On Purpose with Jay Shetty - Dr Mike ON: COVID 19 Latest Updates & Best Practices To Stay Healthy & Safe

Episode Date: April 3, 2020

Dr. Mikhail Varshavski, known on social media as “Dr. Mike”, breaks down COVID-19 with Jay Shetty, giving viewers evidence and information people can actually use and understand in this special episode of ON Purpose. As a doctor first and a YouTube sensation second, Dr. Mike talks about his passion for family medicine and how his calling as a doctor has always taken precedence over fame. Watch the entire episode to learn practical ways to stay safe and healthy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi, I'm David Eagleman. I have a new podcast called Inner Cosmos on I Heart. I'm going to explore the relationship between our brains and our experiences by tackling unusual questions. Like, can we create new senses for humans? So join me weekly to uncover how your brain steers your behavior, your perception, and your reality. Listen to Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman on the IHAR radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Regardless of the progress you've made in life, I believe we could all benefit from wisdom on handling common problems, making life seem more manageable, now more than ever. I'm Eric Zimmer, host of the One-E-Feed podcast,

where I interview thought-provoking guests who offer practical wisdom that you can use to create the life you want. 25 years ago, I was homeless and addicted to heroin. I've made my way through addiction recovery, learned to navigate my clinical depression, and figured out how to build a fulfilling life. The One-E-Feed has over 30 million downloads

and was named one of the best podcasts by Apple Podcast. Oprah Magazine named this is one of 22 podcasts to help you live your best life. You always have the chance to begin again and feed the best of yourself. The trap is the person often thinks they'll act once they feel better. It's actually the other way around. I have had over 500 conversations with world-renowned experts and yet I'm still striving to be better. It's actually the other way around. I have had over 500 conversations with world-renowned experts and yet I'm still striving to be better. Join me on this journey. Listen to the one you feed on the I Heart Radio App Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. The therapy for Black Girls Podcast is your space to explore mental health, personal development, and all of the small decisions we can make to become the best possible

versions of ourselves. I'm your host, Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, a licensed psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia, and I can't wait for you to join the conversation every Wednesday. Listen to the therapy for Black Girls podcast on the iHort Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Take good care. If you are gonna be around other people like going grocery shopping,

you're part of the essential workforce, the recommendation is to say six feet apart. That six feet is also really arbitrary. You know, we've seen studies where sneezes and coughs travel further than that. And that's why someone asks in my video, if can I have a party in my house and just make sure everyone stays six feet apart?

No, because that six feet apart again is an arbitrary number that we've created that we feel sort of safe with if you have to go out. You don't have to have a party in your house. That's not something you have to do to survive, so don't do it. Hey everyone, welcome back to on purpose. Thank you so much for joining us today. I'm so excited because I'm about to dive into a conversation with an individual that I wanted

to speak to for a long time. We're trying to get them on the podcast and trying to get our schedules to align. But we found that COVID-19 was a time for us where we could actually really get together, have this conversation, a really important one, get it out to you right now as well, and you already know the guest is because you saw it on the link, but his name is none other than Dr. Michael Vershovsky or commonly known and famously known as Dr. Mike. Now, Dr. Mike is a multi-faceted board certified family medicine physician, media personality, educator, writer, and philanthropist. Emigrating from Russia to New York at the age of six, Dr. Mike grew up to pursue his medical

degree at the New York Institute of Technology. And this is the crazy thing about Dr. Mike. If you don't know who he is, wherever you've been first, but if you do know him, you already know. But if you haven't, his video is phenomenal. He's busting medical myths, giving us real insight. He made his fun and entertaining. I love watching him react to memes about doctors and medical memes.

And so the one and only Dr. Mike, thank you so much for joining us today, man. Thank you so much for that warm introduction. I mean, especially coming from you, I've been such a big fan for a long time that it's crazy to hear my name come out from your mouth, especially hearing all those kind of words afterwards. I very much appreciate that. Absolutely, man.

When I meet you, I had no idea you knew who I was. I was just a secret fan, too. So we were just talking to each other. I was blown away by what you were doing because I think you do it in a philous way. I really feel like you're intentions in the right relationship, really trying to help people. And I think people really need your voice.

And that's why when I was thinking about who I wanted to speak to as a medical professional about COVID-19 and the challenges we're going through, I felt you were the perfect person. Because I think you're great at understanding what's happening, being really honest and transparent, and then helping us understand what that practically actually do. So thank you, Andrew.

I think a lot of my strengths come in the fact that I'm a family medicine physician, first and foremost, I've never given that up, despite all the time that I've put into social media, I still work half the week seeing patients in my practice. So I know not only what to expect from a practical standpoint because I'm in that field, but also on the media side of things,

to hear what patients are getting from the news. They're constantly getting outbreak warnings, numbers don't at them, and you can get quite scary. So I like to tone some of that anxiety down by arming them with quality information. Evidence and information they could actually use because you know it's not so helpful to hear that. Oh, when we did studies, we found that this virus can survive in the air for 2.8 hours. What does that mean? What should I do with that information? So I like to bring it back all to a practical

standpoint, how I would explain it to a patient sitting in front of me, and I've been luckily doing this for five million people at home through my YouTube channel. Yeah, it's insane. So that's why I was just about to say to everyone, when you talk about balancing two worlds, we already know that doctors have incredibly active lives, and then Dr. Mike has over 413 million views and five million subscribers on his YouTube channel

and another like three and a half million people that follow him on Instagram as well. I mean, I'm going to start off with a very creator question, but, but, genuine, how do you balance those two worlds? Because you know how hard it is and tough it is to be a creator, someone who's creating content and in that world, and then you're a doctor and you're other like, how do you find that balance? That's like, that's some serious work. It's tough. I think what makes it a little easier for me despite what most people think is these fields

have a lot of income. So I think being a YouTube creator and a doctor, there's nothing there that goes hand in hand. But in reality, I think both of these careers help me be better in their respective fields. So for example, if I'm doing research on a YouTube video about a condition like diabetes or prostate cancer, that research that I'm doing is also going to make my life easier as a physician when I'm talking about it with my patients.

When I'm in my medical practice and I'm treating a patient, I'm getting a sense for what questions they may have. What language do I need to use? So they actually understand what I'm talking about. So it's essentially I'm practicing with them for my YouTube videos, getting the research from the YouTube videos that I'm using there and bringing it to my patients. So really it helps that both of these fields are actually compatible with one another. I think when you're going to the field of social media or media in general as a doctor, it's very easy to make a misstep. Say the wrong thing, take the money from the wrong company, corrupt your ethics, it's very easy to do so.

But I went into this saying that I'm a doctor first. That's always been my passion. That's why I went through 10 years of education in order to get here. And I wasn't interested in being a mega star. Because of that, I was able to turn down everything that could have derailed my journey. And now that we've come here to a point like this, where COVID-19 is such a scary time for everyone in the world. And somehow, this young doctor, who is not from an ID league school, I'm not a double- board certified cardiothoracic surgeon or a leader of an institution.

