PUBLIC HEALTH PROFESSOR: THIS Is the No. 1 Public Health Challenge in America

by | Aug 13, 2025 | Podcast | 0 comments

Mike Perko
Mike Perko

Dr. Mike Perko, PhD, is the Founder of 500 Fist Bumps, an initiative that promotes trust, connection, and well-being among youth. He is also a Professor of Public Health Education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). In 1994, Dr. Perko developed the Survey to Predict Adolescent Athlete Dietary Supplement Use, which is used by researchers worldwide. As a highly rated speaker and authority figure in public health, he has authored over 200 articles on health and fitness and written three books.
 

 

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Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn: 

  • [0:00] Public health professor Dr. Mike Perko discusses his research on habits that impact health and longevity
  • [3:32] How Dr. Perko discovered his purpose through the 500 Fist Bumps initiative 
  • [12:18] The long-term impact of musculoskeletal issues and the importance of regular exercise
  • [19:51] Compression of morbidity and lifestyle strategies to delay illness
  • [24:41] Factors determining longevity and how to delay the aging process
  • [26:25] The Surgeon General’s statement identifying youth mental health as America’s top public health challenge
  • [34:44] Financial costs of heart attacks and the importance of preventative health investments
  • [40:45] Dr. Perko’s vision for corporate America to invest in community health and youth physical activity

In this episode…

Many people underestimate how early-life habits and social environments influence their health, mobility, and mental well-being in later years. Declining physical activity, limited community connection, and preventable chronic conditions are increasing healthcare costs and diminishing quality of life. How can we build healthier, more connected communities that improve longevity and daily function?

According to public health educator and researcher Dr. Mike Perko, preventative healthcare must start before adulthood. Low-cost, accessible actions like daily walks and groundwork for bone strength can sustain physical health, while fostering social connections can improve mental well-being. Dr. Perko urges community leaders to reintroduce physical education in schools, address social determinants of health, and encourage corporate investments in community health.

In this episode of What The Teck?, Rolando Rosas and Dave Kelly welcome Dr. Mike Perko, Founder of 500 Fist Bumps, back to discuss building healthier communities and preventing chronic illness. Dr. Perko discusses the value of early intervention in developing healthy habits, the impact of walking and physical movement on longevity, and the role of social determinants in shaping overall well-being.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Quotable Moments:

  • “I’ve never seen something work so effectively with such a minimal amount of effort.”
  • “Walking is the single greatest thing you can do to stave off dementia and Alzheimer’s.”
  • “When we’re in pain, we move less, and moving actually is a great pain reducer.”
  • “Compression of morbidity means shortening sickness, so we spend more life in good health.”
  • “Health does not occur in a doctor’s office or in a hospital; it occurs where we live.”

Action Steps:

  • Incorporate daily walking into your routine: Walking increases blood flow and oxygen to the brain, helping to maintain cognitive health and reduce the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s. It’s an accessible, low-cost activity that can be integrated into almost any lifestyle.
  • Practice groundwork for mobility and bone strength: Activities like getting down on the floor, bending, or crawling help maintain flexibility, strengthen bones, and improve balance. This can reduce the risk of falls and keep you functional later in life.
  • Foster intentional human connections: Small, consistent interactions — such as greetings or fist bumps — can build a sense of belonging and improve mental health. Social connection is a key determinant of overall well-being and resilience.
  • Address social determinants of health: Advocate for and support equitable access to resources, like safe housing, quality education, and healthcare. These factors significantly influence life expectancy and long-term health outcomes.
  • Reintroduce or protect physical education in schools: Early exposure to regular physical activity establishes lifelong habits that improve health and reduce chronic disease risk. School-based programs can also promote teamwork, discipline, and social connection.

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Episode Transcript:

Dr. Mike Perko 0:00

I’ve been working in cultures and organizations for close to 25 years. I’ve never seen something work so effectively with such a minimal amount of effort. But are you ready?

