The survival of yoik through the centuries despite acculturation and assimilation pressures is in itself a remarkable phenomenon. Therefore we hypothesise that there may be an apparent benefit of yoik and yoik practice within the Sami culture that has protected this cultural marker from extinction. Compared to other indigenous people in the Arctic, Sami public health shows few significant differences to the majority population. Therefore, we assumed that yoik may have had and possibly still has a role as a health promoting and/or resilience factor within the Sami culture.