9 things Dr. Mike says will help you and your kids be happier and live longer

Those who stuck it out until Thursday afternoon at the Global Summit were rewarded with a closing keynote from Dr. Mike Evans. Even if you think you don’t know him, you probably do. He’s the voice behind the viral video, 23 ½ hours, where he talks about how walking just 20 to 30 minutes per day as a preventative intervention has a greater impact on health than watching one’s weight, eating a healthy diet, eliminating free radicals (like alcohol and smoking), and, well, pretty much anything.

But if you aren’t lucky enough to have Dr. Mike as a doctor and you weren’t at the conference to hear his keynote, then let us fill you in on what we think Dr. Evans would tell you if you came to see him at his clinic:

1. Be active. He’d rather you be obese and active than skinny and sedentary.
2. Be optimistic, even if you have to learn how, because your cognitive response is so important and cynical hostiles get more cancer.
3. Be a reflective learner, meaning he wants you to pay attention to how it feels to ride a bike (good) and do it more, for example, or how it feels to eat a plate of fries (bad) and do it less.
4. Don’t be perfect. He believes in 80/20 and says go ahead and eat the chocolate.
5. He would happily trade less supervision for more accidents if it meant kids were able to play more and have opportunities for their perspectives to be broadened.
6. Think about how health benefits figure into your calculations about risk. Ride your bike in the big city even though you think it’s dangerous. Why? Because the health benefits outweigh the potential risks.
7. Stop “bulldozer parenting.” As in, stop clearing the way for your kids and learn how to let them fail more.
8. Make your day harder (watch the video below). Today’s conveniences are making us all sick. So open that door yourself instead of pressing the automatic button, take the stairs instead of the elevator, park in the far-away spot on purpose (even if there’s a closer one), and find ways to make your kids’ day harder, too. You’ll be surprised at how much fun it becomes for them.
9. Fail more and suck less.

Above all, Dr. Mike is a health advocate. He wants his patients, and the rest of the world for that matter, to be healthier, happier, and more active. He uses the power of social media to spread his message in a fun and accessible way that is changing the way people live.