Gain unique perspectives on health, wellness, and longevity through a multitude of varied activities in fabulous Greece!
The island of Ikaria is a blue zone, a place where the lifestyle and environment contributes to its residents being several times more likely to reach the age of 90+. Ikaria is also notable because cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes are significantly lower, and dementia is rare. On a six-day adventure on this rugged island, you will experience the culture and ways of life of Ikaria and discover Ikarian secrets of longevity.
Greece is considered home of the Mediterranean-style diet, known for reducing heart disease, diabetes, cancer, overall mortality, and for providing additional health benefits. The word “diet” comes from the Greek word “dieta” and means a way of life, a lifestyle. It is a holistic and culturally-engrained lifestyle where physical activity is incorporated into daily living, meals are shared and enjoyed together slowly with family and friends, and there is emphasis on social connection, getting adequate rest, stress relief, and much more. Learn to prepare and enjoy foods the way locals do, and investigate how the diet benefits health.
Students will see first-hand the impacts of unhealthy lifestyle as they observe doctors treating and operating on people suffering from a variety of lifestyle-related conditions where smoking, drinking, overeating, stress, and/or lack of physical activity were likely contributors. Students will also observe the realities of the Greek health care system by shadowing doctors in a hospital for two weeks and observing surgeries.