I'm a primary care physician. I'm a family medicine doctor who cares about his patients who has learned how to communicate the message of medicine to his patients. And now I'm able to share it with the world, getting four or five million views on COVID-19 videos where CNN, Fox News, ABC News aren't getting that kind of notoriety. Well, that's what I'm seeing. And you've interviewed Dr. Fauci as well. You've been speaking to, you are one of the spokesperson in this conversation, in the

conversation very much. As you said, CNN, now this, Dr. Fauci directly who's leading the task force at the CDC. Like, that's what I'm so... And impressed is the wrong word. I'm just, I'm just really happy it's you. And I'm really happy with the way and the way you're going about it. That's so grateful to share your message and share this message with my audience today, because I think you're an incredible messenger and I think you're the right person to hear

it from. So I think a good learning point. Well, first of all, I'm very grateful for what you're saying. But I think a good point as a takeaway for the audience from this is to see that if you do something you're truly passionate about, there's many people who are going to be your naysayers. But if you have good reasons for whatever it is you're doing, it's really important to push through that negativity.

Because of how many times I was told on different rotations or on clinical sites that, wow, you're so good at this or you have good hands on a billy, why don't you do something different than family medicine? You won't make a lot of money in family medicine. I said, who cares about the money?

This is about passion. This is about if you're good at what you do and you love what you do, you will find success irregardless of money because that's not the ultimate barometer for success, at least when we look at psychological research and you're obviously one of the main people speaking about this online, but it's something I truly believe in. So I think first and foremost, you have to find something you're good at, develop a passion for it, and then all the levels of success,

whether it's finance, friendships, passions, all that will come later, but you need to get that good foundation set up first. I'm Dr. Romani, and I am back with season two of my podcast, Navigating Narcissism. Narcissists are everywhere, and their toxic behavior in words can cause serious harm to your mental health.

In our first season, we heard from Eileen Charlotte, who was loved by the Tinder Swindler. The worst part is that he can only be guilty for stealing the money from me, but he cannot be guilty for the mental part he did. And that's even way worse than the money he took. But I am here to help. As a licensed psychologist and survivor of narcissistic abuse myself, I know how to identify

the narcissists in your life. Each week you will hear stories from survivors who have navigated through toxic relationships, gaslighting, love bombing, and the process of their healing from these relationships. Listen to navigating narcissism on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Not too long ago, in the heart of the Amazon Rainforest, this explorer stumbled upon something that would change his life. I saw it and I saw, oh wow, this is a very unusual situation. It was cacao. The tree that gives us chocolate.

But this cacao was unlike anything experts had seen, or tasted. I've never wanted us to have a gun bite. I mean, you saw this tax of cash in our office. Chocolate sort of forms this vortex. It sucks you in. It's like I can be the stacks of cash in her office. Chocolate sort of forms this vortex. It sucks you in. It's like I can be the queen of wild chocolate. We're all lost. It was madness. It was a game changer.

People quit their jobs. They left their lives behind, so they could search for more of this stuff. I wanted to tell their stories, so I followed them deep into the jungle, and it wasn't always pretty. Basically, this like disgruntled guy and his family surrounded the building armed with machetes. And we've heard all sorts of things that, you know, somebody got shot over this.

Sometimes I think, oh, all these for a damn bar of chocolate. Listen to obsessions while chocolate on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Danny Shapiro, host of Family Secrets. It's hard to believe we're entering our eighth season. And yet, we're constantly discovering new secrets. The depths of them, the variety of them, continues to be astonishing. I can't wait to share ten incredible stories with you,

stories of tenacity, resilience, and the profoundly necessary excavation of long-held family secrets. When I realized this is not just happening to me, this is who and what I am. I needed her to help me. Something was gnawing at me that I couldn't put my finger on, that I just felt somehow that there was a piece missing. Why not restart? Look at all the things that were going wrong. I hope you'll join me and my extraordinary guests for this new season of Family Secrets. Listen to season 8 of Family Secrets on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

you'll get your podcasts. just a fascinating individual and person and just the honor I like to give to the guests that come on the podcast. I wanted to hear him a bit more about him too. I want to, you've worked 10 years to become a medical professional, you've worked so hard. What made you feel so driven to turn that into content? Why was that so important to you? Because like you said, it wasn't like you dreamed of being a mega star or any of this stuff, but why did you stop? What was your first video and why?

Yeah, I think it's, I adapted well to my circumstances. When I was in medical school, I wanted to show people that you can have a healthy medical life, meaning go to medical school, do your residency while still being with your friends, your family, going events. And I just posted casually on Instagram and my following grew to a few hundred thousand people. Now it was a big deal to me, the fact that people cared about a young guy becoming a doctor.

And then when I was already a physician during my intern year, I had a little moment of fame. It's funny, I used to call it a viral moment, but during COVID-19, I don't think we should be saying viral any more than we need to do. Yeah. And a lot of websites and news outlets started sharing my story, COVID-19, I don't think we should be saying viral anymore than we need to. And a lot of websites and news outlets started sharing my story, but they weren't sharing the fact that I was the youngest doctor in my hospital, that I've done research, that I'm really interested in primary care, and I want to talk about prevention. It was the hot doctor angle.

And I initially viewed out with a lot of skepticism, because as a good doctor, you should be a healthy skeptic not so much as cynic So I didn't want to shut down that opportunity and I said okay, well wait What if I go on these television shows and while they say the hot doctor thing or they use that as the tagline to get people watching But then what people are watching we tell them about how they can take care of their mental health How can they can make lifestyle changes that can be even more important than taking a medication? And I basically used that as a springboard to launch my media career. I had no media training, I had no idea what I was doing. I took it one day at a time, one opportunity at a time, with my ultimate goal being, I want to educate as many people as possible

as a doctor because that's what we do in our exam. Yes, we treat patients, but a big part of it is education. So I thought if I can go from educating 30, 40 people a day in my practice and then grow it to a million people in social media, that's amazing. I mean, social media is the ultimate democratic tool. We can now publish the millions of people without answering to a network, a CEO, nobody. It's just to ourselves, it's to our moral compass. So I launched my YouTube channel saying,

I don't like the media that's out there. I don't like the media stories that are being covered in medicine. I don't feel they're being covered honestly. I feel like it's about getting clicks, buzz. It's about detox cleanses, supplements that are gonna cure everything that ails you. And it really bothered me that we as doctors

go through all this training, we wanna help people. And then I see all this information that we're giving to patients, and their attention goes to, oh, there's a pill that can make all this go away, and I don't need to exercise. It doesn't exist. It just doesn't.

And I would watch the medical dramas, and I would get frustrated. I'm like, no, this is giving people the wrong idea of what it's like to be a doctor. Or this is not like what it happens in hospitals. And then what do you know? I did it on YouTube doing that exact same thing and people fell in love with that concept.

So I went on social media to be myself, to further my goal of educating people, and luckily, worked out. I didn't know it was going to work out. I had no special abilities to make this happen. But luckily, putting yourself out there being honest, that's the best approach. Absolutely, man. I can relate to so much of what you're saying, apart from the coming doctor, that just the idea of you're not knowing where it's going to go. You're starting one day at

a time, you're figuring it out, finding your space. But the thing that really resonates with me now, and I've seen those videos of you comparing, a real doctor's life versus the movie doctor. I think it's brilliant. What I love about that is that it's so easy to sit on the fence and complain that people aren't giving the right advice and complain to include stores.

