Fun?It’ll Cost Ya

                                                                           ByJames Brennan James

Brennan was a columnist for The MichiganDaily, the University of Michigan’s student newspaper, and a student at theUniversity of Michigan when he wrote this article. It was published in TheMichigan Daily on April 7, 2013.

A) Oh, finals week. With it comes crowdedlibraries, sleep-deprived kids, and those therapeutic dogs we pet to relievestress. As always, Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) and theUniversity will be in full force trying to help balance our stress, evenbringing out massage chairs for us. While there’s a large focus on resources torelieve our stress, no one seems to be asking about the negative effects ofgetting stressed out in the first place.

B)  Ithink it goes without saying that stress is a major detriment to one’s health.Physically, it can contribute to heart problems, headaches, and high bloodpressure, among other issues. Even worse are the effects of stress on mentalhealth, which can contribute to anxiety and depression. In fact, lifelongmental illness is considered to be largely contingent on high levels ofstress in a person’s life.

C) In October, The New York Times publisheda profile of a small island in Greece called Ikaria, famous for its residents’excellent health and long lives. The article attempts to explain exactly whatit is about Ikaria that is so good for human health by looking into the averageIkarian’s lifestyle. According to the article, people in the Greek islandstypically eat a Mediterranean diet with lots of organic vegetables, olive oil, andhoney, and very little dairy or meat; sleep over eight hours every night, andwalk essentially everywhere. Furthermore, they spend much of their dayoutdoors, and avoid white flour and refined sugar

D) The people of Ikaria live very simply,with few cares, worries, or sources of stress. In almost all aspects, studentsat a school like Michigan have a lifestyle that is completely at odds with theinterest of their long-term health.

E )Many of us eat food that’s simplyterrible for us, sleep only a few hours most nights, spend a great deal of ourtime being stressed about the future. We can exercise, pet dogs, and talk topeople at CAPS during finals week all we want, but our long-term healthproblems won’t just go away. The food will still poison our bodies and thestress will still eat away at our mental health

F) In some instances, we make choices that sacrifice our health for ourenjoyment. If someone was willing to give up a few years of their life to beable to eat whatever they want, then that’s fine. We all make trade-offs – ascomedian Bill Maher is fond of saying, “Fun costs ya’.” However, that doesn’tmean we should just do what we want all the time. Good health is an undervaluedcommodity and something we believe comes from doctors and medication. The bestmedicine isn’t something a doctor and pharmacist doles out – the best medicineis self-prescribed, and it certainly doesn’t require good insurance.

     Accordingto the author___________________________

1-     The sentence“lifelong mental illness is considered to be largely contingent on high levels of stress in a person’s life” means that _______

   Paragraph B discusses______________________

   The Mediterranean diet is mentioned in the text as an example of_________________

   The Mediterranean diet basically depends on ________________

    The lifestyle of students of Michigan can be described as ___________________

   The writer believes that CAPS are______________________

What else do we need for a healthy life style?

What effect does exercise have on our heart rate?