Exercise and Medicine: Greece

Physical exercise was a key feature of medical treatment in Ancient Greece. Research from the last century has proven how effective and potent exercise is at preventing and treating many common diseases. If the benefits of exercise could be put in a single pill, it would probably be the most commonly prescribed and taken medication on Earth. Unfortunately, remarkably few people today fully appreciate the medicinal potential of exercise and even fewer understand how to appropriately prescribe and dose exercise with the same precision as other medications.

In this program students will study the medicinal benefits of exercise by: 1. Studying current research on physical activity and health while visiting relevant Greek locations, like an ancient Greek healing center, an island that has banned cars, a 2000-year-old Olympic Stadium and a refugee community center. 2. Receiving hands-on training prescribing, performing and measuring different types of exercise in iconic Greek locations (e.g. Hiking Mt. Olympus, Swimming in the Aegean Sea). 3. Shadowing English-speaking physicians and surgeons in Greek hospitals treating conditions influenced by physical (in)activity (50+ hours of shadowing that count toward medical school applications).

Destinations of this program include Athens, Hydra, Thessaloniki, Mt. Olympus, Delphi and Crete. Given the religious history of many of the sites (e.g. Mars Hill, Thessalonica, Orthodox Monasteries) students will also have multiple discussions about the roles of exercise and medicine in the Christian Faith.

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