A Perfectly Imperfect Union: Reflection on America 250 with Dr. Mike Roizen

In the latest episode of A Perfectly Imperfect Union, I travel to The Buckeye State to connect with Dr. Mike Roizen and we talk about this question.

What would you do with 25 more good years?

Dr. Mike Roizen believes this is possible for most of us.

For him, America means freedom of opportunity and his vision for us starts with health. He led a wellness program that cut the Cleveland Clinic's employee healthcare costs by 38%, and he believes we can do the same as a nation.

He's all about staying younger longer, with more years to work, contribute, and build an abundant life.

Discover more about Dr. Mike's work here.

And his question for you and our next guest is:

What's one thing you do that could reach more people, and what would it take?

Share your thoughts in the comments and share this episode with someone you love.

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Hey there, it's Michael. Welcome to Whole Again, the show that's here in support of you creating a meaningful life and the person you're becoming. And I'm excited to share a new series with you that will air this summer as America turns 250 years old, which is still pretty young relative to many other countries across this big blue marble that we all share.

The series is called A Perfectly Imperfect Union. In 2022, I rode my bike across America from Astoria, Oregon to the Lincoln Memorial. My wife drove our RV and she had two co-pilots, Jester and Hope, two springer spaniels And when we did it, America was coming out of the pandemic and we were hurting.

Hurting from things that had happened prior to the pandemic, of course, going through what we all went through. And at that time, and this is something I still believe today, is that we were entering an inflection point. An inflection point for us to hopefully pause, breathe, and reflect on who we wish to become as individuals, as communities, and as a country.

As I pedaled across America, I wanted to share America's beauty with others, her natural beauty and the beauty of her people. And I also wanted to share where we were hurting As America turns 250, I believe Kintsugi, which is something we use as a metaphor here at Whole Again, is a perfect metaphor for where we are as a country.

There's so much beauty to celebrate, and we can also acknowledge that parts of us feel broken or are broken, but we can find a way to come back together, just like Kintsugi teaches us. And when we do, we don't try to erase or cover up where we have scars or blemishes. We highlight them in gold, and we celebrate them as symbols of our strength and resilience.

Kintsugi is called the golden repair, and in essence, we can see beauty in something that's perfectly imperfect. During this series, I plan to speak to at least two people in each state and the District of Columbia, so 102 conversations with real folk, as I like to say. We're gonna let the celebrities and the big influencers have their day somewhere else, but here I wanna reach out and talk to real people and listen to their reflections as they think about America turning 250 years old.

And my hope is, is that you'll tune in to at least one, if not all 102, 'cause my theory going into this is that you'll hear different perspectives. Some may be aligned with yours, others may not. But my hope is that you hear the goodness in your fellow citizens and realize, as Maya Angelou shared with us, "We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike."

We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike. I've had the privilege of traveling all over the world and all over this country, and this belief is something that I hold deep inside of me. So yes, I do believe that we are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike. So if you're ready to get to know one of your fellow neighbors who is perfectly imperfect like all of us, take a healthy breath in and a slow releasing breath out and get to know Dr.

Mike Roizen. Mix in.

Dr. Mike, thanks for joining me here on A Perfectly Imperfect Union. How are you doing today? 

I'm doing great other than, uh, ragweed season has hit, so- Oh ... that times us and I'm, uh, not doing as well for that. Let me just close the door behind me for a second. 

No problem. So, uh, well, I'm excited that you accepted a random outreach by some guy on LinkedIn.

Uh, I've had a chance to look into your work, uh, excellent work and excellent ripple effect that you're putting into our nation and the world. But for those that don't know you, can you take a moment to introduce yourself? And, uh, where are you calling from? What state in this beautiful country of ours?

I'm in, uh, just outside Cleveland, Ohio. Um, I am a physician, um, written four number one New York Times bestsellers, nine top 10 bestsellers. Um, and, uh, all to motivate patients and to tell them their options in, uh, choosing to be healthier. Um, the, I'm, I'm both trained in anesthesia and internal medicine and, uh, see patients a couple days a week in both executive health and wellness here at the Cleveland Clinic.

