Lifestyle as living, or lifestyle as health behavior? A Danish case study of the contradictions and entanglements of contemporary health promotion in practice

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the discursive dynamics of lifestyle within a Danish municipal lifestyle-changing program, focusing on how contemporary and sometimes conflicting understandings of lifestyle shape health-promoting practices. We identify two dominant discourses: lifestyle as living, which emphasizes well-being, pleasure, and quality of life; and lifestyle as health behavior, rooted in New Public Health approaches that frame lifestyle through notions of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ behaviors aimed at preventing overweight and obesity. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and semi-structured interviews with participants and educators, our study reveals that while holistic lifestyle interventions aim to improve well-being, quality of life, and physical health, they remain discursively entangled with behavioral and responsibilizing approaches. We argue that expanding the concept of lifestyle to include broader aspects of living may intensify experiences of failure, not only in relation to ‘right’ health behaviors but also in pleasure, enjoyment, personal values, and self-acceptance. Efforts in a municipal program to emphasize lifestyle as living, in practice, extended rather than displaced behavioral logic, as well-being and quality of life became incorporated into the same framework of evaluation, responsibility, and potential failure. By critically reflecting on these entanglements, we call on health promoters to consider the unanticipated consequences and ethical implications of lifestyle interventions, particularly when expanding the concept of lifestyle while simultaneously responding to worldwide health challenges such as so-called lifestyle-related diseases.