Intro 0:10

Dr. Mike Perko is a renowned researcher, author and professor at UNC Greensboro. His decades of research show how everyday habits have an outsized impact on health and how small shifts in behavior can rewire the brain.

Rolando Rosas 0:22

What are we getting wrong when it comes to Aging and Longevity? 

Dr. Mike Perko 0:26

How healthy will we be? How functional will we be? Very large proportion of our population has musculoskeletal issues, knee pain, hip pain, back pain. It’s a massive disability that’s compensated through insurance companies. If you look at insurance charts, people begin to show signs of sickness in our fourth decade. That’s the first time a doctor is going to say, Huh. By the time we’re 35 we can almost project how we’re going to die.

Dave Kelly 0:54

Starting to scare me, by the way,

Dr. Mike Perko 0:57

walking is the single greatest thing you can do to stave off dementia and Alzheimer’s. Very simple. Reason

Rolando Rosas 1:04

why it sounds so simple,

Dr. Mike Perko 1:08

and it is simple. You don’t have to YouTube this. Just do it all seven living Surgeon Generals got together and put a statement out to the public. We are releasing this statement because of the number one public health challenge in America, and it’s

Rolando Rosas 1:26

Welcome to What The Teck?, your gateway to business strategies and tech secrets shaping today’s workplace. You know, Dave, there are some secrets to longevity, living long and keeping the same brain at times. And you know, I’m glad we have Dr. Mike on with us today, because he can help unlock some of those things

Dave Kelly 1:49

sane brain. You know, mental health has certainly been one of these top subjects post covid. I’m hearing it every day, and I didn’t realize how important our mental health was to our physical health. So having mike on to talk about this is going to be very eye opening, I believe,

Rolando Rosas 2:06

indeed. Welcome back to the podcast. Dr. Mike Perko. Dr. Mike,

Dr. Mike Perko 2:17

gentlemen, how are you now listen, I could not be better. First of all, seeing you two again. I don’t know how many repeat guests you had, but I feel like I’m on SNL Saturday Night Live. You know how I get to brag that I’ve come in here twice, but all kidding aside. First of all, I’m doing really well, and I hope that both of you are, and I had a chance, of course, to look at your catalog of work recently, and just have to say, hopefully you’re not the best kept secret out in the podcast world, because the number of guests that you’ve had that have been transformative and have had shared information that we all need has been something that you both should be super, super proud of. So believe me, I’ll be singing your praises, not only now but in the future. So I’m so grateful to

Rolando Rosas 2:58

be back. Thank you. We’re grateful to have you. Thank you for those kind words. We really appreciate that. That means a lot coming from you, and that’s why we wanted to have you on today, because you’re doing research, you’re diving into things that impact nearly all of us on an individual level, as well as a country. And there are some practical things that can be done, but I don’t want to steal your thunder, so Dr, Mike, I’m gonna ask you, when someone clicks into this podcast, tell them what your mission is and why they should listen to this episode.