But what I love is that YouTube responsibility is, hey, I am a doctor. And I'm actually going to go on the same platform, and I'm going to share messages that I think are useful with people, because I think it's easy to sit on the sidelines and be like, well, I'm a really, you know, I've got the status of being a doctor, and I'm just going to sit there and criticize people

who are giving bad advice or whatever it is, but here you are actually stepping up. So that's great, man. And I think there's like, I think there's like two factors that play in there that I think people should know about. And part of it is, I hate the idea of politics, where you come and you just say, oh, this is horrible

without actually giving any kind of meaningful feedback. I see that frequently in the medical community when we talk about vaccines. Look, we know vaccines work. We know they save lives. We know the benefits outweigh the harms. But now, when a patient comes in and they have a stance but maybe not getting all of their vaccines,

the traditional response from the medical community was get them out of your practice. Tell them that unless they get their vaccines, they have to get out. Or if someone says on television, we call them a cuck or an anti-vaxxer, naming them that, excluding them does not help. It's not a practical approach to getting them

to change their minds. And I spent a lot of my young career in studying the foundation of influence. And I thought, as a doctor, you have to be a good influencer. And it's funny that we call ourselves influencers on social media, but I think doctors need to do more of this influencing.

Not to just say, oh, you should exercise, you should move away, you should do this. That doesn't help anybody. Yes, they should, but if they don't, don't just call them obese or fat and say they're lazy, figure out what their barrier is. How can you help them? Is it about motivating them and saying some really strong words to them? Or perhaps this person needs a little different approach. They don't have enough money to join a gym. Perhaps you can find them a community program. And as a holistic osteopathic physician,

that's part of what I do. It's not enough to just give someone a diagnosis and a treatment or walk away. It's about understanding, their understanding of the diagnosis. It's about understanding the feasibility of the treatment for this person sitting in front of you. What also are they going through in their lives that they may not be compliant with this treatment? So it goes so much further than that. And piggybacking on the influencer subject,

doctors are afraid of being labeled influencers or marketers. They think it's somehow a knock on their professionalism. That if they go on television, that's somehow corrupting their medical ethics. Well, it's only corrupting your medical ethics. If you let it do that, if you go on television, that's somehow corrupting their medical ethics. Well, it's only corrupting your medical ethics if you let it do that. If you go on television and you take a sponsorship from a watch company, what does that have to do with your medical ethics? That allows you to get better quality equipment, to send a message to a bigger audience, to motivate you to continue doing this, to take care of your family, to grow your practice. I don't think we need to be afraid of being marketers. I think we just need to be marketers for the right things like good quality evidence

based medicine and understanding of the human sitting directly in front. I love that man. Well said, well said. So let's dive into what I really want to speak about today. And again, I can't wait to we actually get to me in person and I get to the studio and we get to do this again from a different perspective. But I know that there are so many questions right now that my audience has. And this is what I like to do too, that when it comes to a area that I'm not a medical expert,

I want to bring in someone who can actually ask those questions effectively. So what I did is we went and got a long list of questions for my audience, some of them are going to be super simple and basic for you, but I think it's important to address them and otherwise the points will get into it. So, the first question that I have here is what are the biggest myths or mistakes we're making around COVID-19 right now? I think that's really worrying people. There's misinformation,

and I know you've done so much work on this. You made a lot of great content. So often this is highly recommend everyone goes and watches more of Doc to Mike's videos, but on that question, my word you said. I think especially with the audience that I have, I feel that young people feel they're immune to this virus because we consistent here on media that this virus primarily affects those over the age of 60 or compromised immune systems. And while the majority of cases that's true, it doesn't mean that by being 20, 30 years old you're immune from this virus. Absolutely not. There are healthy 30-year-old doctors nurses who have lost their lives because of this virus. And on top of that, by you potentially taking

the risk and going out and not socially distancing yourself, you're actually serving as a vector to continue the spread of this virus and potentially cost lives for people who can protect themselves, like those who are of older age or haven't compromised immune systems. So my message to those who are young is let's not be selfish. Let's think about others and figure out how we can protect them, but also understand that this virus can easily affect you and your family. Yeah, great one.

Is there any other myths to a mistake do you think we're making around? Yeah, I think also as far as media and politicians goes, we're making a lot of missteps in how we're educating the public. When we think we need to constantly update numbers and give media flashes of outbreak, news alert flash, like it's not necessary. In fact, what my latest video that I put out today, I encourage

people to not look at the news more than once a day, or perhaps even every other day, because those numbers can fuel so much anxiety just by the way it's presented. So with the politicians and the median mind, I'd love for them to get medical experts on. Allow people like Dr. Fauci to have the microphone more and more often so that they can explain to the audience what's happening, understand what we don't know about this virus, but at the same time explain what steps

we're taking to figure it out. Like the number one question I've been getting is when is this gonna end? And people start throwing out potential dates, April 7th, the East or this. We don't know, and we have to be honest, and we have to not be afraid to say, I don't know, but then say, what's our yards that gonna be

of when we're gonna start considering opening the country back up? So I really urge the media to tone down that alertness that's scary, like, oh my God god outbreak alert warning and make it more meaningful Let's put information out there. Let's not make it so political and Controversial about what China's doing longer what this party is doing. It's about medicine and in medicine It doesn't matter what race you are it doesn't matter if you've committed a crime or not We treat everybody and that's how we need to think about this situation

Yeah, it's great. I'm so great hearing you say that because I've been recommending a lot of similar things to people already checking the news once a day, so totally aligned with you on that. And I was telling people, just have the alerts set up for the place you live in, where your family lives, so that you're in knowledge and have the information you need, but you don't need to know what's happening halfway across the world. If it doesn't directly affect you right now, it's just safer for your mental health. So I'm glad we're gonna touch on mental health too. Another question that I think is super useful right now,

which is what you mentioned earlier, you were talking about how long COVID-19 lasts in an air space. And you were talking about how does that practice be effect? I think a lot of people right now wonder like, if I am at the grocery store, like how close can I get to someone when I bring groceries home? How much should I be washing them?

It's in fact, and what are the rules around being around people and objects and deliveries coming through your door? I love that the first few questions of this interview are literally the first three questions of the video I posted two hours ago. So that's awesome. Oh, yeah, that's great. This is a awesome, I'm answering the top questions. video I posted two hours ago. So that's great.

This is a lot of glad I'm answering the top questions. And I'm also very prepared. So the question that I get about the virus is if it's airborne, preliminary research says that it's not airborne. It's primarily spread through respiratory droplets, which is the find missed that you see people shoot off if they call for sneeze and they don't cover their mouth. Now those respiratory droplets, they're heavier than a virus that typically lives

in the air full-time. They actually end up falling to the ground. They have some hang time, but they end up falling to the ground. Now the research from the New England Journal of Medicine states that they hang around to a max time of three hours. What does that mean? That means we took a machine and we took very fine mist of this virus and we threw them in the air and we saw how long they hung

around. That doesn't mean that when someone practically breathes in an area, that the virus will be there long enough and in the amount that's necessary to infect someone else. So it's not enough just to say, oh, we found some genetic material three hours in the air. No, no, we did this in a contained, controlled temperature, humidity controlled environment with a very specific machine. And we found that there's some virus that hangs around. Whether or not that virus will infect you two, three hours online, we don't know. And in fact, from my professional experience,

I would say no. The main way this virus spreads is from someone directly coughing or sneezing on you, an area that you touch with your fingers and then make contact with your mouth, nose or eyes, and that's it. It's not about being worried that, oh, I entered a space that someone may have it. That's just going to be anxiety provoking. What is useful for you is to wash your hands so that you're not making contact with your face with dirty fingers. If you are gonna be around other people

like going grocery shopping, you're part of the essential workforce, the recommendation is to say six feet apart, but that six feet is also really arbitrary. You know, we've seen studies where sneezes and coughs travel further than that. And that's why someone asks in my video, if can I have a party in my house and just make sure everyone stays six feet apart?

