Areas of responsibility
Academic chair (program manager) Master in Sport Medicine.
Course leader Personal trainer (THP302) and Bachelor thesis (THP310)
Research
Women's health: Women-specific and physical health problems during pregnancy and after birth, exercise/physical activity during pregnancy, as well as health aspects and exercise among pregnant elite athletes.
Physical activity, physical fitness, and lifestyle among adults and seniors: Attitudes, motives and barriers to physical activity, self-perceived health and quality of life, testing of physical fitness, body composition and direct measurement of physical activity, body weight, and body image.
The fitness center industry and public health: Activity and fitness trends, drop-out issues and contributing factors associated with maintaining training at a fitness center, training, and resting metabolism/energy consumption, and use and effect of the various forms of training the fitness industry offers its customers (group training and personal trainer).
Physical Activity and Mental Health: Physical activity as a therapeutic psychiatric intervention, including patient-centered issues and practical implementation.
Teaching
Master in Sport Medicine (physical activity and health), Bachelor thesis, Personal trainer, Preventive physical activity, Activity medicine 1 and 2, and NIH Aktiv (PT education).
Short biography
Lene Haakstad is an exercise researcher and Professor in Sports Medicine at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences (NSSS), as well as academic chair (program manager) for Master in Sport Medicine. Professor Haakstad’s primary research field is women's health, with particular focus on physical activity and health during pregnancy, and the effect of exercise on outcomes for the mother and the foetus. Apart from projects related to women's health, she has also supervised two doctoral candidates in the field of public health and the fitness club industry. These projects covered a range of topics including self-perceived health, body image, quality of life, physical fitness testing, body composition, and direct measurement of physical activity.
Haakstad has been employed at NIH since 2005 and completed her doctoral dissertation in 2010 ("Physical activity and weight gain in pregnant women"). She has a total of 85 research papers, of which 30 and 26 are published as first and last (senior) author, respectively, in high ranked peer-reviewed scientific journals. Her work has received national and international recognition, and she has given numerous conference presentations nationally and internationally. Professor Haakstad was member of the IOC consensus panel on exercise and pregnancy in recreational and elite athletes, and has authored the Australian and Scandinavian guidelines for Physical Activity and Exercise during Pregnancy.