Gary Edinger, a logger working in a remote area of Northern Wisconsin, suffered a horrific accident: his lower leg was severed while felling a tree. He was alone and twenty miles from help in forty below temperatures. Determined to live, he crawled to his truck and drove himself the twenty miles to get medical attention. He survived and went back to live in his log home with a prosthesis, still cutting down trees and even square dancing for fun.
Many such stories of remarkable survival and powerful will to live exist: where some have recovered from being technically dead, others have survived mining accidents where rescuers took over a month to reach them, and still others have survived horrific war injuries. The will to live is powerful, as is the will to not live: a man had been suffering from severe back pain and has surgery. The surgery was successful, according to the doctors. But he feels back pain later that day, is totally convinced the surgery failed, and he is inconsolable — and the next day he dies. An autopsy found no physical reason for his death. He simply lost the will to live and his body shut down.
We put the will to live in the “mystical” category, not being able to explain it or understand it. We can see its effects though, because something happening in the mind is having physical manifestations. One reason we seem to be having such trouble explaining how this happens may be in our lack of realization that the brain communicates to the body with brainwaves and not just physical nerve signals and chemical signals. If the mind wants life, the brain signals life to the whole body.
It is real?
This is dramatically seen in the so-called “placebo effect” in which someone can take a fake medication, believing it to be real, and will show physical changes consistent with the real medicine. Beliefs translate into physical results. You may think that the placebo effect is really the result of thinking that physical changes have occurred where they really didn’t happen, but that is not what research is showing — the results are physically borne out; they aren’t imaginary. Many studies affirm the effect and vary only in intensity and scope of the impact of the placebo.
One methodical study, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, led by researchers from the University of Munich, Germany, reviewed multiple studies of the mechanisms of the placebo effect. They declared the effect to be real: “There is accumulating evidence from different methodological approaches that the placebo effect is a neurobiological phenomenon. Behavioral, psychophysiological, and neuroimaging results have largely contributed to accepting the placebo response as real.” Their analysis focused primarily on the pain sensitivity reduction shown in many studies, but also they cited examples of blood pressure lowering and asthma relief from placebo medications. Studies that involved brain scanning showed activation or suppression of portions of the brain that appeared to lead to the results. They also suggested that the relaxation and lowered stress of patients who believed the placebo would help them was instrumental in their physical improvements.
Brain power
This study demonstrates that the placebo effect is changing brain function, which in turn affects perception of symptoms and stress levels, which lead to a bodily response. But these are indirect, chain-reaction responses. Just how far can the placebo effect go — can it directly alter body functions at the cellular level? Apparently so, per a study published in Psychosomatic Medicine, where researchers conducted experiments on the placebo effects on glucose management and insulin effectiveness. Participants first were given intranasal insulin and the impact of the insulin on glucose levels was measured. Then some were given fake intranasal insulin — in a number of cases the placebo causes a similar stabilization of glucose to that of the real insulin.
This goes a step beyond reducing pain sensitivity or lowering stress. Belief is actually changing the hormonal balance in the body; in this case, raising the insulin levels simply by expecting them to rise. Normally, the pancreas detects blood glucose levels and secretes more insulin when levels rise. This does not appear to be a process dependent upon the brain. We tend to underestimate the extent to which the brain controls the body.
Calling all cells…
Now, insulin is a hormone that causes a fundamental and repeatable reaction in cells: it helps move glucose from the blood into the cells. How can a fake insulin move glucose into cells? It can’t. Can this be explained by nerve signals from the brain? Nerve signals don’t touch every cell in the body. Can it be explained by hormonal signaling from the brain? No, the natural insulin levels didn’t change. Was the brain able to create a new chemical structure of insulin, making it more powerful? The brain is amazing, but it’s not that powerful. The best explanation is the obvious one: the brain is broadcasting signals throughout the body causing the cells to react differently.
Yet some research has found a brain connection with the insulin cycle. Published in Diabetes, a journal of the American Diabetes Association, researchers from the University of Cambridge, U.K. conducted an animal study where they increased the level of glucose within the hypothalamus of the brain. The result was rapidly enhanced glucose handling in the body, indicating that the hypothalamus was instrumental in controlling insulin secretion. Even though the pancreas function seems automatic and independent, we see that the brain is supreme over even such a basic function.
