Facts about Scandinavia

in norway there are 440,000 lakes

In Norway, people live on average until they are 82.3 years old
In Sweden, people live on average until they are 82.2 years old

Norwegians are more physically active the older we get, shows ssb`s when we turn 60, more than 30% of the Norwegian population train

The Nordic region with elongated coasts, deep forests, mountains, meadows and river valleys. The nature of the Nordic countries is unique, from the Arctic and subarctic regions to the north to the warm, temperate areas in the south.
The Gulf Stream helps to ensure a mild climate

The coast in the Nordic countries has been of crucial importance as a source of food in these countries since the first people chose to settle here.

It almost goes without saying that with water on all sides, the sea has both had an attraction and been feared and not least been an important food source.
The bucket is already full of blueberries, and in the basket are a couple of beautiful stone mushrooms. Late summer and autumn trips out into the woods to pick berries and mushrooms are for many people in the Nordics a highly valued leisure activity, in the past it was a necessity
 

The Nordic nature is a pantry full of inviting plants, fish in lakes, open seas, straits and rivers and animals such as reindeer, deer, wild boar and elk, such as wild forest, scrub, swamps, plains and mountains.

In the Nordic countries, it is only allowed to hunt game unless the season or slaughter is regulated according to seasons and quotas so that you have a large enough component so that the aftergrowth is maintained naturally.

In the Nordic countries, very high demands are placed on the environment and safety before one should be allowed to make encroachments on nature, which is public property.

For many inhabitants of the Nordic countries, a life in harmony with nature is a matter of course, even though everyday life is lived in the middle of the big city.
In most cities in the Nordic region, there is easy and direct access to nature experiences within a 1 hour journey.

Trips to the beach or svaberg with a bath in the open sea, boat trips and cabin trips, late summer trips with picking berries and mushrooms in childhood, ski trips in a sparkling white crystal white landscape and a cup of hot cocoa in a ski lounge
Or a walk in the woods to pick spring’s first white, blue or dandelion an important experience.
The Nordic nature is unique and beautiful.
Summer as Winter four seasons

Berries, apples, pears, pears, fish, root vegetables, potatoes, oats, barley and rye are typical examples of Nordic foods that are both nutritious, good tasting, sustainable, as naturally produced in accordance with the Nordic food culture.

Nordic diet is equated as an alternative to the popular Mediterranean diet,

contains the Nordic “diet” consists of healthy foods that reflect the Nordic climate, soil, nature and water.

Over the past decade, many researches have shown that a healthy, Nordic varied diet has a positive effect on health.

Studies show that the Nordic diet helps to prevent / reduce the possibility of getting type 2 diabetes 3, 4, 5. ,, stroke, lowers blood pressure and cholesterol

main elements of the Nordic diet are:

– Fish
– Apples, pears and berries
Cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower
– Root vegetables
– Rye and Oats

The most common berries that grow in the Nordic Nature Nordic nature

Blackberry

Blueberry

Blueberries

Raspberry

Juniper berries

Hegg

Krekling

Cherry

Cherries

Plums

Field strawberries

Molter

Nyper

Rye berries

Grouse berries

Sleeping

Black shelf

Tea berries / mist berries

Tindved

Cranberries

Lingonberry

Villrips

Field berries

American cranberry

Blackberry

Boysenbær

Garden raspberries

Garden strawberries

Garden blueberries

Rips

Blackcurrant

Gooseberry

Blackcurrant – Aronia

Allåkerbær

Scurvy

Vitamin C is a vital vitamin that humans must have a relatively steady supply of. In the absence of vitamin C over time, vitamin C deficiency can develop scurvy.
Scurvy was a widespread disease in the old days, as a result of a one-sided diet. It particularly affected sailors and others who for a long time lived in conditions of little food or one-sided diet.
Molts and cranberries have been used against scurvy.
On long sea voyages, molts and cranberries were stored in barrels filled with water.
 

Tanning material
Tanning agent is found in, for example, blueberries. Tanning agent consists of aromatic acids and phenols.

Glycosides
Glycosides are composed of a chemical compound, an aglycone and sugar. They can be the dye and odorants in the plants.
The blueberries contain the glycosides arbutin, ericoline and myrtellin.
Cranberries contain the glycoside arbutin.

Acids
Berries and fruits contain several acids, including benzoic acid, malic acid, oxalic acid and citric acid.

Benzoic acid

Benzoic acid is nature’s own preservative.
Molts, cranberries and cranberries contain benzoic acid, which makes the berries self-preserving.
This provides durability during storage, and protection against fungi and bacterial attacks.
Ripe rowan berries contain sorbic acid which makes them self-preserving, in the same way that benzoic acid works.