No, because that six feet apart again is an arbitrary number that we've created, that we feel sort of safe with if you have to go out. You don't have to have a party in your house. That's not something you have to do to survive. So don't do it. And don't let the media scare you when they see the virus is airborne and lives for three hours. We don't know that yet. Again, coughs and seizes are the number one thing. So if you see someone sick, get as much space between you and them as possible. Our 20s are seen as this golden decade. Our time to be carefree, full in love, make mistakes, and decide what we want from our life. But what can psychology really teach us about this decade? I'm Gemma Speg, the host of the psychology of your 20s. Each week we take a deep dive into a unique

aspect of our 20s, from career anxiety, mental health, heartbreak, money, friendships, and much more to explore the science and the psychology behind our experiences, incredible guests, fascinating topics, important science, and a bit of my own personal experience. Audrey, I honestly have no idea what's going on with my life. Join me as we explore what our 20s are really all about. From the good, the bad, and the ugly, and listen along as we uncover how everything is psychology, including our 20s. The psychology of your 20s hosted by me, Gemma Speg.

Now streaming on the iHotRadio app, Apple podcasts, or whatever you get your podcasts. This is what it sounds like inside the box car. I'm journalist and I'm Wharton in my podcast, City of the Rails. I plunged into the dark world of America's railroads, searching for my daughter, Ruby, who ran off to hop train. I'm just like stuck on this train, not where I'm going to end up. And I jump. Following my daughter, I found a secret city of unforgettable characters living outside society off the grid and on the edge. I was in love with a lifestyle and the freedom

this community. No one understands who we truly are. The Rails made me question everything I knew about motherhood, history, and the thing we call the American dream. It's the last vestige of American freedom. Everything about it is extreme. You're either going to die, or you can have this incredible rebirth and really understand

who you are. Come with me to find out what waits for us in the city of the rails. Listen to city of the rails on the I Heart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Or cityoftherails.com. I'm Munga Shatekudar and, to be honest, I don't believe in astrology, but from the moment I was born, it's been a part of my life. In India, it's like smoking.

You might not smoke, but you're gonna get secondhand astrology. And lately, I've been wondering if the universe has been trying to tell me to stop running and pay attention. Because maybe there is magic in the stars if you're willing to look for it. So I rounded up some friends and we dove in and let me tell you, it got weird fast. Tantric curses, major league baseball teams, canceled marriages, K-pop! But just when I thought I had a handle on this sweet and curious show about astrology, my whole world can crash down. Situation doesn't look good, there is risk to father.

And my whole view on astrology? It changed. Whether you're a skeptic or a believer, I think your ideas are going to change too. Listen to Skyline Drive and the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm doing it in terms of grocery store items when people are bringing things back disinfecting, cleaning them. Yeah, but positive is what's the best way if it is? For sure, there was actually a video of a well-meaning doctor, which went viral. It was like 20 plus million views over a few days of him mentioning that you should wash your groceries with soap and water. Unfortunately, that's actually incorrect advice.

You shouldn't be putting soap on your produce or soaking them in soapy water because most of the fruits and vegetables are porous, which means that they absorb the soap. And then when you eat it, you could actually get gas show intestinal symptoms like nausea, vomiting, even diarrhea. So we don't recommend that. Running your produce under cold water will get rid of 90 to 99% of anything on there. And if there's a small amount that remains, the acid in your stomach is going to get rid of it. And we haven't seen numbers of people get infected by eating produce that someone may or may not have touched.

It's just something that's so low risk that it's not worth worrying about. Much how when we talk about phobias in medicine, like what's the definition of phobia versus something that's a true fear? Like if a bear walks into my room, I'm not having a phobia of this bear. I'm having a true fear.

Phobia is an over exaggerated response to this type of fear stimulus. Now, me being worried about whether or not I walk outside where someone may or may not have sneezed, that's entering the phase of phobia where we shouldn't be thinking or worrying about that because it gets less benefit than risk getting that inside. Right, so you actually said that sometimes we're warning about the wrong thing because I worry about being misplaced. Yeah, because in the world, there's so many things to worry about. You really have to do pros and cons list of each one. And when we're talking about how long the virus survives in the air, yes, that's useful scientific research. But for the average citizen who's

going to be spending minimal time outside, that's not the greatest risk to you. The greatest risks are those coughs and sneezes and touching your, touching optics with your hands, so keeping them clean. And that's all you should be worried about. And I was reading actually that I saw a piece that was about 47 people in New York having a house party and the police had to go and shut down the house party. Yeah. And I feel like there's still that belief, like you said, of the question that you were

asked, like, can we have a house party and stand six feet apart, or can we all be in the same space? Or I've been hearing from a few people here in LA that there are people getting invited to movie nights and games like in the same space, just undercover, like these undercover underground game nights movie nights have, people's hubs. But you're saying that for certain, is I know people should not be doing that. Yeah, we shouldn't be doing that.

I mean, if people have game nights every now and then, is it gonna change the trajectory of the virus on a big scale in the United States, probably not. But it's still not advisable because you're putting everyone at risk, as well as all the people that are gonna make contact with those people later on. And also, you mentioned that party in New York and 48 people.

I don't know who has a square footage in New York to be six feet apart, have 48 individuals in their apartment. I have a Singaporean. I don't think there is a real fine. That's a good point though. That's a very correct. Can you just tell me the real, this is something from me, and I'll go back to the questions in a moment. You know, you're going, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very,

very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very if people don't have a family member, that's a healthcare professional or someone who still has to go to work, it's hard to really comprehend where they sit. So a lot of us are staying home, but there's people like yourself and so many others have got cousins that are doctors and family members that are doctors, who are actually on the front lines. And some of them, you know,

my friend's sister is pregnant. She's a daughter and she's still very out on the front lines and helps serving. So tell us about what that really looks like and how hard it is and how tough it is. Yeah, I mean, it's incredibly hard. A lot of people say, how do you deal with the fear and anxiety of going out during a viral pandemic

like this and treating patients? And the reality, at least for myself, is I don't think about it. I think about my patients, I think about their families, and I think about how to help them as best as I can. That being said, there's doctors and nurses and all types of health professionals that are putting not only their lives on the line, we think about that, but also their families.

When they come home, they can be bringing this infection to their entire family. There's actually really heartfelt videos online of doctors that are coming home and still not hugging their children because they don't wanna get them sick. They have to sleep in separate bedrooms or even stay at hotels because they don't want to put their family at risk. And that's not an easy situation to go through.

