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Healthy livestyle against civilization diseases

2023-1-PL01-KA152-YOU-0001433012023Mobility of young peoplefinalized
Countries: PL|CY|RO|ES|IT · Grant: €28,300
Physical and mental health, well-beingDigital skills and competences

Objectives

Our project was a response to the increasing prevalence of lifestyle diseases among a broader group of young people, especially focusing on their prevention. In the past, issues such as diabetes, hypertension, anxiety disorders, depression, obesity, insomnia, and many others primarily affected older individuals, those "in their prime years". However, these diseases have been increasingly affecting younger individuals, even children. According to numerous studies and publications, this trend is attributed to both stress and the easy and fast-paced lifestyle, including the excessive consumption of unnecessary medications and stimulants (energy drinks, and less legal substances), lack of sleep, and a lack of work-life balance. Although awareness regarding these issues has significantly improved in recent years (through social campaigns, social media profiles), as young people and recipients of these messages, we often felt bombarded with conflicting opinions – obesity as a disease vs. pseudo-body positivity, vegans having anemia vs. red meat being harmful, sugar as white death vs. the era of "cheat meals" being over, let's eat everything but with moderation. In this informational chaos, where creators are usually just a specific brand's advertising campaign, it was challenging not to get confused. Together with our colleagues from partner organizations, we identified similar trends in social media and similar problems among young people – an increasing incidence of lifestyle diseases (including a significant portion of us, the participants), leading very "unhealthy" lifestyles, and a growing susceptibility to addictions. After initial discussions, we established that in each country, the approach to a healthy lifestyle varies slightly, at different stages of development, and we collectively decided that it would be fantastic to confront these trends together and extract a coherent essence from them, which we could then disseminate to a broader audience through disseminating materials prepared by us during the project. Through our efforts, we aimed firstly to draw attention to lifestyle diseases, which young people are increasingly suffering from, to demonstrate that they are not only problems for people over 60, but a real issue for teenagers and young adults. To this end, we created a short film showcasing these lifestyle diseases. Secondly, by focusing on the theme of a healthy lifestyle, we aimed to present it as a preventive element in the development and avoidance of lifestyle diseases, hence we created a bank of ideas and tips concerning a healthy lifestyle (mental health, diet, exercise, interpersonal relationships) in the form of an Instagram account where we published them.

Project partners (5)