Visiting scholar will discuss Norwegian lifestyle and its effects on the older population
KINGSTON, R.I. – March, 14, 2012 – As medical science continues to advance, people are living longer, healthier lives across the globe. But for more than a decade, the United Nations and other international organizations have consistently found that life is especially good in Norway.
Kolbein Lyng, a psychologist and professor of health sciences at Molde University College in Norway, will discuss why Norwegians live so well and for so long in his speech “Growing Older: What Can We Learn from Norway and the Norwegians?”
Lyng will deliver the University of Rhode Island’s annual Distinguished Visiting International Scholar and Malford Thewlis Lecture on Wednesday, March 21, at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences at the URI Kingston campus. A reception will precede the lecture in the building’s atrium at 120 Flagg Road beginning at 5:30 p.m. It is free and open to the public.
Lyng’s speech will focus on how Norwegians’ personal lifestyles, health care and human services, social policies, and the unique environment of Norway all have implications on aging.
Norway has a life expectancy at birth of 81 years, according to the World Health Organization, compared to a global life expectancy of 68. Norwegians work less, make more money and are generally healthier than people living in many developed nations, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Better Life Index.
Lyng, a psychologist, has held several key positions in clinical, research, and educational settings. He began his career at the Norwegian Institute of Gerontology. He later joined the Aging Research Group at the Norwegian Social Research Institute, where he was associated with the Norwegian Study of the Life Course, Aging, and Generations.
The Office of the Provost, the College of Human Science and Services, the Program in Gerontology and the Rhode Island Geriatric Education Center are sponsoring the program.
Visit www.uri.edu/outreach/rigec or call 401-874-5311 for information.