I mean, to spend weeks apart from your family or to be disconnected during a time where you need moral support and social support, it's really hard. So I think anything you can do to just give a shout out to a healthcare professional, tell them, thank you for what they're doing, thank you for putting their lives on the line, especially, it's not even that there's a viral pandemic. Yes, that's one thing. But this is a viral pandemic with a huge personal

protective equipment shortage, where we don't have masks. I have a friend of mine that I trained with that works in the emergency room here in New York City who has to use the same N95 mask every single day when this is meant to be a disposable mask. This person is essentially saying, look, this is not ideal to protect me, but I'm still going to keep doing this because if I don't, we have no one to take care of locations. So this is really an unprecedented scenario where doctors are not only putting their lives

on the line because they're treating a virus, they're also doing it with subpar protection and subpar equipment, meaning we don't even have ventilator support. We have to decide which patient gets this ventilator. When have we tried too much and we have to now use the resources on another patient? That's really never happened in a city like New York. And part of that is we didn't know how bad this virus was gonna be. Part of it is political.

We didn't prepare as good as we can. And also the fact that it's such an infection's virus, but at the same time, not as fatal as the other viruses like SARS and MERS. This is actually, it's kind of a weird point to make, that because this virus isn't as lethal, it makes it more dangerous. That's a weird point of view, right? Because if this was a lethal virus and everyone who had it showed symptoms, you could easily

contain it and say, you're sick, you're sick. Oh, unfortunately, you lost your life, but now the virus is contained. Here we have a virus that's infecting millions of people across the globe very quickly. Some of them don't show any symptoms and are still walking around spreading it. And then the fatality rate is low, but then the hospitals are overwhelmed with a huge spike in patients because they happen so quickly. And our healthcare system just wasn't prepared for it. And honestly, I don't think it could have been prepared for something like this,

because if we constantly stocked our healthcare systems with 30, 40,000 masks to be used a day, that would be a tremendous spending of money that probably wouldn't be necessary. Yeah. And how can we help as the common person is not an healthcare professional? How can we help in our own ways, in our communities, in our towns, in our cities, how can we support a county support in anyone? Of course, I think first and foremost is the reach out, moral support, asking if you can help by mowing someone's lawn, take care of their family members, bring their children to meal, take them to their appointments.

Second is contact your local hospital and ask what supplies they need. The N95 masks that we've all been talking about, there are medical grade ones, but there's also ones that construction workers use. Painters use to not get the particles inhaled in their respiratory tract. Use those and donate them to your hospital systems so that a doctor can take care of a patient without putting themselves at risk. I think those are the three main ways we can, as ordinary citizens, get involved with our healthcare system. That's brilliant, man. That's really great advice, and thank you for sharing that, because I know that my audience and community

always wanting to help and support, and sometimes you just don't know where to start, so I think that's that's really good one. Okay, this was another question that came in, which I think really important to us is, if I've shown COVID-19 symptoms, and now I feel better, can I am I now immune from it, right? So it's like people who have had the experience, even they may have gone through it for four to five days, two days I had a lot of friends in London, actually, who we had a really unfortunate event

where we lost a really important person to a lot of us. A lot of people went to the funeral and the memorial and this was just before the quarantine and just before Britain and everywhere I started taking this really seriously and so they all went this memorial and the funeral literally like tons of people got it from that event. And so many of the people out there now does that mean that Dan now if you didn't slip it moving forward and can they still give it a way to people? How did that work? Yeah, there's two, there's almost two questions within that question. So first and foremost is if you had upper respiratory symptoms, like

let's say fever or cough or runny nose, does that mean you definitely had COVID-19? And the strong answer to that is no. In fact, when we test people, we find that 90% of people who have symptoms don't have COVID-19. There's so many other viruses that still are around that are not coronavirus, this specific novel coronavirus.

In fact, the traditional common cold, 30% of the time is caused by a different coronavirus, one that's been around for years. So you may have coronavirus, but not this coronavirus. Right. You may have the influenza virus. You may have the rhino virus, which also causes the common cold. So again, just because you had upper respiratory symptoms, this not mean you have COVID-19.

Now the next question is, if you had tested positive for COVID-19 and recovered, are you now immune to it? I asked this exact question to Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is part of the CDC task force on this, and him and I see eye to eye. When your body fights off a virus like this, it builds a lasting immunity. How long that immunity lasts,

meaning weeks, months, years, or a lifetime, we don't know the answer to that because the research is yet to be done. But we're confident that if you were to get it fully, fully recovered, that weeks down the line, you are very unlikely to get it again. There's always exceptions to the rule and there's going to be case studies that pop up. But the general rule here with viruses is once you get it, you're covered. Chickenpox, you get once in your life, not going to get it, you have lasting immunity.

If you get your two measles vaccines, 98% lifelong immunity. We think the same thing will happen with this virus. And when we look at this virus, since it started at the end of 2019, we see that it's not mutated rapidly. Like the influenza virus, it mutates. That's why it's so seasonal. This virus has shown a lot of stability, which means that if you got it, it's very unlikely that you'll get it again, so we're fairly confident on that. Right, that's good to hear. What was the most important thing you learned

from your conversation, Dr. Fauci? Because I know you've been a big proponent of making sure he gets more airtime and wanting his messes to be out there. What was the most important thing you learned from that conversation about this? My first question to him was, I think the most important thing you learned from that conversation about this? My first question to him was I think the most important because there's politicians saying we should all end social distancing, get back to work, boost the economy. Even President Trump mentioned

Easter as a potential time to return. And Dr. Anthony Fauci said this really great. He said, the virus does not have a timeline. It does what it wants. We have to monitor. We have to see how many people are getting sick. We have to see how many people are dying for it from the firm. We also have to see where in the United States, because the United States is large, where it's happening. And then, if you see an area that doesn't have a lot of virus in it, you start loosening restrictions in that area. Now, the naysayers, that will say, but what if someone from there travels to another area that it spreads? That's always possible. But again, the point of whaters will say, but what if someone from their travels to another area that it spreads? That's always possible.

But again, the point of what we're doing in losing these restrictions is not to eliminate this virus completely. It's already so widespread, you can't eliminate it completely. But what you can do is you can mitigate it. You can limit it spread, and you can allow our hospital systems a time to deal with this virus. We can buy time so that treatments can come out, and we can fight the complications with this virus. We could buy times so that treatments can come out and we could fight the complications of this virus. We can decrease the spread with a vaccine that's going to come out ideally in 2021.

So Dr. Fauci told me this clearly, they will be doing trials, opening up certain areas where the virus isn't so prominent and seeing how those communities react. Once we see promising results there, we can start doing down on a larger scale. But again, we have to be ready. If we see the virus start going down, we open restrictions and we see a spike, we have to be ready to institute those same sanctions all over again. Yeah, I know that. And it is, I do feel that, that it's almost like that obsession with when is this going to end and when can things go back to normal. That kind of pushing that speed is what's going to cause this to continue even longer, right? Yeah, I mean, I think it's natural to want that answer. I mean, the economy is going down and people are losing their retirement.

