases linked to lower blood pressure levels compared to men, yet despite this, 40 percent of women aged 35 to 49 are unaware of their blood pressure values, according to a report from the Swedish Heart-Lung Association earlier this year.
One in three Swedes don’t know their values, something that Mattias Brunström, associate professor of epidemiology at Umeå University in northern Sweden and chairman of the national working group for hypertension, believes needs to change.
— If we could catch more people, we would avoid 30,000 cases of heart attack, stroke and heart failure in Sweden annually, he tells TT.
New guidelines
New guidelines will be presented in Sweden during the autumn. Today, the so-called blood pressure target is 140/90 mmHg (millimeters of mercury), but will be lowered to 130/80.
— It’s important to clarify that we’re not changing the threshold for what constitutes high blood pressure. What’s changing is that blood pressure should be treated to lower levels than today, says Brunström, who has been involved in developing the new guidelines.
Furthermore, doctors will also be recommended to prescribe two medications directly to be able to lower blood pressure faster.
High blood pressure rarely has any symptoms, which is why many people walk around with it without knowing about it. However, one can experience symptoms such as headaches and fatigue, but the only way to be sure is to regularly check your blood pressure.
The Swedish Heart-Lung Association recommends that people under 40 check their blood pressure at least every three years, and thereafter should do so annually.
— Through regular check-ups, one can detect early the need for support for lifestyle changes, medical treatment, or both, says Anders Åkesson, chairman of the Swedish Heart-Lung Association, in a press release.
Just three weeks of ultra-processed food is enough to worsen young men’s sperm quality and testosterone levels, shows a new study from the University of Copenhagen. The men also gained weight compared to when they ate regular food – despite identical calorie intake.
Ultra-processed food is, in short, food that is industrially manufactured and contains a range of different ingredients, and is often a large part of especially Western diets today. Everything from bread, cereals, protein powder to candy, chips and ready meals can be classified as ultra-processed food. Previous studies have linked ultra-processed food to cardiovascular disease, depression, weight gain as well as nutritional deficiency.
Three weeks is enough
In the study, which was published in Cell Metabolism, 43 Danish men between 25 and 30 years old participated. First, the men ate only ultra-processed food for three weeks, then followed three weeks with minimally processed food. Both diets contained the same amount of carbohydrates, protein, fat and calories – the only difference was the degree of processing. Some of the men received a calorie intake adapted to their weight, while others received a surplus of about 500 calories. Between the two diets, the men had a 12-week break where they ate their usual diet.
The results show clear health deteriorations after the period with ultra-processed food, compared to when they ate less processed food. The men gained about one kilogram in body fat and their cardiovascular health deteriorated – regardless of which calorie intake they had. Additionally, the men had worse sperm quality and their testosterone levels dropped.
— We are shocked by the results, says one of the researchers behind the study, Romain Barrés, professor at the University of Copenhagen at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research to forskning.no and continues:
— It’s really alarming to think about what happens if you eat such food year after year. The consequences can be serious and chronic.
The study supports previous research that points to ultra-processed food potentially being harmful to health, but also strengthens the hypothesis that this type of food contains calories that are more fat-forming compared to home-cooked food. The researchers now hope that the study will influence politicians when they make decisions about diet and health for Danes.
— These products, which harm our health, are everywhere in our supermarkets, says Barrés.
