Oprah's Last Week

What a week. Last Monday, I met with a group from a Wisconsin hospital system that wants to use the Cleveland Clinic Disease Reversal Program to help their employees and then their patients reverse some of the 21 diseases that our Lifestyle180 program reverses. Tuesday, I flew with my wife Nancy and Dr. Lang and his wife to Chicago for the last two of three Oprah shows – the duets were brilliant. Beyoncé’s dancing unreal. Fox, the two Tom’s, Rock, Franklin, Steinfeld, Alicia, Stevie Wonder … it was too much. I hope you’ve seen it by now. But for me the highlight (no, it wasn’t Mehmet’s dancing) was the men from the House – Oprah has paid for 450 scholarships for men to attend Morehouse College. Could anything be better? Close is her school in South Africa, but we also learned she had paid for over 66,000 American women to attend high school. And now you know why no one ever expects there to be another Oprah.

All of the docs who care for her (she has said it publicly), her ophthalmologist, her podiatrist (too many high heels), her veterinarian, etc. all sat together. It was like going to the best rock concert, the best tribute and the best thank you rolled into one. The afterparty cannot be described.

Patients and administrative and leadership meetings at the Clinic on Wednesday and Thursday, a talk in Ashtabula, and then off to tape an Oz show on Friday morning about our new book, YOU: The Owner’s Manual for Teens. (It is really good – and two Oz daughters make an appearance). Then off Friday late to San Francisco as Nancy, my wife, wanted to celebrate with friends from that era … 48 showed up at the Cliff house overlooking the Pacific Ocean on a perfect Saturday afternoon (thank you). Deb Lonzer substituted for me on the radio show as I co-hosted Nancy’s get-together by the bay. Then on Sunday to Vancouver for the SmartTots.org scientific presentations that I tweeted about. I’ll be giving a keynote in Cincinnati for a European-American economic development group interested in learning what the Clinic is doing to help employees, patients and the employees of employers who contract with us get and especially keep healthier.  

As to the medical stories of the week, I tweeted (@youngdrmike) these as the most important (and we discussed on YOU: The Owner’s Manual radio show which you can listen to at healthradio.net on Saturdays at 5-7 p.m. EST):

Story #1: Men relax best when wives are busy

• The study measured stress hormones and daily activities among 30 dual-earner couples in Los Angeles, each with at least one child, ages 8-10. Most had two or three children. The average marriage was 13 years and the average age was 41. 
• Results showed that while wives' stress levels drop when their husbands are helping them with chores, for men it's the opposite: stress levels fall when their wives are busy while they're (the hubby is) relaxing.

Story #2: Why being wrong is good for you – BS or for real?

• Being wrong: We regard it as a nuisance, or at worst a nightmare; in either case, we experience our errors as embarrassing.
• However, thanks to error, we can revise our understanding of ourselves and amend our ideas about the world. 
• My take … probably for real.
  

Story #3: Blood Test Offers Clues to Longevity – BS or for real?

• This was about an expensive test ($1000) for telomeres
• My take: BS (bad science as of now). Your choices predict longevity better than this test. This test can tell you where you stand on one measure, but you get a do-over if you want it.

I’m still doing an extra at least 11 minutes of cardio every day, and it is already May 24. I’ve missed 6 days in 5 months. More next week.