Oh, finals week. With it comes crowded libraries, sleep-deprived kids and those therapeutic dogs we pet to relieve stress. As always, Counseling and Psychological Services and the University will be in full force trying to help balance our stress, even bringing out massage chairs for us. While there's a large focus on resources to relieve our stress, no one seems to be asking about the negative effects of getting stressed out in the first place.

I think it goes without saying that stress is a major detriment to one’s health. Physically, it can contribute to heart problems, headaches and high blood pressure, among other issues. Even worse are the effects of stress on mental health, which can contribute to anxiety and depression. In fact, lifelong mental illness is considered to be largely contingent on high levels of stress in a person’s life.

In October, The New York Times published a profile of a small island in Greece called Ikaria, famous for its residents’ excellent health and long lives. The article attempts to explain exactly what it is about Ikaria that is so good for human health by looking into the average Ikarian’s lifestyle. According to the article, people in Greek islands typically eat a Mediterranean diet with lots of organic vegetables, olive oil, and honey, and very little dairy or meat; sleep over eight hours every night; drink two to four glasses of wine per day and walk essentially everywhere. Furthermore, they spend much of their day outdoors, avoid white flour and refined sugar and have sex regularly.

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

Many of us eat food that's simply terrible for us, sleep only a few hours most nights, spend a great deal of our time being stressed about the future, and — yes, I’m going here — drink and use drugs in horrific amounts. We can exercise, pet dogs and talk to people at CAPS during finals week all we want, but our long-term health problems won’t just go away. The food will still poison our bodies and the stress will still eat away at our mental health.

In some instances, we make choices that sacrifice our health for our enjoyment. If someone was willing to give up a few years of their life to be able to eat whatever they want, then that’s fine. The same goes for smoking, drinking, using drugs and living with the stress of school or a job. We all make trade-offs — as comedian Bill Maher is fond of saying, “Fun costs ya’.” However, that doesn’t mean we should just do what we want all the time. Good health is an undervalued commodity and something we believe comes from doctors and medication. The best medicine isn’t something a doctor and pharmacist doles out — the best medicine is self-prescribed, and it certainly doesn’t require good insurance.

Recent studies have increasingly suggested that a diet with less meat and dairy does wonders for one’s physical and mental health, while the same results come from a good night’s sleep and lower levels of stress. Incorporating these adjustments into a daily routine could significantly improve a person’s long-term health.

At this critical junction in our lives, when many of us decide on a path that may end up as our personal norm for decades, we need to also consider how to manage our health in the long run. If you take the dream job that pays six figures but requires sixty-plus hours a week, what will the rest of your life look like? Consider how often you’ll be eating fast food, how much you’ll sleep and how much time you’ll spend emotionally drained from stress. For some individuals that’s all a part of their dream, and they’ll gladly make the sacrifice. Many students that work hard enough to get into the University and succeed here probably want that life to some extent. The question is, is it worth it?

Our ambitions and dreams, as much as they drive us, may very well be our downfall. As we continue to sacrifice more just to get ahead, we’re essentially setting ourselves up for a Faustian bargain. We might get what we want — the grades, the job or acceptance to graduate school — but lose ourselves as we do it. I want to live a long life, and I want to be healthy and happy for the duration of it. If that means giving up the corner office, I guess that’s a sacrifice I just have to be willing to make.

Maybe.

James Brennan can be reached am jmbthree@umich.edu.