Vitamins

Berries contain several vitamins.
Ascorbic acid or vitamin C is the best known of the vitamins.
Rosehips are superbly superior in terms of vitamin C content compared to other berry varieties.

Anthocyanins
Anthocyanin consists of anthocyanidin and sugar
Anthocyanin and anthocyanidin are what give color to flowers, leaves and fruits.
In the autumn, the sugar is broken down and ends up as a storage industry.
The anthocyanidin that is left gives beautiful autumn colors from yellow to red. Blueberries contain the anthocyanidins cyanidine, dolphinidine, malvidin and petunidine. The strawberry contains the anthocyanidin fragarin.
These substances are antioxidants.

Antioxidants

Berries give us vitamins, minerals, enzymes and phytochemicals that help to give us good health.
During the ripening of berries, the concentration of these substances in the berries rises. Examples of phytochemicals in berries are carotenoids and phenols of the type anthocyanides, flavonoids and phenolic acids. There are a large number of such substances. A good portion of these substances are antioxidants.
Some of the phytochemicals are dyes that the plants produce to protect themselves from harmful solar radiation.
This works in the same way as pigment in our skin.

These are divided into two main groups:
Carotenoids and anthocyanins.
Anthocyanins are relatively unstable and are often broken down during preparation and storage. This is due to too high a temperature or pH.
Quercetin is a type of flavonoid that has many properties, including acting as an antioxidant.
Red wine, apples, onions and tea are good examples of sources of quercetin.
In Norway and Finland, berries are a good source of quercetin.
Cranberries have a high concentration of quercetin compared to other berry types.

What happens when berries and fruit rot or butter and freeze, maybe a little too old pork rancid?
From a biochemical point of view, there is an oxidation with a subsequent release of oxygen radicals.
Oxygen radicals are a substance that has lost one electron, and because of this it is easier to bind to other substances.
It is the same process that can happen in our body.
This can be an important factor in the development of serious diseases.
The same processes will result in the release of free radicals.
If this release is too great, the body will not be able to keep the free radicals under control.
What will then happen is that the free radicals will react with other substances in the body.
It can damage cells and tissues.
The body has a defense that is used in this process.
Own substances can bind to the free radicals and neutralize them in such a way that they are unable to attack cells and tissues.
These substances are called antioxidants. It is possible to supply the body with antioxidants through various foods. Rosehips and blueberries are examples of important sources of antioxidants

GULLRIS (Solidago virgaurea)

hastag: Wound remedy, swelling suppressant, bladder and kidney pain, water accumulations in the body, expectorant, cough suppressant.

helps wounds to heal and prevents disease bacteria from entering
The plant can be used as a sedative for sprains, as the flavonoids have a local blood-distributing effect – similar to arnica.
The substances in golden rice are effective in painful urination, spasm-like bladder pain and in bladder and kidney inflammation.
In case of water accumulation in the body (chickenpox) can be treated with a cure gold grate.
In addition, the tea stimulates the entire metabolism, in addition to having a certain effect on skin disorders, bile and liver problems.
Golden rice can be used as an expectorant and cough suppressant.
It is soothing and diuretic, inhibits inflammation and strengthens the walls of capillaries.

CRANBERRY (Vaccinium oxycoccus)

Cystitis, urinary tract infections, kidney infections, bactericidal, kidney stones, crystallization, sugar formation

Cranberries as a medicinal herb are used today as a treatment for kidney and urinary tract infections.
In the past, researchers believed that cranberries had a good effect on these ailments because the herb made the urine acidic.
In modern times it has been found that the effect is due to fructose and an unknown polymeric substance which has a paralyzing effect on the bacteria’s ability to attach to the mucous membrane in the urinary tract.
Cranberries especially inhibit E. coli, the bacteria that most often causes urinary tract infections, especially in women.
In other cases to prevent the formation of kidney stones.

Used both as a preventative and in the treatment of an acute cystitis.
Can be used together with sun hat to strengthen the immune system, blueberries to cleanse the urine and horseradish to increase urine production and add silicon.
 

Kjerringråd is advice and tips, which were popularly known for centuries in Scandinavia without a scientific background. An old woman’s advice usually deals with solutions to various problems of an everyday nature with a cure for illness such as natural medicines, such as colds, hiccups and difficult stains on clothes or other textiles. How well these bitch advice works is somewhat debated.

becomes

Other medicines are Chinese which are similar and have lived for centuries as natural medicine with good luck and misfortune in the vernacular, but with long traditions

fresh water and ice

Jostedalsbreen is a plateau with many slopes to the valleys. It is the largest glacier on the European mainland. Glaciers cover 1% of the mainland and over 60% of Svalbard.

