Tim Scott, a U.S. senator and presidential candidate, had plenty of trauma growing up. At age 7 his parents divorced and he grew up with only his mother, who worked long hours just to keep them supplied with food and housing. Upon entering high school, he failed four classes. He was living in poverty as a black child with no clear path to a decent living. Then, at age 16, he was involved in a horrific car accident where we was thrown through the windshield — a scenario which is usually fatal. He survived, and after that accident he decided to enter a life of public service. He said that the accident changed the way he saw himself and the world around him.
Most people with his background would consider themselves a victim of a biased society. Instead, Tim turned disadvantage into a life few of us would aspire to live. As a senator he has worked to create “opportunity zones” where government would incentivize businesses to invest in poor communities, because he is passionate about helping others who are growing up as he did.. He is very physically fit, intelligent, and successful. He is not an example of avoiding trauma and tragedy; he is an example of trauma resilience. Instead of succumbing to his circumstances, he overcame them.
Assuming they don’t harm us physically, events themselves have no power over us once they have passed. Each day is a new opportunity. For some, past events are scars which hamper them, while for others those events are stepping stones. It’s not the event, but the perspective that we place on that event. Things happen, and we can’t change the past, but we can change how we view the past and resolve to make a better today.
The COVID global event
Rarely is there an event that affects the entire world. Certainly world wars, earthquakes, hurricanes and tornados have affected many people, and enough of us have experienced one of these that they are common events we all understand. But we experienced a global event with the onset of COVID-19. This virus spread rapidly across the world, and most of us have experienced its effects. Most survived it, although not all, and for those who lost loved ones it is a hard trauma to get over. For many, COVID was a nasty bug that they survived and hardly think about now, while for others the symptoms are still with them — the so-called long-COVID symptoms. COVID is an event that touched us all, and is therefore something we can all learn from. Why so many different reactions to COVID, both in initial severity and in how long it took to get over the symptoms completely?
There are many reasons. Even as overall health was a factor going into COVID, where health conditions were “risk factors” to COVID response, so health is a factor after COVID. At full health, an immune system would get hit with COVID, learn its signature, conquer it, and end all symptoms within a week or two. But most of us aren’t that healthy, so we had a rougher time with COVID. And some are suffering long COVID, unable to shake all the symptoms. Are they in a lower state of health? Let’s explore that possibility. A systematic review was published in JAMA Internal Medicine, where researchers from multiple universities in Britain compiled data from 41 studies covering 860,783 patients and found that older age, higher body mass index (being overweight), smoking, pre-existing co-morbidities (such as high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, hepatic disorders, and diabetes), and previous hospitalizations were risk factors “significantly associated” with developing post-COVID conditions. Negative health factors are positive factors for long COVID.
This study covered obvious health conditions. However, some in apparently good health without those risk factors are still reporting long-COVID symptoms. What are we missing?
We know that mental stress affects health, and it stands to reason that it would be a factor in dealing with COVID as well. Indeed, studies are showing that. Published in the Journal of the Neurological Sciences, researchers from the New York University Grossman School of Medicine conducted a cohort study comparing patients who had been hospitalized with COVID 6-12 months prior against current symptom and mental stress levels. “We additionally found that life stressors significantly impacted disability, depression, fatigue, sleep and post-acute COVID-19 symptom metrics.” They noted that the impact of life stressors was most significant 12 months after hospitalization.
The study did not delve into the details of the life stressors, but noted: “Interventions targeted at ameliorating modifiable life stressors merit further investigation.” What’s a “modifiable life stressor”? The past event can’t be modified, but the impact of that event in the present can. That happens with perspective and reconsideration of the trauma in a better light. This is the nature of stress resilience: not creation of amnesia, but removing the sting of past trauma.
That brings us to a third study, which specifically deals with stress resilience: published in Psychosomatic Medicine, researchers conducted a cohort study of 528 adults across two years, with data collected at six months intervals. The study compared participants’ psychological resiliences against COVID responses. The study concluded that psychological resilience reduced the risk of contracting COVID, reduced severity of the symptoms after onset, and lowered the risk of long-COVID symptoms across the two years. How could this be? It had to be that stress resilience led to a better immune system response against COVID at all stages.
Not just COVID
COVID was just an example of what a disease can do when your immune system is not up to the challenge. A simple flu can be just as devastating if you are weak enough. The best vaccine against disease is health. Normally your immune system has plenty of spare capacity to deal with foreign invaders quickly and effectively. As you age, that capacity diminishes, but a 90-year old with great health and an unburdened immune system can run circles around someone half that age who is weighed down by stress. Why did COVID strike hardest those with co-morbidities or risk factors? Because that is what would happen with any disease.
Getting healthy is the best way to stay healthy. The converse is true: the best way to live a life with chronic disease is to keep stressing your body. All diseases follow this rule.