I try and be really understanding with this. I'm blessed because I have financial security with the job that I have. But, for example, my father who's a primary care physician, he's over the age of 60, he's at risk for this virus, so he had to shut his office down. He's a solo practicing doctor. So that means for the next month, zero income for him. And we came here as immigrants,

and by the time he did medical school and residency here in the States for a second time, he's only been practicing for a short period of time compared to other doctors. He's going been practicing for a short period of time compared to other doctors. He's gonna be facing a tremendous amount of hardship, just like everyone else who's a small business owner, and those who are getting furloughed and losing their jobs. So it's natural to wonder when it's gonna end.

It's just, we have to, as doctors, really explain when we say, I don't know why we're saying, I don't know, and what factors are we going to be looking at to give that answer moving forward? Yeah, for sure. Okay, great. Next question is, are there any success stories of people having a full recovery? Oh, absolutely. There's over 100,000 recoveries worldwide with COVID-19. And again, we have to remind people that 82% of these cases are mild cases.

So while there are severe cases that end up needing hospitalizations and they're overrunning our hospitals, there is a huge amount of recovery. And that's part of the good news that's rarely covered. And I think that, well, we should tell the seriousness of this story, because we need people to socially distance and take it seriously. We also need to decrease some of that anxiety by sharing the good news aspect as well. Yeah, absolutely. And it's good to know that I didn't know

that there were that many cases in recovery. It's great. And I agree with you. It needs to be in balance because, unfortunately, as humans, we like to get complacent when we hear too much good teams, too. So I get that it's this fine balance. Okay, great answer. Another one, this is more, I guess, generic. So I get that it's this fine balance. Okay, great answer.

Another one, this is more, I guess, generic, but I do think it's important, and I'd love for you to share some typical and mental habits that you suggest because it would be good to hear your respective one both. What are your tips for keeping on immune system, vibrant and effective? And of course there's generic things,

but I guess specifically now, what are you using mentally and physically? Yeah. The one thing I probably shouldn't even mention when you asked your first question about misinformation, I feel marketers have really taken this opportunity to prey on people's vulnerability and sell them magical supplements

that are going to immune boost their system. In reality, we in the medical community know there's no such thing as an immune boosting supplement. Because your immune system is so complex, the fact that if you were able to just rev it up, that would be a really bad thing. In fact, the huge majority of deaths in COVID-19 are as a result of the immune system doing something known as a cytokine storm, which in Russia is all sorts of inflammatory markers to fight off this virus. And as a result, harm is your breathing and causes you to need for

respiratory ventilator support. Wow. And you do not want to be boosting your immune system. That being said, you can't boost your immune system through supplements. So you can't make that happen either way. So I really don't like these marketing companies coming in and praying on people saying, take my pill because it's going to help you. There has been no research to show that any kind of supplement will prevent, treat, or anything like that with COVID-19.

So first of all, don't think about supplements. Obviously, if you're exception and you've been tested and you have a deficiency in something, then you're taking that as a medicine not so much as a regular over the count of supplement. Next, there are things you can do to actually optimize your immune system so that you don't hamper it during a time like this, because really, that's what's under your control. You can either have your immune system functioning

optimally, or you can hurt it. That's it. You can't really boost it. So in this scenario, that's awesome. Never mind. That harm your immune system are actually under your control. And the first one is sleep. If you don't get enough sleep regularly, seven to nine hours,

at the same time, ideally, every night, you are going to be hurting your immune cells known as natural killer cells. Research has shown, if you sleep less than six hours a night, the number of these natural killer cells, they're the ones that actually fight off COVID-19, drops by up to 50%. So you need to be getting your sleep in because that is one of your first defenses in protecting yourself against the virus. Second, you want to eat healthy. Now, do I have a magic formula of what you should be eating? Absolutely not. You should be eating a diet that's rich in fruits and and vegetables and then you have to make a decision for yourself what you need to

be eating. Every patient needs a different plan. There's no magic diet that I can recommend, not intermittent fasting, not keto. None of these are magic solutions for COVID-19. Next is exercise. Just because we're quarantined doesn't mean it's excuse to not exercise. So pick up your tablet, your iPhone, take a class, there's all sorts of free classes that are being given by companies, go outside for a run. You don't have to be next to someone to do a run. You could be six feet away and go for a run. I actually started doing a lot of these calisthenic bootcamp style exercises in my living room. And I found out how out of shape I am, I wasn't able to run, but I couldn't do these exercises.

So I think have fun with it, do your exercise. And the final one, sorry, I shouldn't have said that, now I'm just going to optimize your music. And then the final one that could really hamper immune system is bad habits like smoking, which can increase your risk of having a severe case of COVID-19 two to three times, and over drinking. I see a lot of people going to liquor stores here in the US and getting a lot of liquor and wine and saying, I'm just gonna drink and have a good time. Look, have a glass here and there,

but if you over drink, be prepared to know that this is gonna hurt your immune system. There's also been research that if you have a high blood alcohol content, the monocytes, which are a type of white blood cell that protect you from COVID-19, also get hurt when you have a high blood alcohol content. So you don't want to be over drinking during this time as well. Yeah, that's great. And I thank you for making that distinction between boosting and optimizing.

I think that I've never heard of it that way before. And also just it's interesting here. You're hearing just it's always about the basics. And we know that. And I just feel like this is giving us an opportunity to prioritize the basics. Like you know, we need to work out. And it's like hopefully for those of us who are at home and in our own spaces, we have more of an incentive now, same way, we know we need to eat healthy. And now again,

because we can't eat out all the time, you know, that's, that's going to hopefully give us a little bit more incentive to get more focused. Tell us about mental health perspective, things that you're seeing that are really working and helping people and what you're suggesting and recommend us. I'm a huge fan of positive psychology. I've read plenty of research in the field. And in fact, I like to take away positives from even the most dark situations. It's a really good example of post-traumatic growth,

going through something difficult, but then coming out ahead as a better person. We don't talk about that as much. The big focus in medicine is always about PTSD, which is a very important condition. We need to be talking about a bringing light to it, but PTG also deserves its time in the spotlight. And I think even our conversation here,

we've been trying to meet, we've been trying to schedule this conversation between you and I and it took a worldwide pandemic in order to give us the time needed to have this conversation. So I think we should be thinking about the benefits of spending time with our families. We are oftentimes so overworked that we don't get to enjoy the little things in life, like reading a book, spending time with family, having time for hobbies.

Now is the time. Use this very difficult moment to bring something positive out of it. Now, the few pieces of advice that I've given to people on mental health has been to not get idle. And there was a really good quote I've read somewhere that an idle mind is the devil's playground. Because the human mind is really set to be a little bit anxious. That's how we've survived through the millennia of making sure that we weren't dancing in the prairie when there were lions hunting. So we've always been a little bit attuned to be somewhat anxious. Now when we're at home and we have nothing to do and nothing occupying our minds, that

anxiety starts getting amplified. And when anxiety is amplified, you're going to have a worse physical state, meaning your blood pressure is going to be higher, your hormones are going to be out of whack, you're not going to be repairing, not going to be as digesting as well. So you have to figure out how to keep your mind occupied on things you enjoy, find some positivity in a moment like this, and really think about how you could be a productive member of society by helping those around you, spending time with family, contacting your local hospital for donations, because giving a little bit back will actually give you more back in the long term from the mental standpoint.