The placebo has been shown by many studies to be effective in stress management, which is a huge factor in all diseases. It can influence pain sensitivity. In short, the placebo effect is all about perception — how you interpret what the placebo is, and belief — what you are sure the placebo will do for you.
To understand what is happening, consider the opposite of the placebo effect, which is the “nocebo effect.” What’s that? It’s when you are sure something will have a negative effect on you, so it does. The person who received back surgery and thought that the recurring pain meant a dismal future was experiencing the nocebo effect. What happens with a cancer diagnosis? Usually, that causes one to expect disease, health decline, and death. Those expectations are not helpful, and the cancer diagnosis becomes a nocebo.
So the placebo effect is just a form of mental attitude. You don’t need a fake pill to believe that you can have better digestion, for instance: if you believe that better food, hydration, rest, and exercise will improve your digestion, your knowing that they will help will start a positive feedback loop, reducing stress and anticipating the improvements. When they occur, you are more sure that the treatment works, and you strengthen your belief which becomes the placebo effect. Placebo effects do not have to be from fake pills: your belief in something causes your brain to work towards making those results happen, because they touch your core perception and understanding.
The formula for better health
So if belief is so important, what can you do? You want the placebo effect to work in conjunction with real remedies, so your belief in them is foundational. First, do your research. Learn what treatments will help you reach your health goals. You will find that the basics of diet, exercise, hydration, rest, and especially a good mental and emotional foundation will be very effective treatments you can put your trust in. They don’t fail, but you have to know with a certainty that they work before you will invest fully in them. Then set high goals. You can heal from diseases, even major ones. All you have to do is realize that your brain is in control, more than you might believe possible, so you must deal with your thoughts, most of which are subconscious and solidified from events that occurred in the first few years of your life.
You may not know your best diet, how to best approach exercise, or how to deal with subconscious thoughts. That’s ok, because there are those with the knowledge and tools to help. Seek them out, and do your part. Remember the story of Jesus feeding the crowd of five thousand? What did Jesus do first? He asked for what food the disciples had available. They had five loaves of bread and two fishes, and Jesus used what was available. He did the rest. You bring all that you have to Him, and He can do the rest — if you do not get in the way with wrong thinking or nocebo thinking.
Dr. Nemec’s Review
The placebo effect is just your belief system, your perception, your attitude — how are you seeing your world. If you believe something will work, it will; and if you believe it won’t work, it will not. It’s as simple as that.
Really?
Well, not so simple — let me further explain.
Jesus spoke this to the people: “Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.”
What was the qualifier to make this all happen? It was not simply knowing it in your mind and saying it out of your mouth. There was an extremely important factor that is brushed over and not really noticed. It is that you must not doubt in your heart. What does that mean? Your heart has a complete nervous system of its own: it communicates with the brain through that nervous system so every cell in the body, all 100 trillion of them, are receiving messages, signals, electromagnetic frequencies from either the mind-brain or the heart-brain connection Your heart is also your spiritual center and you can look at it as the connection from your spirit into the mind and body. This makes your heart extremely important in health and healing.
What makes you doubt in your heart?
It means the mind is overruling the heart, sending thoughts into the brain which transmits electromagnetic frequencies that supersede the frequencies and messages coming from the heart. We can also call this double minded.
How do we not doubt in our heart?
By learning and experiencing how to live a life, led by the heart, by the spirit — not entertaining all the thoughts of the mind anymore. We have all been trained to use logic, to think rationally, to make the proper decisions that sound right, but that’s not always the answer. The answer many times has to come from a higher place, and that place is your heart, or your spirit, being unblocked and unhindered — not listening to doubt, fear, need, or lack.
So simply put: the placebo effect shows the full force on what you believe, especially when that belief has strong action steps, and is unshakable. The only unshakable beliefs in your life truly come from your heart, your spirit, your inner knowing. You will never be totally unshakable and immovable just with knowledge that you’ve acquired in your mind: it might bring you 98% of the way, but it can’t always complete the journey. A truth-filled heart with an inner knowing coming from your spirit: this is what brings you the hundred percent of the way every time as long as you don’t go back into the mind, which is the source of doubt and fear.
What I’ve been speaking about is part of our Nemec New Medicine® Protocol, in which we balance the heart, the brain, the mind, the emotions — and then the body always responds because the body is just the reflection of the frequencies generated by the mind, heart, brain, and emotions.
With man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
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.