Step right up, get your resilience here…
If you consider yourself a victim, either of society or circumstance, realize you are giving power over your life to other people or to blind fortune. Resilience is like the willow tree, bending with the storm but standing tall once the wind passes. When you see life as worth living, with a bright future ahead, and especially when you know you are loved and flowing love to those around you, resilience is natural.
But some wounds run deep. Early childhood traumas may be consciously forgotten, yet are still lurking below the surface in your mind. They must be reconsidered too, otherwise they will continue to add mental stress even though you are unaware of it. Good news: these can be re-evaluated as well — with 3D brain imaging they can be found and neutralized. Your body will thank you for releasing it to go do its job of keeping you healthy, free of lingering disease.
Dr. Nemec’s Review
Make a healthy environment in body, mind, and spirit, and you reap a harvest of total health of body, mind and spirit. Sow seeds of mental-emotional stress, both consciously and subconsciously, and don’t take care of the physical body, and you reap a harvest of being disease prone in body, mind, and spirit.
You choose today to receive a blessing of total health, or to receive a curse of disease — it’s always in your hands. No one is responsible for your health and your healing but you. No matter what’s been done to you in your past you have the choice to choose life each and every moment, and to let go of everything that is not life. As a victim, you are holding onto what someone did to you in the past — this profits you nothing, it will only destroy your present and your future. Only you can let go of yesterday and live fully in today.
Let’s sum up these studies:
- The JAMA study simply stated: if you don’t take care of your physical health by being overweight, by smoking, by having pre-existing health conditions — which just proves you have not been taking care of your physical health — all these things point to greater risk of present and future health problems. This is just common sense. How did you get overweight? It was because you ate too much of the wrong type of food which was inflammatory, you did not get enough exercise — very simple equation and there’s no excuse. This is how most disease starts in America: we simply choose to not take care of ourselves and let the life that is conducive to disease production take control instead of living a life of health production. There is such a simple fix: all you have to do is get serious about basic rules of health.
- Seven Basic Steps to Total Health include oxygenation, hydration, diet customization to one’s genes as to minimize the inflammatory profile, getting sufficient, pre-midnight sleep, an exercise program for muscles, lymphatic system, cardiovascular system, and most importantly, living a life of prayer and fasting from the standard American diet.
- The Neurological Sciences study showed that mental-emotional stressors do indeed weaken your physical health, and make you prone to more present and future physical health problems.
- The Psychosomatic research article was quite amazing. It stated that those with the greatest stress resilience actually had better physical health: less chance of contracting disease, less chance of disease lingering. This is because one of the major players in disease and health is your mind and how you perceive your world. This powerfully will boost your immune system if you’re stress resilient, and severely suppress your immune system if you’re mentally-emotionally stressed, holding on to the past. Once again, the choice is up to you, you choose health or disease, life or death, blessing or curse — you get to choose; but once you choose, you need to take the action steps in the direction you chose.
This is why, for the last 40 years, patients come to see us at Revolution New Medicine. Their treatment always includes our signature Nemec New Medicine® MBEB protocol. This combines 3-D brain imaging with special treatment to release any blockages or imbalances.
And we find this is the biggest factor in becoming stress resilient, disease resilient, and healing present health challenges, no matter what the type.
What you do to the mind you are doing to the body, because the body is simply the extension of the mind. If you’re not satisfied with your level of physical health, then you have to balance your mind, brain, emotions, and body, both subconsciously and consciously. When this is achieved, your body, mind and spirit will make the most beautiful music. This is total health of your body, mind, emotions, and spirit.
Here are the ways we can help you in your health journey:
- Outpatient Comprehensive Teaching and Treatment Program-has the most benefit of teaching, treatment, live classes and personalized coaching. This program has the most contact with Dr. Nemec with 3- 6 month programs that can be turned into a regular checking and support program for life. This is our core program that has helped so many restore their health and maintain that restoration for years.
- Inpatient Comprehensive Teaching and Treatment Program-is our four-week intensive inpatient program for those that are not in driving distance, usually over 4 hour drive. This is the program that is an intensive jumpstart with treatment, teaching, live classes and coaching designed for all our international patients along with those in the US that do not live in Illinois. This program is very effective especially when combined with our new membership program support.
- Stay at Home Program-is offered to continental US patients who cannot come to Total Health Institute but still want a more personal, customized plan to restore their health. This program also includes our Learn Membership Program.
- Membership Program is our newest program offered for those that want to work on their health at a high level and want access to the teaching at Total Health Institute along with the Forums: both Dr. Nemec’s posts and other members posting. And also, to have the chance to get personalized questions answered on the conference calls which are all archived in case you miss the call. The Membership Program has 3 levels to choose from: Learn, Overcome and Master. The difference is at the Overcome and Master levels you received one on one calls with Dr. Nemec personalizing your program for your areas of focus.