Um, I've, uh- As, as, uh, I'm a scientific nerd, so, um- ... I'm, uh, I trained in a period where there weren't ICU training programs, so I wanted to do both anesthesia and internal medicine. I was running an ICU when I got drafted to run cardiac anesthesia, and, uh, when I looked at what the, uh, surgeons wanted, they wanted return of their patients faster to care- to, uh, normal life.

And so when I looked at the data from, uh, California, where I was at UCSF, um, it was, uh, that, um, the thing that mattered most wasn't heart or lung or liver or kidney function, but it was, uh, actual, uh, physiologic age. And so that started me on a, uh, campaign or to find out what mattered towards your rate of aging, and then how you can control it in, uh, over what initially was a two-week period surrounding operations, but now is, uh, your entire life.

And that started RealAge, um, which was the first of the number one New York Times bestsellers, and a series that, uh, have happened since then. 

Nice. Well, we live in a big country, and not everyone's been to the great state of Ohio. My youngest daughter happens to live in Columbus, so not too far of a drive from where you are.

About two hours. 

Yeah, two hours. Uh, we've been there a couple times, uh, drive up to Cleveland to visit the sites. But, but for those that don't know Ohio or they might not know Cleveland or may be from afar, what's something that's really special about the state that people might not know about? 

The state has a lot of rural and camping areas.

It's the largest, I believe, egg producer in the nation, and one of the largest, um, corn producers. It is also, um, has, uh, five main cities. Um, you know of Columbus. There's also Cincinnati, uh, with Procter & Gamble and Western & Southern Life, and, uh, Cleveland, um, with, uh, Cleveland Akron with, uh, Goodyear and, uh, if you will, Forest City Enterprises, and a number of, uh, major things.

One of the unique things about Cleveland, in addition to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and, uh, the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, is in fact, um, that our art museum is one of the top 10 in the world, and it is free to everyone forever because they recruited funds, um, from, uh- Families in Cleveland, a generous community, uh, to endow it so that there was no entry fees forever.

The second unique thing is our Cleveland orchestra is always rated in the top five, as is the institution at which I work at, the Cleveland Clinic. Um, the, uh... So great medical care, great arts, um, in an industrial city. Um, we have three sports teams in Cleveland, another three in, uh, Cincinnati, and a couple in Columbus that are pros.

Uh, and the, uh, as well as a whole bunch of, uh, minor league teams which make it very affordable. We're on Lake Erie. Our beaches are basically free. 

I love it. Like, well, hey, if this, uh, healthcare thing doesn't work out for you, the, the Chamber of Commerce for the state of Ohio might wanna hire you, so that's pretty good.

Uh, it's a good commercial for the state. That's awesome. 

Well, it's actually a wonderful state. It is, in fact, I don't know if it's officially, uh, said, but, um, I think we're going to be named number one for business, uh, by CNBC. 

All right. Well, congratulations. That's a great accomplishment in its own right.

So, uh, so I've been asking people in this series as we've trav- I've traveled around the US what America means to them. So how would you respond? 

Um, America, at least to me, means that there's a, a freedom of opportunity. That is that if you wanna work hard and if you wanna, um, spend time getting educated, uh, you can, uh, as, um, if you will, Obama arise from a family that lived in the south side of Chicago to be President of the United States.

Yes. 

Or, um, you can, as one of my neighbors in Cleveland who came from Japan because he couldn't find-- he couldn't do entrepreneurship in Japan, he started a company in Cleveland and is now the president of Toshiba Canon USA, and brought them from LA to Cleveland. And as a sidelight, he's also ch- was chairman of the Ohio State, uh, Board of, uh, Directors.

Um, so someone who didn't know anything about football, um, now gets to celebrate, uh, celebrated twice the national championship when he was chair of the board. 

Yeah, that's so good. Well, my two daughters are, will be going to the Buckeyes' first home game uh, next Saturday. So, uh, so, uh, w- they're, they're excited, they're excited to see the Ohio State Buckeyes in action, and that's a great story.