Yeah, thanks for addressing those, man. It's great to hear you say them and come on audience to hear you say them and for me feeling like we're giving people the right support. And I think that's what I took to right now. And this is what I'm going to really get out to people that everyone's going to help in the way that they can with their gift and their passion and whatever they have. So for me, it's like, I'm not a doctor, but I can't teach mindfulness and meditation. And so I've been doing that every single day on my channel because I've been trying to give people a moment of calm a moment where they can switch off from the noise and give them that clarity and that positive psychology of creating affirmations and positivity in people's minds so that they can deal with the challenges and the issues that they have with clarity and calm. And same way with, you know, whether someone's singing the live on their Instagram or whether we have medical professions or really going out there and on the front lines, everyone can contribute with whatever passion and gift they have and we shouldn't feel that any contribution is big or small.

We all just need to get involved. I think that's key. Yeah, not only will it help the community in general, but it'll help you as a person, you know? So the fact that you are able to offer the mindfulness component, that's huge. The fact that I'm able to give the medical component is huge. But then there are fashion houses

that are normally making clothes, high-end clothes, may I add, that are now making surgical masks for the cities where they live. So we all are able to participate. Maybe not even in COVID-19 related matters, but in totally different matters, there are still very relevant in the world today. Just because COVID-19 related matters, but in totally different matters, there's still very relevant in the world today, just because COVID-19 is present,

doesn't mean all our problems disappear. There's still many issues in the world that need attention. And a great example of this is, I go to medical schools a lot, and I talk to students, and they say, well, Dr. Mike, like, what should I do?

What kind of specialty should I go in? And I tell them, what's your strength? If you can write down like three strengths or get your friend to tell you what your strengths are, I promise I can find a field where they work. And they'll say, but someone told me I was funny. It's not important for a doctor to be funny.

As it was, as a doctor, who do you think, as a future doctor? Who do you think needs to laugh the most and enjoys laughing? And they all raise their hands and say, oh, so I should be a pediatrician. No, everyone needs to laugh. Everyone needs to have a good time. And those who have the most serious diagnoses need to laugh the most. So if you could do that tastefully and bring that component to being a doctor, you're going to be a very successful doctor and your patients are going to be really happy. Yeah, I love that. You've definitely mastered that.

So it's a good day, you're constantly allowing the other people. What's been keeping you positive? What can keeping you up be? What have you been doing daily that has helped you deal with this for yourself? The fact that I think of this problem as larger than myself, you know,

it's very easy to get lost in my daily duties of constantly having media interviews, YouTube commandments, hospital duties. It's very easy to get overwhelmed. But if I think of myself as just sort of a piece in this larger puzzle that I'm contributing to that we're all working together towards, that's how I calmly self-down.

And I think of the world as a much bigger place than just what I'm involved in. At the same time, I don't think about all the things that need to be done next week, two weeks, three weeks, four weeks from now. I think about the next project, the next thing that I need to tackle, and I work on doing that as best as possible. Also, Coach Bennett, I don't know if you know him, he's the Nike running global head coach, and he does those audio guided runs I've been listening if you know him. He's the Nike running global head coach. And he does those audio guided runs.

I've been listening to what I go for. I'm not taking them out. Okay. Really great stuff. He says, a good piece of advice that I've taken to heart is be kind to yourself, especially in these difficult moments. Like, it's COVID-19.

You don't know what's gonna happen. You can't get everything done. You may be late on some payments. Give yourself that kindness that you're okay with a little bit of failure, then, and figure out how you're gonna make it better. How you're gonna make yourself a better person, but it starts with being kind to yourself.

Yeah, I've been saying this and saying, just stop. I feel like when this hit and we all moved inside, we just started judging ourselves and I feel like it feels guilty that we weren't making the most of it. I'm like, guys, it's been a week. Like, it's been like five days. Like, give yourself that breathing space.

You're not going to be the perfect partner, the perfect parent, the perfect person in like five days. It's going to take us time to adjust and adapt and you're spot on. We have to be kind for ourselves. I think that's great. Tell us about your best advice on, and this is a balance. I think everyone's trying to strike and I'd love to hit your advice on it. How can we continue to be alert but not anxious right? I never ever say that so it's like how do we do that? I think there's two parts to it. First is you want to be alert to only what's important in the info sphere. So if the CDC and the WHO puts an important

regulation out like stay at home unless you're essential employee, you want to be alert to that. You want to be keen to that. But at the same time, you don't want to be getting anxiety by listening to all these opinionated news sources that are really trying to drive up that emotion because they know if they can get you anxious, you're going to watch for longer. If they can cause anxiety with a headline, you're more likely to click on that. So allow yourself that control to be alert to the important messages, but then not

get anxious by all the other filler stuff that's out there. The second part of it is being alert to your own body systems. You know what's normal for you. I, as a doctor, will never say your pain is not real, your stuffy nose is not important. These are true symptoms and only you know what can be wrong, that something's not wrong. So you need to be attuned to what's normal, but at the same time, you don't wanna cross into that level of anxiety,

that just because you coughed once means you have COVID-19. We have to get out of that. So think about to yourself very rationally, almost like a form of cognitive behavioral therapy. Okay, I'm worried I've COVID-19 because I had a few coughs. The reality of the matter, I probably don't have it. What will it change for me? Nothing. I still have to be quarantined whether or not I'm coughing a little bit or a lot. So I'm going to stay, keep doing what I'm doing

and continue listening to my body. And really just constantly give yourself those rational moments of thought that replaced the irrational thoughts that can come causing you to be anxious. And this is where we have to be well informed because if we're not, what happens is that the irrational fear that we're seeing with all the alerts and all the crazy headlines is going to overcome our rational fault because we haven't done the research. And I think that's what happens is like this noise just completely crowds that information. So this is why I'm so glad that, you know, I know you've had to do this a million

times, Mike. So I'm so glad that you took the time to talk to Mike through with us today because just going through the basics with you, I feel like when you keep reminding yourself of the basics, it's like, okay, I'm good, you know, it's like, whereas when you get carried away with all of the anxiety and the stress that's coming up, I want to read you to you. This was actually from your YouTube channel that we took a comment at someone left. And they said, and I want to share with you, I'm sure you've seen it and maybe you haven't, but I felt the need to share with you. He says, when we all take a moment to appreciate how hard working and dedicated Dr. Mike is,

working as a healthcare provider during this difficult time and although he's exhausted taking the time to educate the world, we truly appreciate you and all healthcare providers working their butts off during this time. Stay safe and thank you. I thought, you know, it's, I just, I'm just, I'm just, I'm just, I'm just, I'm just, you know, it's, you can hear it and then maybe you don't hear it enough and maybe hearing it from one person on YouTube is impactful and useful. So, that means a lot. You know, here, when you, like I film here

in my home studio with myself and my videographer, that's it. I don't have a huge team that does this and it's sometimes hard to wrap your mind around the fact that the information that I'm shooting here on my couch with this one other person has such huge implications for the world, for millions of people, it's difficult to swallow that and understand what that means.

So when I look at those comments and I see the gratitude that people express and I know that I'm helping them on another level, it motivates me to continue doing it. When I'm frustrated and I don't want to film or the words just aren't coming out. I think back to comments like that and it allows me to push on moving forward. It also reminds me as a moment of humility that while what I'm doing is special, you know, I'm educating people, there's doctors that have worked a 36 hour shift. They're going to take a four hour nap and come back and continue working. They have bruises all over their face because they have to wear the same mask all day.

