Our Path
Meijän polku, “Our Path”, is a 30-year initiative promoting community health and wellbeing. Advocating the wellbeing of the Central Finnish population is focused on four themes: nature, physical activity, rest and community. Our Path strives for a more healthy and prosperous Central Finland by encouraging people to spend time, exercise and gain vitality in near by nature and in forests which are close to neighborhoods of all inhabitants. Our slogan is move and enjoy yourself in Central Finland.
According to the WHO data (2018) life expectancy of Finnish males and females is 78.8 and 84.2 respectively, which gives Finland a world ranking of 21. Although not a poor placement, several challenges still exist. Beside the persistence of traditional cardiovascular risk factors (i.e. sedentary lifestyle, obesity and smoking) factors related to a person’s quality of life, such as unvoluntary loneliness and anxiety, are becoming more prominent. Relaxing and/or exercising regularly (daily or several times a week) in a nearby forest could have a profound effect on both the traditional risk factors and wellbeing. Also, visiting the five Central Finlands national parks and very silent nature reserves, is encouraged, serving a source of most autenthic nature experience. However, because of their more remote location (within a distance of 50 km of each home), they are not plausible for daily visits.
Meijän polku is based on voluntary involvement of the active members, including professionals from the fields of health care, physical education, educational establishments and national institute of parks&wildlife, and supported by organizations like Central Finland Health Care District, Central Finland Sport Federation, Jyväskylä University of Applied Science, University of Jyväskylä and LIKES Research Centre for Physical Activity.
Meijan polku aims on a slow, but long-lasting out-door life oriented behavioral change in the population. Time span is 30 years, beginning from 2017. Operational goals vary with different population segments (active/sedentary, young/old, healthy/people with chronic illnesses) and ongoing trends of society. From 2020 onwards the health related use of local nature locations and forests is promoted among local population under multiple concepts, such as Keski-Suomen terveysmetsä (Central Finland Health Forests) and Meijän metsät (Our Forests).
At the same time tools for both municipalities and individual citizens are developed to make physical active lifestyle and physical exams more accessible for all. Also, for self-acting individuals and groups, different kinds of activity challenges like stair climbing, nature walks, biking and sauna are presented in Meijän polku-website (www.meijanpolku.fi/vuosikello). These challenges have been tailored for all seasons, for all weather conditions and they are free-of charge.
Some of our initiatives
The local nature with its many possibilities is the Central Finnish health forest. And we all have the right to enjoy our diverse natural environment both physically and psychologically.
In the Meijän metsät (Our Forests) concept, we started to look at the nearby nature as a treasure chest of the area’s well-being, health and vitality. And how we can ensure more and more diverse opportunities for everyone to stay, move and enjoy the nature that surrounds us.
The first Finnish Outdoor Office Day (Luontotyöpäivä) was celebrated in different parts of Finland on Friday, May 21, 2021. The purpose of Outdoor Office Day is to lower the threshold and to go out into nature as part of everyday work, and also to bring nature into work if going outside during the work day is not possible.
Since spring 2023, Finnish Outdoor Office Day has been celebrated as a week-long event – Outdoor Office Day Week (Luontotyöpäiväviikko).
The first Trail Week of Central Finland (Keski-Suomen reitistöviikko) was held on the 16th–22th of September 2020. The idea of this week is to activate the usage of nature trails and to raise awareness about the positive health benefits of nature. Since then, the route week has been held every year in the third week of September. A photo contest open to everyone is also organized during the trail week, where the most beautiful nature photos along the trails in Central Finland are sought.
Luontopysäkit (Nature stops) is a project, launched in Jyväskylä, Finland to map and connect the city’s diverse forest trails to the local public transportation system, Linkki. Accessing forest trails with a familiar bus system could be one way of lowering the threshold for getting out in urban nature and thereby distributing the health benefits of nature more evenly to the general population. Most of Jyväskylä’s natural sites are located along local bus routes or less than five hundred meters from these.