My first job out of college was with the Canon Corporation, so a little tie to him. So that's a great, great story. So I, I, the, I've also been asking folks if they know much about their family's origin story to America. W- you know, ob- obviously we are a country with immigration stories. Uh, some families have been here long before it was known as the US.

Some families were forced here through slavery. Do you know, Dr. Mike, much about your family's origin story? 

Half of my family's from Lithuania. 

Okay. 

In fact, there's a person named Heidi Roizen, who was the chief development person at Apple for a number of years, and she Googled me after Real Age came out and became a number one New York Times bestseller and said, "How come you have more uh, citations than I do.

Um, it turns out we lived-- Her, her grandparents and my grandparents lived on the same street in Lithuania. So we don't know whether they were related at all 'cause we can't find that out. But in any case, um, uh, half of my family's from Lithuania, half from Romania. They met, met in France. Um, they stayed at Ellis Island in the name R-O-I-G-E-N-S.

As you remember, a G is like that, got turned into a Z. And so I went from Roigen, Roigen to Roizen, um, in Ellis Island, and, uh, they then, uh, settled in Buffalo. I lived in Buffalo for 17 years, and then San Francisco for 17, and then Chicago for 17, with, uh, three in Bethesda and a couple in Boston in between.

All right. I knew you were the right guy to connect with because there was something about your vibe, Dr. Mike, that told me that there was some Western New York roots. I grew up in Rochester, so, um, you know, that, that part of the country from Syracuse over to C- Cleveland into Ohio, g- good people, good kind- Yeah

people 

and- In fact, I'm giving a, a talk October 7th, uh, in Rochester for, uh, 350 people interested in health. 

All right. Oh, well, if I'm up there, I might, um... I'm not sure if I'm the target audience, but I might wanna swing by and, uh, take a, take a listen. My dad's still up there. He just turned 90 a couple weeks ago, so.

Oh, 

congratulations. 

Yeah. So he's, uh, he's doing it. So I know, uh, through the lens of today, we, we feel divided. Uh, we might be literally divided in some perspectives, but still there are moments where we feel really connected to each other. You know, e- even though we might be in a group of people that have, um, a wide range of different perspectives.

What are those moments for you where you feel like, "Oh yeah, I am part of, uh, uh, the US. I'm connected to my fellow neighbor or to my colleague in a, uh, in a special way, even though we might disagree on some, some finer points or some bigger directional points"? 

Yeah. I belong to several, um, clubs where most of the members are on a different part of the political spectrum, um, if you will, in voting than I am.

Yet, um, we all talk, we all share opinions, um, and, uh, the, um, although they vote differently than I do, we actually both need a middle, a third political, um, group that's in, that represents the 60 or 70% of us in the middle rather than dividing into two extremes. 

Sure. 

So, uh, the, um, the message is, um, many of us feel, and I think if you polled the people at, um, both of those groups That, uh, we don't have a decent set of candidates now because the primary system, um, at least in the majority of the states, has moved people to the extremes.

Mm-hmm. 

And, uh, we feel we need, uh, a, a Joe Manchin in the middle of the road. Okay. I hear you. Um, you know, I, I met, um, uh, Albert Ratner and I, a good friend, met with Joe Manchin and, uh, um, his daughter, um, when they were speaking in 2020, early in 2023, I believe it was. Um, and r- and both... We, we implored him to run for president.

The next day, to show you how effective we are, the next day he announced he was not running for president and would never. And, and, uh, and wouldn't at that time anyway. So you can see how much political weight I have. 

Yeah, yeah. You're throwing your weight around. That's awesome. That's a great story. A great story.

Zero weight. 

Yes, absolutely. 

100% negative. 

Yeah. Well, I, one of the, the metaphor I use for this series that I'm calling A Perfectly Imperfect Union is the Japanese art form of Kintsugi, where pottery breaks and they're able to put it back together, and they highlight the fracture points with gold, and it becomes the golden repair, and it creates symbols of our strength and resilience.