Norway’s watercourses flow mainly into the Norwegian Sea / North Sea (west and north of the main watershed) or into the Oslo Fjord / Skagerak. The rivers in eastern Finnmark drain to the Barents Sea. East of the watershed (Eastern Norway) and in Trøndelag and large parts of northern Norway, the rivers are long and relatively slack. In Western Norway on the coast of Nordland, the rivers are generally short and steep with heavy water flow due to abundant rainfall. The Glommavassdraget has the largest precipitation field and is the country’s longest river. [25]

Norway’s watercourses are rich in waterfalls and are particularly high in western Norway and in Nordland, where Mardalsfossen and Vettisfossen, among others, are known for their high, free falls. The waterfalls in Eastern Norway are lower but with greater water flow. [47] In Norway, there are several waterfalls with over 600 meters of fall and are considered among the highest in the world. A similar combination of watercourses and landforms as the Norwegian is found mostly only in New Zealand, parts of Alaska and Chile. [48]

The water flow in Norway’s watercourses is characterized by snow and glacier melting in the high mountains from May to August. Many watercourses are regulated for power production and this evens out the water flow over the year so that the flood peaks are reduced. [49]

In Norway’s mainland, there are plateau glaciers (for example Jostedalsbreen and Svartisen), valley glaciers and small bottom glaciers. Glaciers and permanent snow cover 1% of the mainland’s area. [32] [33] [50] Over 60% of Svalbard is covered by glaciers. [51] [52]

The area of ​​all fresh water is 17,000 km2 or 5.2% of the country’s area. Statistics Norway states that Norway has 440,000 lakes, of which 178,950 are in Finnmark. Norway has 1242 lakes larger than 1 km2. [53] Europe’s four deepest lakes are in Norway: Hornindalsvatnet, Salvatnet, Røssvatnet and Mjøsa – Mjøsa is also the country’s largest in surface area and volume. [54]

PLANT LIFE
Plant life is relatively poor due to its northern location, for example there are about 2000 species of flowering plants. There are large differences in plant growth between the lowlands and the high mountains, and from Sørlandet to Finnmark. Differences in climate (temperature and precipitation) from the coast to the hinterland, as well as the geological base, play a major role in plant growth. At the coast there are many species that are completely absent inland. In eastern Finnmark, there are Arctic plants such as polar flocks. The tree line varies with climate and terrain and is lower along the coast and the further north you go. Along the coast from Lindesnes and northwards there is a forest-free strip at the far end of the sea, while at Skagerak coniferous forest grows all the way to the sea. Varmekjær deciduous forests such as ash, oak and elm are not widespread and are found mainly south of Lake Mjøsa to the Skiensfjord and along the coast to Trøndelag. Pine is widespread throughout the country and grows north to Kistrand. Spruce grows naturally mainly in Eastern Norway, in Trøndelag and in the south of Nordland. Norway’s coniferous forests are the westernmost part of the Eurasian taiga. The forest boundary in Norway is formed mainly by birch that grows higher than the coniferous forest and grows at its highest as a scrub, in Eastern Norway to about 1100 meters, in Rana to 650 meters and in Finnmark 300 meters. On the barren rock, only moss and lichen grow. [55] [44] The coastal areas are very varied with everything from shiny, barren cliffs to lush hooks where heat-demanding plants live. [36]

Wildlife

Norway’s wildlife is characterized by northern or Arctic animal species (such as reindeer, wolverines and lemmings), by animal species of Central European origin such as deer and elk, and by animal species that are common in European coastal areas. The country’s large extent in the north-south direction (the mainland covers 13 degrees latitude), differences in climate (especially the amount of snow) and landscapes that are strongly divided by mountains, valleys and fjords provide a varied wildlife. The further south in the country, the higher up in the mountains live northern species such as reindeer, lemurs and grouse. Among the large deer, moose dominate in the forests of Eastern Norway and in Trøndelag, the deer in Western Norway and along the coast of Trøndelag, and reindeer on the barren mountains. Large predators such as bears, lynxes and wolves were common species in the early 19th century, but after intensive, publicly supported hunting, very low populations remain, and all three species are protected. [56] [57] [58] Red foxes are found in large numbers all over the country. Smaller marmots such as badgers and martens are found in many places in the country. Svalbard and Jan Mayen have wildlife that is clearly different from the mainland. [25] [59] [60]

