Iowa State Daily Editorial Board: Troy McCullough, Tim Davis, Jennifer Holland, Kathleen Carlson and Jenny Hykes.

A survey being done at the Student Health Center will probably show us a little more about ourselves, and how we prioritize health.

The survey will question 700 ISU students, in an effort to see how the Student Health Center can better treat ISU students.

According to Student Health Center Director Dr. Robert Patterson, the average student perceptions of what health issues should be of primary concern is different from those of health professionals.

Students care more about body image, appearance and social safety, and less about high blood pressure, alcoholism and smoking.

We don’t doubt that these assumptions are true. As young people, our physical health often takes a back seat to our emotional health and our social sense of well-being.

That’s unfortunate.

While we all know the desire to have a good hair day, to feel confident about our bodies and our looks, to tend to these more superficial needs while ignoring more basic health issues is self-defeating.

In some intellectual sense, at least, we know the health problems associated with excessive alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking and unhealthy eating.

We should make these problems a greater concern in our day to day lives.

No one emaciated by lung cancer cares if they look beautiful. It’s dubious that alcoholics and people with destroyed livers are still so concerned with their over-all muscle tone. And heart attack victims probably aren’t contemplating how appealing they are to women while the paramedics perform CPR.

We as students should grow a little wiser about what health issues we make a priority.

Hopefully, this ISU survey will prove we are a little more in tune to our total health.