So when you think about, like, how we might be divided in s- in certain aspects of our culture, is there something that you would like to focus your attention on? And it could be just the work that you're currently doing that can help us, uh, reconnect and heal and possibly grow from that in that Kintsugi spirit.

Yeah. Uh, 20% of American costs are healthcare. At the Cleveland Clinic by, uh, our, the wellness program I instituted as chair of the Wellness Institute, and with obviously the great help of our CEO and a whole mess of people, wasn't just me. We decreased our costs for our employee, 101,000 employees and dependents, by 38%, 190 million a year.

Um, if you did that for the United States, you'd save, um, if you figure 40% of, uh, um, 20% would be, um, about 8%, and that would allow us to, uh, on the federal level, if you did it for, uh, the federal government employees as well as Medicare, Medicaid, and the Department of Defense, you would save a little over a trillion dollars a year So the point of that is that we can do that.

We're about to get a revolution in aging with an 80% probability. It isn't 100%. Real age was about how you-- young can you be, and we can be about 30 years younger than our average calendar age, meaning at 80 you could be about 50 and e- pretty easily 60 by, uh, stress management, posse, purpose, and play, food choices, portion size, and timing, the four components of physical activity, avoiding unforced errors, sleep, and brain wellness.

And if you do that, um, you can, uh, not only live longer, but live at least till 2033, at which point we'll know within seven years whether one of the 14 areas that has broken through in animals to change their rate of aging and reverse it, not slow it, but actually make you younger than your kids, um, breaks through with humans.

Wow. 

Six of those 14 have now entered human trial. Imagine this, if you're gonna live 25 years longer, you're going to work 10 or 15 years longer 'cause you're not wanting to get bored. If everyone who average retired at 61, which is the average retirement area-- age in the United States now, worked till 71, we would eliminate our budget deficit and we'd be able to pay for a lot of the social programs we now care about And believe it or not, if they worked 15 years, we'd be able to reduce the tax rate overall.

So there's a tremendous benefit in longevity if we get there, and with personal responsibility, we all can get about to working, we all can live about till 90 now with the quality of life we had at 55 or 60. So the matter is, can we motivate ourselves to do it? And if longevity comes in, um, will we accept it and be able to retrain ourselves to work two, three, or four different, if you will, occupations or job sets, um, and, uh, still have a life of abundance?

And so I think the answer is there's more-- there's an 80% chance with 14 shots on goal that we're going to make a huge aging revolution where 50 will be the new 90. 

That is one of the best cases for longevity, like the arguments that I've, uh, I've heard, 'cause I've heard a, a lot about like living longer, but it always seems to land like, I just wanna live longer c- because there's, you know...

'Cause I wanna live longer. 

You wanna live longer, younger. Yes. Younger for longer, and, uh, that's what's in the Great Age Reboot book, um, which was the last book we wrote, the 14 areas and what you can do to prepare for it, both financially as well as, uh, physically and mentally. 

So I have a WHOOP on, and WHOOP will tell me what my biolo- okay, biological age is according to WHOOP.

Yeah. So when you think of- It's very bad. I'm, I don't wanna criticize WHOOP- 

Yeah ... 

um, but it's a very poor, um... If WHOOP were smart, they'd get in touch with me or someone who knows what real age is all about, or actual age, 'cause they have a very bad calculation system. Nothing personal against WHOOP. I obviously wear one, um, and, uh, it's useful for some things, but their a- their age calculations are incompetent at best.

So the reha- So the reason why I brought this, this question up is, is there, um, do you have a preferred way of measuring? 

Yeah. The, the, the real age, um, is on 75 million phones in the United States, 45 million worldwide. Um, and you can... It's at sharecare.com, realage.com, or the simpler version is actual age, um, and actual age is at four, the number four, younggevity.com, and it's a much more accurate prediction of disability and death 

All right 

It's got receiver operant curves on the first 10 million people we did it on, um, independently verified by scientists from the University of California San Diego, totally independent of me and the company, have shown that it's, has the best receiver operant curves of any measure.

