Healthy in a Digital World

Today, we know that ageing is not an unchangeable and unmanageable process: the way people get old has to do with the development and the culture of the society, its medical knowledge, technological progress and health system. In particular, technological progress and digitalization have fundamentally changed the conditions of ageing. Our society is getting older, while feeling younger. How do we live and age healthily in the era of digitalization? How is the ageing process changing? And how can a city promote a healthy lifestyle and increase the health consciousness of its inhabitants?

The Center for Advanced Studies of Eurac Research and the Municipality of Meran/Merano invited to the International Conference "Being Healthy in a Digital World: How we will better live in the future" in the Pavillon des Fleurs in the Kurhaus Meran/Merano on April 12. Under the project leadership of Dr. Elisa Innerhofer from the Center for Advanced Studies, different questions and aspects related to health issues in the age of digital transformation were approached in keynote speeches, a moderated discussion and a panel discussion. Professor Andrea Belliger from Lucerne showed that we live in an "ageing society" with a strongly growing older population group, which is very heterogeneous and hence faces the topic of digitization and digital media very differently. Federico Gori of Microgate stressed the importance of cognitive training for healthy ageing and explained how the brain and mind can be changed through training.

In a moderated discussion, the scientist Maarten Wensink from the Interdisciplinary Centre for Population Dynamics in Southern Denmark and Urs Gruber, Professor at the Health Campus of St. Elisabeth University in Lucerne, discussed that the elimination of ageing is not synonymous with the elimination of death, but that the elimination of ageing means that we die young. In the end the question is what we want as a society, not what we can do. Based on this, Prof. Arnulf Hartl from the Paracelsus Medical Private University Salzburg and the architect Magdalene Schmidt presented the first results of a study commissioned by the municipality of Meran.

According to the slogan "Meran beWegt" the politician of the municipality Meran Gabi Strohmer and her team want to promote "walking" in the city. Based on scientifically collected, health-specific data they want to show the positive effects of exercising on physical and mental wellbeing. "It is our goal to valorise the walking trails and promenades of Meran and to position the city as a health-promoting city. The long tradition as a health resort and the excellently developed network of paths in a unique climate and highly diverse terrain offer ideal conditions for this," summarized Mayor Paul Rösch. "By using the existing resources, we want to jointly develop and implement new ideas and offers in the field of nature-based movement, that benefit both residents and guests. The World Health Organization called for the recognition of equal health opportunities for all people as a public good and Meran tries to position itself as a pioneer," Gabi Strohmer. The study led by Prof. Arnulf Hartl aims to develop health-promoting paths in the city for specific target groups and to scientifically prove the effects of walking on these trails on health and wellbeing.

After that, the results of the study were discussed by the landscape architect Dirk Schelhorn, the managing director of Microgate Vinicio Biasi, the sports medicine specialist Vincenzo de Nigris and Prof. Arnulf Hartl, responsible for the study.