11 The Power of Positive Thinking and Stress Reduction.mp3: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix
11 The Power of Positive Thinking and Stress Reduction.mp3: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.
Speaker1:
Welcome to the Cancer Secrets podcast. Changing the Cancer Paradigm. Hosted by Dr. Jonathan Steagall, a medical doctor and cancer specialist practicing in Atlanta, Georgia, deeply affected by his grandmother's death from stomach cancer, as well as patients he cared for in medical training, he realized there has to be a better way to treat cancer. Dr. Stegall has a unique and innovative approach to treating cancer called integrative oncology, combining modern medicine with alternative therapies personalized to each patient. This podcast is designed to educate, support and give you a positive voice you can trust. We invite you to join us on this journey as we seek to change the cancer paradigm.
Speaker2:
Hi. This is Dr. Stegall. I'm so glad you're enjoying the Cancer Secrets podcast. Do you have a question you would like answered in a future episode? If so, please go to Cancer Secrets dot com and click on podcast at the top of the page. Look for the tab on the right side of the page that says Send voice mail. You can record your question straight from your smartphone or computer with your question. Be sure to tell us your first name, where you're from, and why you listen to the show. I will choose from the best questions and answer them on the air. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Hello and welcome back to the Cancer Secrets podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Jonathan Segall. And this is episode number 11. If you're new to the show, please go back and listen to my introductory episode to learn more about me and my vision for this podcast. In today's episode, I'm going to talk about mindset and stress management and how vitally important this is in fighting cancer. As always, we invite you to grab a family member or friend and listen in together. Today's show is foundational to this podcast in foundational to integrative oncology in general, and it will reveal the basics behind my personalized approach to cancer treatment using the power of positive thinking and stress reduction. The whole idea of talking about the mind, our thoughts, our emotions, even our words and how these things can affect our bodies might seem a little foreign to you, maybe a little esoteric, or you may just be thinking, Dr.
Speaker2:
SIEGEL, this is just quackery. But science has been revealing over the past decades that there is a very close, intimate link between the brain and the rest of the body. I mean, for years, the brain and the nervous system were viewed really as a compartmentalized system within the body. In other words, there was the brain and then there was the rest of the body. And what went on in the mind was not necessarily thought to influence the physical aspects of health and well-being. But today, research has shown that there is an amazing network of connection between what goes on in the brain. And again, this includes our thoughts, our emotions, even the words we speak, and our bodies physical health. And we generally call this mind body medicine. The long scientific sounding term is psycho neuro immunology. And that actually extends also to the way that our minds and our brains affect not only our nervous system in our bodies, but also the immune system. And even though science is just now starting to confirm these findings, the idea that our mental state can affect our health is not new at all. I mean, folk wisdom has taught for some time that the more stressed you are, the more likely you are to have heart problems or even more recently, digestive symptoms. If we're truly honest with ourselves.
Speaker2:
I think we all know that our mental state and our stressors and our emotions absolutely affect the overall health of our bodies. And when it comes to cancer, the question becomes. Does everything that goes on in our brains influence the development of cancer? Or does it have the power to dictate how a patient responds to cancer treatment? And there's actually a good deal of published literature on this subject that affirms this. And again, the field of psycho neuro immunology looks at the study of the effects of the mind on health in the immune system and therefore, our resistance to disease. Now, when I did my graduate studies at Georgetown University, I had the privilege of learning from Dr. Candace Pert, and she was one of the groundbreaking researchers in the field. And at this time, of course, this was a very new field. And a lot of her contemporaries thought she was a nut, for lack of a better term. But she was looking in her research, in her lab at emotions and the physical effects they have on the rest of our bodies. Now, today, of course, this is not uncommon. This thought is is maybe not mainstream yet, but it's certainly not something that is considered quackery. But at the time it kind of was. But I had the opportunity to work with her and and just really see some of the science behind what she had uncovered. And just on a very basic level, I mean, patients who were more stressed and anxious and worrisome tend to have a lot more health issues in their bodies.
Speaker2:
And certainly cancer, as we know, creates a lot of stress, the stress of a horrible diagnosis, having to make treatment decisions and in some cases even going through treatment all create a great deal of stress. And so we need to be very aware of how that can potentially affect our bodies and then do all that we can to eliminate or minimize those stressors. One of my favorite studies was conducted a few years ago, and the study sought to determine whether there is a link between the development of breast cancer and striking events in a woman's life. So what they did is they looked at women who had experienced some sort of significant and negative life event, and it increased the risk of breast cancer by 1.5 times. Now that's a pretty significant increased risk. However, when they also looked at women who had experienced severely striking life events, their cancer risk was actually twice as great compared to women who reported no striking life events. So not surprisingly, the authors of this study concluded that there was a positive correlation between striking life events and the development of breast cancer. Now to take this idea a step further, Dr. Reich Hammer, who is a German physician, was really the first doctor or researcher to suggest that certain life events contribute to the development of cancer.
Speaker2:
Now, his story is interesting because he was just a regular physician and then he experienced the tragic and unexpected death of his son. And Dr. Hamer noticed that soon after that he developed testicular cancer. Now, thankfully, he survived the cancer, but his experience led him to question whether there might be a link between the emotional trauma he suffered following his son's death and his subsequent development of testicular cancer. So what he did is he went on to study thousands of cases of cancer, both in his patients as well as in other patients case histories. And as you can imagine, this included taking very detailed histories of these patients just to really get into the details of not only their diagnosis, but but their lives really from from birth forward. And what he concluded is that striking life events and emotional traumas led directly to the development of certain cancers. And, of course, recent research has confirmed that. But what's fascinating about Dr. Hammer's research is by the end of his career, he was so certain about the effect of these emotional traumas that he was confident that he could predict not only what kind of cancer an individual would develop, but even the specific location within the body of that cancer. Now, this is fascinating, and he did all of this simply by reviewing the patient's histories. Now, of course, Dr. Hammer's work was extremely controversial. We're talking about 40, 50 years ago when a lot of this research was starting to come out in his case.
