Big Think

Mehmet Oz's Five Ways to Improve Your Health

Mehmet Oz: The most important five things you can do to improveyour health are: 

Number 1, walk 30 minutes a day. You don’t have to do that at the end of the day, you can make a part of what you do everyday, like use the stairs instead of an elevator, but 30 minutes of extra walking than you normally do everyday.

Number 2, eat real food. Eat food that comes out of the ground, look in the way it looks when you eat it. If its processed or packaged or its got Trans fats, these all increase shelf life but they shorten human life.

Number 3, you’ve got to sleep at least 7 to 7 ½ hours a night. That doesn’t seem easy for a lot of you but 50% of the people who don’t get the sleep they need can easily get it if they understood a little about, a little bit about sleep hygiene. And by that, I mean, appreciating that when the sun went down for our ancestors, our melatonin levels went up in our brain, with melatonin you get tired. You also want to have a cool room, have [loose fitting] clothing. And by the way, if you have aches and pains that you keep up at night, get them treated, because not getting your sleep means you’re not getting your growth hormone and growth hormone is essential for your vitality.

Number 4, you need to know what your blood pressure is. Simple, easy number to learn and you don’t want to have the average blood pressure because what happens to average American, they die of a heart attack. You want to be optimal. The optimal blood pressure is 115/75.

And number 5 is you got to have a purpose in life bigger than yourself. That’s what ServiceNation is all about. It’s about appreciating that you give to others, you get back a ton more in return. The big challenges as you give, how you let them propagate it and give it on further, that’s what I think was all about.