MORE THAN MEATBALLS

It’s not just this iconic Ikea dish that makes the Swedes so popular. It’s also sundhet

For a long time I’ve wished I was European. Either a French woman — because they don’t get fat and their kids don’t throw food. Or a Dane — because they’re relentlessly happy and have their own word — hygge — for lolling around on reindeer rugs, eating pastries and watching excellent television. Or even, at a push, Italian, since the pasta is splendid and Silvio Berlusconi is 80 now, so the chances of being groped must’ve diminished.

Frankly anything would be a pleasant short-term change from Australia, where “house prices” is now our national language, except when Mark Latham is talking, in which case the dialect is bigotry and rudeness.

So imagine my surprise to learn this week I am actually Swedish. In fact, the blonde one from Abba is probably my sister. As a kid my favourite book was Pippi Longstocking and, with age, my penchant for Ikea, cinnamon buns, H&M, pickled herring and, er, vodka has only intensified.

Look, I may not actually have a Swedish bloodline — although the way Bjorn Borg put it about anything is possible — but I am certainly Swedish at heart. Because according to a new book about why the Swedes are such a healthy, long-living lot, it’s all down to moderation, which I’ve been banging on about for years. According to Bertil Marklund’s bestseller

The Nordic Guide to Living 10 Years Longer, the Swedes enjoy greater longevity because they’re not obsessed with calorie counting and CrossFit and blending a kilo of kale with bee pollen and calling it breakfast. Marklund, a university professor whose little volume has been published in 26 countries, says the Swedes live by the concept of sundhet, which translates as “soundness” and refers to taking a balanced, healthy approach to life.

As he told The Times: “We have a favourite expression: ‘Lagom is best’ — lagom meaning moderation. Essentially it means that, to live a healthy life, you do not have to go to any extremes. It is the small and simple changes that lead to a happier, longer life.”

The man is right. It’s the tweaks we make to our daily lives, not the sweeping bans on carbs or alcohol or dairy that make a difference. I’ve watched as friends do Febfast or give up gluten or get obsessively into the F45 fitness craze and all it does is turn them into temporary evangelists for their cause, which they eventually drop because it’s too demanding or prohibitive.

In the past year I’ve embraced the small stuff as a means to making life more harmonious. I’ve had to accept I’ve got a busy job, I’m raising two kids, I play a weekly team sport, I mentor young journalists and I love going to films, music events and literary festivals. None of that I’m willing to change, so it’s the tweaks that enhance my day to day. I’ve learned to set a timer for 10 minutes every evening and use that time to tidy up; I walk with friends instead of having coffee; I use a meditation app for 10 minutes most days; I keep bags of spinach in the fridge so I can steam them in 30 seconds and get a hit of iron and goodness. I may not be as toned or bright eyed as paleo-obsessed Pete Evans, but I don’t have time to make sauerkraut or activate almonds. A handful of whatever version they have in the bins at Coles is sufficient.

While the Danish approach to contentment via hygge seemed impossibly smug, the Swedish sundhet is not only doable but makes you more likeable. Extreme diets or exercise plans, rigid sleep times, stringent parenting or an uncompromising viewpoint on social or political issues turns you into a fun sponge. It’s lightness, adaptability, ease, openness and a penchant for throwing things up in the air and seeing where they land that makes us interesting.

Take Alicia Vikander, the coolest person to come out of Sweden since Ingrid Bergman. Brilliant opposite Eddie Redmayne in The

Danish Girl then the star of The Light Between Oceans, she has a devil-may-care attitude lacking in some of her Hollywood contemporaries. If you want a laugh go online and watch her prank calling random Swedes asking them if they know Alicia Vikander, because she’d love to meet her.

In a world where extremism is the new normal and self-enforced rules have replaced relaxation and a laugh, it’s heartening to learn the Swedish approach guarantees health and vigour. A study in The Lancet last year revealed Sweden tied with Iceland and Singapore as the healthiest country in the world.

So what does the sprightly 71-year-old Marklund advocate? In short, a bit of this and that. A few cups of coffee a day are fine, a short stint of sunbathing, six to seven hours sleep and keeping an eye on your abdominal fat. Walking is good, soft drinks aren’t great and sex should be a priority. Actually, he doesn’t say that, but when your national sport is nude sauna bathing you can guarantee they do more than simply clean out their pores.

Right I’m off to, er, distil some vodka.