Good to know. Good to know. Well, I'm gonna check that out myself once we get done with our conversation here. And what I've been doing, Dr. Mike, has been asking the person in front of you, the person I just chatted with, if they have a question for the next guest in our series, and in turn, you get to ask a question of the next person I chat with a little bit later on this afternoon.

So I just spoke with Robert. He is down in Melbourne, Florida, served in our military, and, uh, does a lot of leadership development now. His question is, what do you see as the biggest opportunity in front of you right now? 

We're working with a number of uh, if you will, both advisors and politicians to try and get preventive care as a major component and incentivize people, um, in rural communities to get healthier as we believe.

There's a rural community, so, um, I'm meeting with, uh, a candidate from Florida for the governorship, um, and a candidate for in Ohio. Um, and my book co-writing partner is, has been Mehmet Oz. So I, I believe that, um, his rural health initiative, that $50 billion initiative, a billion dollars to each state over five years roughly, um, is intended to help people live younger, longer, and to reduce the cost of the system.

Um, one of the initiatives he's had, obviously the Bridge program, $50 a month for Medicare recipients with Part D, um, free to Medicaid, um, changes the rate of aging dramatically since almost a lot of our aging in America is due to obesity, especially in the middle and south of the country, and to drug usage, and the GLP-1s, um, decrease, uh, both of those, uh, desires.

Yes. Yeah. And so what question do you have for the next person I chat with? It can be about really anything. 

So who is the next person you're gonna chat with? 

So I'm gonna speak to Beatrice, uh, from New Jersey, and so she is a, uh, like myself, a mindfulness practitioner. Um, by training I'm a meditation teacher.

Uh, so she's, uh, works in healthcare, uh, on the, in the pharma side of the business. And so, uh- 

So my question for Beatrice is what is she doing to spread her health message and mindfulness message across the state of New Jersey. 

All right. 

And could she do more, and what would it take? 

All right. I will definitely ask her that in about two hours when I sit down with her.

So Dr. Mike, I'm glad we were able to make this happen. Um, and so thanks for the flexibility. And, uh, this was great, and- This 

has been one of the most fun interviews I've ever been on- ... out of probably 1,000 a year. 

All right. Well, I'll take that, I'll take that compliment. Thank you so much, and I, I appreciate the ripple effect that you're putting into the world and just trying to get us to focus more on our, our health.

You know, it's one of those things that we take for granted until we lose it, and then we would trade almost anything to regain it. 

Yeah. The idea is, you know, the insurance companies don't give me much grief 'cause in the last 10 years I've only had three patients having to be hospitalized other than for knee or hip replacement.

And, uh, other than that, um, the goal is to, uh, keep people out of the hospitals as much as possible, um, and out of needing medical care until they're ready to, uh, you know, it should be a, a drop-off into death, if you will- 

Yeah. Yes, yes ... 

at, at after age 110. 

Yeah. I, I, I like what you're putting down. So thank you again, Dr.

Mike, for joining me here, and, um, uh, be well. Uh, I so appreciate you. 

Thank you. I appreciate what you've done.

I so love Dr. Mike. I knew he had a little Western New York vibe to him. And the really cool thing, when we first connected on video, he was doing his walking treadmill desk. So this guy literally walks his talk, and I'll put the resources he referenced in our show notes so you can check them out for yourself.

And I love his question to Beatrice. How is she doing her work? How is sh- how could she do it at even a grander scale? Love it all. It's a good question to sit with. So I'll encourage you to sit with that question as well. The thing that you do, how could you do it a bit better so more people know about it?

Let me know in the comments section. And as always, thanks for listening as we reflect on America at year 250. And don't forget to celebrate your scars as golden symbols of our strength and resilience. And don't forget to have fun storming the castle.

And if you wish to learn more about creating beautiful ripples and how to prevent a bad moment from turning into a bad day, please visit my website, michaelobrienshift.com, and sign up for my newsletter called The Ripple Effect. And join us each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday here at Whole Again, and discover how you can heal, grow, and become more resilient, and celebrate our scars as golden symbols of strength and resilience.

Until then, remember, you can always come back to your breath. You've got this, and we've got you.

Key Takeaways