There's nurses, they're gonna catch an insvirus and get hospitalized with it. And I've been fortunate enough to not get this virus. I've been fortunate enough to do the majority of my patient care through telemedicine, through remote precepting, and still be able to continue delivering this information. So I think about how blessed I am as well. Yeah, that's awesome.

So we're gonna end this episode, like we usually do continue delivering this information. So I think about how blessed I am as well. Yeah, that's awesome. So we're going to end this episode, like we usually do with our guest is I'm going to ask you these two segments, one is called Fill in the Banks, it's a bit of fun. I've seen it's been told about some deep topics today. So being a doctor has allowed me to connect with the world on a level I've never imagined. Your health should be the first and foremost focus in your life because

without good health, you don't have anything. In my profession I've learned that there's so many variables outside of your control, you should just be kind to yourself and take a breath every now and then. Nice. Good good answers, man. Quick to what fascinates me most about humans is their ability to heal themselves and get through difficult moments exhibiting post-traumatic growth. The most difficult aspect of being a doctor is struggling with the unknown. I wish all my patients would improve what is under their control to give them the best chance to live a healthy life. Nice. Okay, and then the final five is your final five questions. So how would we, and this goes back to your positive psychology, how would we as a whole better because of this trouble situation?

Through difficult moments, come a lot of learning opportunities. I think when we all start returning to work, which will happen. I want to encourage people to think that way. We're going to get past this. This is not the end of the world. When we do return back to work, that people are going to be happy about their jobs. The jobs that they were just complaining about a few months ago. So I think it'll be a nice wake-up call to understand how blessed we are and how lucky we are to be doing the things that we're doing. We don't take for granted oftentimes little things like just going outside and hanging out with

your coworkers. And I think it's going to be a really stark reminder. I think you're so right. Like that moment we step back into our offices, the moment we go on the plane again, the moment we travel again, it's going to be like one of these, like, you know, it's going to be a momentous occasion whereas now, getting on a plane, we rule like, oh, we do that anyway. I think you're slurred.

Beautiful. There's a great comedian who said something like, people complain about flying. That there's the lanes, that they have to sit on the tarmac. You're sitting in the sky in a chair. You're like a Greek God right now. We don't think about that enough. So when we do return and are able to go down

for a quick vacation, I think we're going to appreciate it so much more. Yeah, I think you're telling me, right? Okay, second question for you is, the one video you're most proud of and why? The video sharing my experiences in El Salvador. I spent a two-week medical mission going down to El Salvador with Americans, where we were able to pilot a medical program where doctors actually exercise with their patients,

and were able to institute a few changes to their clinics down there. I learned so much that I've been able to bring back and it's a shame because that video was so early on, it didn't get nearly the exposure that it would if I uploaded it today. I may have reupload it. I'm waiting for it. You've got to reupload it. Yeah, I'm like, I haven't seen that one. So yeah, you've got to reupload that. Okay, good. I'm excited to watch it. Okay, if you could create a little one that everyone in the world had to follow, what would it be?

A lot. That's funny. You got to be stumped on that one. Thank you, Tom. A lot that everyone has to follow. Take a moment and be compassionate to the human sitting in front of you. Like you have to. Even if you're mad, you have to take a moment and be compassionate to the human sitting in front of you. Like you have to.

Even if you're mad, you have to take a moment and think about the other person. Okay. Nice. Great answer. I'm reading it on. Okay. Question number four, what is the biggest misconception when it comes to my health? That doctors have all the answers.

That when a patient comes in, we give a diagnosis, it's 100%. When we give a treatment, it's 100%. There is no certainty in medicine. When a patient comes in and they may have a chest pain that I rule to not be a cardiac source, it doesn't mean that when they go home, they could not have a heart attack. So we have to understand that medicine is a field of probabilities. It's a field where we have to deal and struggle with a lot of unknowns.

And we have to be kind to doctors when they don't know, because that's a really powerful thing. There's too many doctors out there that will claim to have all the answers and claim that they're the experts in everything. When a doctor says, I don't know, but here's how we're going to find out, we should applaud that. I love that. And question doctor says, I don't know, but here's how we're going to find out. We should applaud that. I love that. And question number five, final one. What's been your biggest lesson from the last 12 months for you?

That you should never put a limit to yourself, that just because you think that you're not capable of something, you shouldn't handicap yourself to reach those higher, higher limits. Before I read books of setting huge goals for yourself, the 10X rule by Grant Cardell, these are great in theory. I think most people will we end up doing as we create irrational thoughts

where we limit ourselves more so. So I think to say, okay, I'm setting a modest goal, but I know I'm capable of 10x. Yeah, I love that, man. Thank you so much, Dr. Mike. I'm so grateful and I'm excited for you coming back on the podcast and us dissecting your whole story and journey together on really, really looking forward

to that, man. And you're welcome back on Renekamp, you like. And as soon as this is all over in the compound, which you will be, and this is going to be super useful for my audience right now. So thank you so much. Yeah, thank you so much for allowing me the opportunity to educate that seems like it's become my soul mission in life and the fact that you're giving me that opportunity I really have to say thank you. Yeah for sure man I'm excited to continue this relationship as well

so thank you man thanks for your time sorry I hope I didn't take too much. It was great everyone go and follow Dr Mike Mike, subscribe on YouTube, follow him on Instagram, go and check out all his content. It's like I said, super entertaining, highly educational, and it will make a change in your life. So please, please, please go and follow him. Anywhere else on the mic that we can find out more

about you or you'd like anyone to go? That's it. That's it. Just Dr. Mike everywhere on social media. Perfect, man. I love it. Thanks, man. Thank you for doing this. I hope it was useful and enjoyed. I think people need this information. They have a hunger for it and hopefully we're satiating that hunger but in a responsible way we're not just

feeding them crazy things that are going to cause them to panic. Thanks for listening, everyone. The world of chocolate has been turned upside down. A very unusual situation. You saw the stacks of cash in an office. Chocolate comes from the cacao tree, and recently, Variety's cacao, thought to have been lost centuries ago, were rediscovered in the Amazon. There is no chocolate on Earth like this. Now some chocolate makers are racing deep into the jungle to find the next game-changing

chocolate, and I'm coming along. OK, that was a very large crack it up. Listen to obsessions while chocolate. On the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Our 20s are often seen as this golden decade. Our time to be carefree, make mistakes, and figure out our lives. But what can psychology teach us about this time? I'm Jemma Speg, the host of the Psychology of Your 20s. Each week, we take a deep dive into a unique aspect of our 20s, from career anxiety, mental health, heartbreak,

money, and much more to explore the science behind our experiences. The Psychology of Your 20s, hosted by me, Gemma Speg. Listen now on the I Heart Radio app,p Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. The one you feed explores how to build a fulfilling life amidst the challenges we face. We share manageable steps to living with more joy and less fear through guidance on emotional resilience, transformational habits, and personal growth. I'm your host, Eric Zimmer, and I speak with experts ranging from psychologists to spiritual

teachers, offering powerful lessons to apply daily. Create the life you want now. Listen to the one you feed on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks.