I've spent the last decade subjecting myself to pain and humiliation, hopefully for a good cause, which is self-improvement. And I've done this in three parts. So first I started with the mind. And I decided to try to get smarter by reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica from A to Z -- or, more precisely, from "a-ak" to "Zywiec." And here's a little image of that. And this was an amazing year. It was really a fascinating journey. It was painful at times, especially for those around me. My wife started to fine me one dollar for every irrelevant fact I inserted into conversation. So it had its downsides.
Pasei a última década someténdome á dor e á humillación, coa esperanza de facelo por unha boa causa, que é o crecemento persoal. E fíxeno en tres partes. Primeiro comecei coa mente. Decidín intentar ser máis intelixente lendo a Enciclopedia Británica ao completo desde a A ata a Z (máis concretamente desde "a-ak" ata "Zywiec"). Aquí vai unha pequena imaxe daquelo. Foi un ano incrible. Foi unha viaxe fascinante. Doloroso ás veces, especialmente para os que estaban comigo. A miña muller comezou a cobrarme un dólar de multa por cada comentario irrelevante que incluía na conversa. Así que tivo un lado malo.
But after that, I decided to work on the spirit. As I mentioned last year, I grew up with no religion at all. I'm Jewish, but I'm Jewish in the same way the Olive Garden is Italian. (Laughter) Not really. But I decided to learn about the Bible and my heritage by actually diving in and trying to live it and immerse myself in it. So I decided to follow all the rules of the Bible. And from the Ten Commandments to growing my beard -- because Leviticus says you cannot shave. So this is what I looked like by the end. Thank you for that reaction. (Laughter) I look a little like Moses, or Ted Kaczynski. I got both of them. So there was the topiary there. And there's the sheep.
Pero logo diso, decidín traballar o espírito. Como xa mencionei o ano pasado, crecín sen relixión algunha. Son xudeu, pero son xudeu do mesmo xeito que o Olive Garden é italiano. (Risas) Realmente non. Pero decidín aprender sobre a Biblia e a miña herdanza profundando nela e intentando vivila e mergullarme nela. Decidín seguir todas as regras da Biblia. Desde os dez mandamentos ata deixarme barba, porque o Levítico di que non te podes afeitar. Así que ao final tiña esta pinta. Grazas por esa reacción. (Risas) Parecía Moisés ou Ted Kaczynski. Tiña un pouco dos dous. Aí está o topiario. E aquí a ouvella.
Now the final part of the trilogy was I wanted to focus on the body and try to be the healthiest person I could be, the healthiest person alive. So that's what I've been doing the last couple of years. And I just finished a couple of months ago. And I have to say, thank God. Because living so healthily was killing me. (Laughter) It was so overwhelming, because the amount of things you have to do, it's just mind-boggling. I was listening to all the experts and talking to sort of a board of medical advisers. And they were telling me all the things I had to do. I had to eat right, exercise, meditate, pet dogs, because that lowers the blood pressure. I wrote the book on a treadmill, and it took me about a thousand miles to write the book. I had to put on sunscreen. This was no small feat, because if you listen to dermatologists, they say that you should have a shot glass full of sunscreen. And you have to reapply it every two to four hours. So I think half of my book advance went into sunscreen. I was like a glazed doughnut for most of the year. There was the washing of hands. I had to do that properly. And my immunologist told me that I should also wipe down all of the remote controls and iPhones in my house, because those are just orgies of germs. So that took a lot of time.
Na parte final da triloxía quixen centrarme no corpo e intentar estar o máis san que un pode estar, a persoa viva máis sa. Así que iso é o que fixen os dous últimos anos. Rematei fai dous meses. E teño que dicir que grazas a Deus. Porque vivir de forma tan sa estábame matando. (Risas) Foi insoportable porque a cantidade de cousas que tes que facer é incrible. Escoitei a todos eses expertos e falei cunha especie de grupo de conselleiros médicos. Eles dicíanme todo o que tiña que facer. Tiña que comer ben, facer exercicio, meditar, ter cans, porque iso disminúe a presión arterial. Escribín o libro nunha cinta de andar, e tardei uns 1500 quilómetros en escribilo. Tiven que usar protector solar. Foi unha gran proeza porque se lles fas caso aos dermatólogos dinche que tes que poñer unha copiña de protector solar. E tes que volver aplicala cada dúas ou catro horas. Así que a metade do avance do meu libro foi sobre o protector solar. Fun un donut glaseado a maior parte do ano. Tamén tiña que lavar as mans. Tiña que facelo ben. E o meu inmunólogo díxome que tiña que limpar cun trapo todos os mandos e iPhones que tivese na casa porque son orxías de xermes. E iso levoume moito tempo.
I also tried to be the safest person I could be, because that's a part of health. I was inspired by the Danish Safety Council. They started a public campaign that says, "A walking helmet is a good helmet." So they believe you should not just wear helmets for biking, but also for walking around. And you can see there they're shopping with their helmets. (Laughter) Well yeah, I tried that. Now it's a little extreme, I admit. But if you think about this, this is actually -- the "Freakonomics" authors wrote about this -- that more people die on a per mile basis from drunk walking than from drunk driving. So something to think about tonight if you've had a couple.
Tamén tratei de ser o máis seguro que puiden porque iso forma parte da saúde. Inspiroume o Consello de Seguridade Danés. Comezaron unha campaña pública que di "un casco de camiñar é un bo casco". Pensan que non só debes levar un casco na bici, senón tamén cando camiñas. Así que podedes velos facendo a compra cos seus cascos. (Risas) Si, eu intenteino. Pero admito que é un pouco extremo. Aínda que si o pensades, en realidade -os autores do "Freakonomics" escribiron sobre isto- morre máis xente por andar bébedo que por conducir bébedo. É algo sobre o que pensar esta noite se tivestes parella.
So I finished, and it was a success in a sense. All of the markers went in the right direction. My cholesterol went down, I lost weight, my wife stopped telling me that I looked pregnant. So that was nice. And it was successful overall. But I also learned that I was too healthy, and that was unhealthy. I was so focused on doing all these things that I was neglecting my friends and family. And as Dan Buettner can tell you, having a strong social network is so crucial to our health.
Con iso rematei, en certo xeito con éxito. E todos os marcadores foron na dirección correcta. O meu colesterol disminuíu, perdín peso, a miña muller parou de dicirme que parecía preñado. Estivo ben. En xeral, foi un éxito. Pero tamén aprendín que estaba demasiado san, e iso non era san. Centreime tanto en facer todas esas cousas que estaba descoidando aos meus amigos e familia. E como Dan Buettner pode dicirvos, ter unha rede social forte é crucial para a nosa saúde.
So I finished. And I kind of went overboard on the week after the project was over. I went to the dark side, and I just indulged myself. It was like something out of Caligula. (Laughter) Without the sex part. Because I have three young kids, so that wasn't happening. But the over-eating and over-drinking, definitely. And I finally have stabilized. So now I'm back to adopting many -- not all; I don't wear a helmet anymore -- but dozens of healthy behaviors that I adopted during my year. It was really a life-changing project. And I, of course, don't have time to go into all of them. Let me just tell you two really quickly.
Así que parei. E en certo modo paseime a semana despois de rematar o proxecto. Paseime ao lado escuro e deime un capricho. Parecía sacado de Calígula. (Risas) Sen a parte do sexo. Porque teño tres raparigos, así que iso non pasou. Pero si polo de beber e comer en exceso. E finalmente estabiliceime. Así que volvín para facer moitas - non todas; non penso volver levar casco- das conductas saudables que adoptei o último ano. Foi un proxecto que me cambiou a vida de verdade. Pero non teño tempo para facelo todo. Deixádeme dicirvos dúas cousas rápidas.
The first is -- and this was surprising to me; I didn't expect this to come out -- but I live a much quieter life now. Because we live in such a noisy world. There's trains and planes and cars and Bill O'Reilly, he's very noisy. (Laughter) And this is a real underestimated, under-appreciated health hazard -- not just because it harms our hearing, which it obviously does, but it actually initiates the fight-or-flight response. A loud noise will get your fight-or-flight response going. And this, over the years, can cause real damage, cardiovascular damage. The World Health Organization just did a big study that they published this year. And it was done in Europe. And they estimated that 1.6 million years of healthy living are lost every year in Europe because of noise pollution. So they think it's actually very deadly.
A primeira - que me sorprendeu; é que non esperaba que fose así, pero agora levo unha vida máis tranquila. Porque vivimos nun mundo barullento. Hai trens, avións e coches e Bill O'Reilly é moi barullento. (Risas) E isto está subestimado, un perigo para a saúde menosprezado, non só porque nos dana o oído, que o fai, senón porque inicia a resposta de loita ou foxe. Un ruído forte fará que esa resposta de loita ou fuxa se adiante. E isto, cos anos, pode causar danos reais, danos cardiovasculares. A Organización Mundial da Saúde fixo un estudo que publicou este ano. Fixéronno en Europa. Estimaron que cada ano en Europa se perden 1,6 millóns de vidas sas por culpa da contaminación acústica. Realmente pensan que é mortal.
And by the way, it's also terrible for your brain. It really impairs cognition. And our Founding Fathers knew about this. When they wrote the Constitution, they put dirt all over the cobblestones outside the hall so that they could concentrate. So without noise reduction technology, our country would not exist. So as a patriot, I felt it was important to -- I wear all the earplugs and the earphones, and it's really improved my life in a surprising and unexpected way.
E por certo, tamén é malo para o cerebro. Certamente afecta á cognición. E os nosos Pais Fundadores sabían isto. Cando escribiron a constitución, puxeron terra por todos os adoquíns da entrada para poder concentrarse. Sen a tecnoloxía de redución do ruído, o noso país non existiría. Como patriota sentín que era importante. Eu levo tapóns e auriculares e iso mellorou a miña vida dunha forma sorprendente e inesperada.
And the second point I want to make, the final point, is that -- and it's actually been a theme of TEDMED -- that joy is so important to your health, that very few of these behaviors will stick with me unless there's some sense of pleasure and joy in them. And just to give you one instance of this: food. The junk food industry is really great at pressing our pleasure buttons and figuring out what's the most pleasurable. But I think we can use their techniques and apply them to healthy food. To give just one example, we love crunchiness, mouthfeel. So I basically have tried to incorporate crunchiness into a lot of my recipes -- throw in some sunflower seeds. And you can almost trick yourself into thinking you're eating Doritos. (Laughter) And it has made me a healthier person.
E a segunda e derradeira cousa da que quero falar é que - isto está sendo un tema de TEDMED - a alegría é tan importante para a saúde que poucos destes comportamentos se quedarán comigo a non ser que conleven pracer e alegría. E para darvos un exemplo disto: a comida. A industria da comida rápida é xenial para presionar os nosos botóns do pracer e pescudar que é o máis pracenteiro. Pero penso que podemos usar as súas técnicas e aplicalas na comida sa. Para dar só un exemplo, encántanos a sensación do crocante, polo que intentei incorporalo en moitas das miñas receitas engadindo sementes de xirasol. E case te podes enganar pensando que estás a comer Doritos. (Risas) Isto fíxome ser unha persoa máis sa.
So that is it. The book about it comes out in April. It's called "Drop Dead Healthy." And I hope that I don't get sick during the book tour. That's my greatest hope.
Iso é todo. O libro no que falo disto sae en abril. Chámase "Drop Dead Healthy" (Deixa a saúde mortal). Espero non enfermar durante a xira do libro. E a miña maior esperanza.
So thank you very much.
Moitas grazas.
(Applause)
(Aplausos)