Dr. Mike Perko 3:32

You know, very quickly I got religion about what my purpose is in life is close to my 60th birthday. Now it’s a little late in the game to the finding your why, as Simon Sinek would say, but you know what? Better to find it than never have found it. So I’ve been a university professor for 30 years, if you can believe that, I’ve also been a coach of U sports for 43 years. And I never thought that what I do for a living, and that my research areas, I teach public health. So first of all, my students are going to get jobs at the Centers for Disease Control. They’re going to get jobs at local public health departments. When I say the word I teach public health, what I really mean is I teach students about the importance of the public’s health. During class, we may walk out into the hallway and everybody gets a drink of water, and then we’ll go back to class, and I’ll say, how do we know that water is safe to drink? And it starts the great conversation of, where does our water come from? Who’s there? Who’s there? Behind the scenes to make sure that you know what we’re drinking is not going to be detrimental to our health, I may teach a class outside and have everybody take five, six cleansing breaths, and then say, how do we know that the air that we’re breathing is not filled with particulate matter that’s going to cause us some conditions down the road? So when I say I teach students to help the public’s health, that’s exactly what I do. Now, getting back to what. How I found my why. So I’ve got an initiative. It’s a Mental Health Initiative for kids called 500 Fist Bumps, and I’ll try to tell the story as quickly as possible. But when my son was 10, I have two kids, Jack and Elena. When Jack was 10, like many other parents, we tried to get them into all sorts of different sports, just because it’s socially acceptable right in your communities. If you have kids, you’re probably wondering, Hey, my kid is 567, I think I’ll join the YMCA and get him in a swimming class or a soccer team or basketball. It’s very socially acceptable to do. And so when Jack was 10, I signed him up for lacrosse camp. He was excited, because he loves all sports. But then he asked me a pretty critical question. He said, Hey, Dad, am I going to be the only new kid at this camp? And I said, Well, let me check. And I called the director, and I said, you know, hey, I got a kid who’s never played lacrosse. Is he going to be the only beginner? And the guy assured me there’d be more than a dozen kids out there trying it for the first time. So we drive out there, and I knew within 20 seconds, then, man, we were the only new kid there, because it had turned into a team camp, so one high school team now was on the field, and my 10 year old son, who was four years younger and a foot shorter, my me, he looked at me, and he knew right away, man, this is not going to be good, So I had to coax him out of the truck. We get out, and my vision of him to this day is him dragging his stick, walking onto the field as if it was the worst day ever, and it could have been the worst day ever, except for one guy. After about five minutes, the coach of the day called everybody over, and what he said next made Jack’s experience go from bad to great, but what he said next changed my life. So here’s what he said. And called everybody together, and there’s about, I don’t know, about 25 kids. And he said, Okay, boys, here’s how this is going to go. We’re going to be together every day for an hour, five for the next five days. So every time you go through a drill, you make a nice pass, you pick up a ground ball, or you score a goal, you’re going to get a fist bump from somebody next to you. You know, for success, he said, but every time you miss that pass, miss the net or don’t pick up a ground ball, you’re also going to get a fist bump. Because, yes, we want to make you better lacrosse player, but we want to make you a better human being, and the only way to do that is to have each other’s back through everything that we do, and that’s the only way we’ll become a team. It took him 20 seconds to say this, and then he said, Hey, how many fist bumps Do you think we can get in an hour? And one kid yelled, 500 guy clamped his hands. He goes, Okay, let’s go 500 Fist Bumps in the next hour. Again, took 20 seconds to build a culture and a community where everybody knew what they were supposed to do. So I sit back in my lawn chair. I’m watching Jack go through these drills, getting fist bumps from kids that were six six. He’s getting fist bumps left and right for the effort. But are you ready? The awesome thing was that now Jack’s giving fist bumps back to these guys who were six, six, he’s saying, nice job. Nice shot. He’s part of the group. And I’ve been working in cultures and organizations for close to 25 years. I’ve never seen something work so effectively with such a minimal amount of effort. So that day stuck with me. Now here’s a caveat. We went through the week of camp. Jack loved it, and I watched him play other sports, and I always hoped that that magic would happen again from another coach, and it never did. And it hit me, Man, oh, man, we were lucky to get one guy my goal in life and my purpose and my why now is that every single person that our kids come in contact with has to be that coach, right? We can’t be lucky enough to have one person make an impact, we gotta demand that every person make an impact, whether it’s in schools or youth sports, etc. So 500 Fist Bumps focuses on building intentionally connection and belonging on youth sports fields, ranks, pools, courts, anything that our kids can play on, and it happens at the organizational level, and so this is what I want to really dive in with you guys today. Is not necessarily that we’re lucky enough to have a mentor or somebody who makes impact, but if we become a member of an organization, such as a university where I work, maybe your kid belongs to a youth sport that we know we can sit back in our lawn chairs and we know our kid is going to be seen, gonna felt like they belong, like they’re part of the team, and we also know what an impact that has on their mental health. So thank you for giving me, you know, four or five minutes to talk about what drives me every single day, and we’ll get into why this is so important moving forward. So that’s my why

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