In saltwater, white whales, harbor seals and harp seals occur in the north, while south of Lofoten, the wildlife in the sea has a less arctic character. [25] Coyotes and porpoises are found along the entire coast. Killer whales are widespread along the coast between Lofoten and Stad. [61] [62] Amphibians and reptiles are heat exchangers and therefore do not thrive particularly in Norway’s climate. Norway has only five amphibians: two species of frog, toad and two uncommon species of salamanders. There are five species of reptiles: common lizards are widespread over large parts of the country, steelworms are found in some places, vipers are widespread and the only venomous snake, buormorm is found in southern Norway, and plains are rare. [63]  

FISH

Salmon and trout are widespread species in freshwater, while char is typical of the Arctic climate – these three species dominate the watercourses with outlets to the sea from Stavanger to Finnmark. In Sørlandet and Østlandet, there are several species of freshwater fish, including grayling, whitefish, perch and lake. Pike have probably been introduced by monks in Catholic times. Brugde, a shark species, and several members of the mackerel family are examples of fish that visit Norway’s coast in the summer. [25] Ordinary mackerel is harvested in significant quantities in southern Norway. [64]

Cod is found in large quantities and fishing has been central to the country’s economy since the Viking Age or earlier, especially in the form of the annual Lofoten fishing. [65] Capelin is an Arctic fish that migrates to the coast of Finnmark in large quantities. [25] Herring fishing has been of great economic importance along the coast in the west, in some periods more important than cod fishing. [66]

BIRDS

About 350 bird species have been observed in Norway, of which 170 species breed regularly in the country and 130 belong to the order Sparrows. Among the sparrows, about 80 species regularly breed in Norway. The cat owl is the most common owl. Among auks, there are six species after the vulture was extinct: the auks king and arctic guillemots breed on Svalbard, the auks, guillemots, theist and puffins breed on the mainland. More than 40 species of waders have been observed, where tents and shorebirds are common. Thirteen species of falcons and hawks nest in Norway, including large birds such as sea eagles and golden eagles. [25] The leaf warbler is probably the country’s most numerous bird with about 2 million nesting pairs. [67] The coastal plant areas’ varied plant life and a nutrient-rich sea mean that the coast has a particularly rich and complex bird life. [36] [68]

 
INSECTS

There are about 19,000 insect species in Norway, and 1163 of them are listed as endangered, but far from all have been assessed. [69]

CLIMATE

Average annual precipitation 1961-1990 shows the differences between the precipitation-rich areas in Western Norway and in Nordland, and the precipitation-poor areas at the top of the valleys in Eastern Norway and on the Finnmark plateau. The poorest rainfall areas also have cold winters.

Photo: met.no

Detailed articles: Norway’s climate and Norwegian weather records

The Norwegian climate is temperate, especially along the coast which is affected by the Gulf Stream in the north to the Barents Sea. Nowhere on earth has exactly the same climate, southern Chile, parts of New Zealand and Canada’s Pacific coast have climates that are to some extent similar to the Norwegian. This is the northernmost temperate zone in the world, it is warmer in Norway than anywhere else at the same latitude. The coast from Stad to Nordkapp has January temperatures on average 20 ° C higher than the corresponding northern latitude, while the July temperature is similar to other areas just as far north. The hinterland is a few degrees warmer in July than similar northern areas. Nor is there any country at the same latitude that receives as much rainfall as Norway. [70]

A large part of Norway is located north of the Arctic Circle. Here the sun does not go below the horizon for a period in the summer, and in the winter these areas are for a correspondingly long period without sunlight.

Norway’s topography and extent north-south means that the country has several types of climate and Norway has greater differences in climate within the country than, for example, Denmark and central Sweden. There are generally moderate differences in temperature in the north-south direction, and large differences between the coast and inland. On the coast of Western Norway, the annual average is up to 8 ° C, while in the mountain areas it is below 0 ° C. In Finnmark, the annual average is below 0 ° C also in low-lying places and the lowest temperature is measured in Karasjok at -51 ° C. The warmest period is in mid-July in large parts of the country, while in the mountains and on the coast, the beginning of August is the warmest time. The coldest time is mid-January to early February. In Svalbard, March is the coldest period. Inner Finnmark has the most cold records. The heat records in the summer are in Eastern Norway, while the heat records in the winter are in Møre og Romsdal. The weather in Norway is characterized by great variation from year to year, especially the northernmost parts of the mainland which lie on the edge of the temperate zone. [70] [71]