Speaker2:
But it's amazing how we've seen this confirmed in more recent research. But what about patients who already have cancer? Can we create some improvement by being focused on mental health and emotions and our words? Well, there was a landmark study published about 20 years ago, and again, it was looking at breast cancer. And the first group of patients in the study received the standard of care for cancer treatment. These are women who receive surgery, chemotherapy and radiation only. So they served kind of as a control group. The second group of women in the study were given this same standard of care, but in addition, they were placed in regular, small group sessions. And in these sessions they were taught stress reduction techniques such as deep breathing and relaxation and even guided imagery where they were taught to imagine their body's immune system cells chewing up cancer cells, basically, and envisioning these cancer cells dying and going away. And the result of the study were actually quite significant. The women in this second group who also received the extra sessions had improved immune system functions on lab testing. They endorse less stress, and they also noted significantly improved quality of life. So I find this fascinating simply by being aware of our mindset. Another study sought to determine whether Mind-Body Medicine, as we call it, whether these protocols could influence physical pain experienced by cancer patients.
Speaker2:
Of course, with cancer, a lot of times, if it spreads to other locations in the body, especially to the bone, there can be pretty significant pain that the patient experiences. And this study found that there was a significant reduction in pain experienced by patients who received training and specific relaxation techniques. And similarly to the other study, they were taken through what we call guided imagery, and then they were also given what's called coping skills training. So they were given tools on how to acknowledge their pain and manage it better. Yet another study concluded that breast cancer patients who were provided relaxation, guided imagery and biofeedback training experienced a reduction in anxiety and a boost in immune system function. Now, these are only a few examples of some of the research that has been done. But consistently all of the research we have available points toward a significant and profound link between the mind and the body. And we have, of course, confirmed that that link is evident both in the risk of developing cancer and also that that link can be very helpful to us in how we structure our cancer treatment protocols. And of course in integrative oncology were all about using all the tools at our disposal that we feel are going to help the patient. I'm reminded of the quote by Sir William Osler, who is considered the father of modern medicine. And he said, The good physician treats the disease, the great physician treats the patient who has the disease.
Speaker2:
And this is very true when we're talking about cancer and about mind body medicine. Now, of course, a cancer diagnosis often brings feelings of hopelessness, anxiety and despair. And this diagnosis frequently blindsides otherwise healthy people who in an instant are transported from their normal, healthy lives into the valley of the shadows of illness. Many of these patients are all of a sudden staring death in the face. The emotional, psychological and even spiritual implications of this, in my opinion, are just as profound as the physical implications. So in my opinion, it's critical that health care providers meet each patient in his or her journey, wherever that may be. And as all of you know, this is sorely lacking in modern medicine today, and especially in conventional oncology. Now, some of you may have heard my story includes some time I spent researching at Harvard Medical School, and my research there was on the doctor patient relationship. And I've always been intrigued by this sacred relationship. And I was thrilled to get an opportunity to spend some time researching to see what the scientific literature really tells us about the importance of this relationship. I mean, in reality, you know, I love science. It's fascinating to me. But the reason I became a physician was because I really cherished that bond between doctor and patient and wanted to have that kind of bond with my patients. And that's really why I'm doing what I'm doing.
Speaker2:
And what I found through my research is that patients who have a strong relationship with their health care provider have better treatment outcomes. It's kind of intuitive, but it was really great to see that proven out in the literature, and I believe that this relationship between doctor and patient is built on several key factors compassion, good communication, and ultimately trust. Hi, this is Dr. Jonathan Stegall, medical doctor and specialist in integrative oncology. And I want to tell you about my new bestselling book, Cancer Secrets. This book is packed with valuable information you need to know about whether you're searching for information for yourself or for a loved one. In my book, you'll learn what cancer is and what it is not, as well as which treatments you should be focusing on from both modern medicine as well as alternative medicine. You'll also learn the ins and outs of nutrition and supplementation, as well as important information about having the proper mindset. I'm in the trenches every day with patients and I've shared my secrets in this book with you. Please go to Cancer Secrets dot com and buy your copy now. So let's talk a little bit about how this looks in clinical practice. As you can see through other research studies, the devil's in the details, so to speak. So when I see a patient for the first time, a patient becomes a patient. In my practice, I do a very thorough review of their life history, and certainly a lot of this entails learning more about how they were diagnosed with cancer, some of the treatments they may have already tried, and things of that nature.
Speaker2:
But I go back to birth and I asked them about their birth. I say, What was your birth like? Were you told that it was traumatic? Was it a natural birth or a C-section? Did you have any significant health challenges when you were an infant? And then we kind of walk through the timeline of that patient's life. And we we talk about as a toddler and as a as a child in elementary school, were there health challenges? Were there allergies? Were there surgeries we need to talk about? And then we also talk about the emotional side of that. You know, what was their childhood like? Were they generally happy? Did they have brothers and sisters or were they an only child? Did they have two parents present in the home or were they in a single parent home? Were they adopted? Were they in foster care? And then we just walk through every phase of life, you know, to teenager years, adulthood, and talk about every phase because it all matters. And what will frequently see is that there are almost certainly some significant life stressors even prior to a cancer diagnosis that most patients are holding on to. And this can be a very conscious awareness or many times it's a subconscious issue as well, but that stressor is still there in the background.
Speaker2:
And so part of talking about treatment is addressing these stressors and either acknowledging their presence and dealing with that and sort of letting it go, or for some cases of stressors that are due to unresolved conflict, it involves resolving that conflict, talking to that person who was mean or abusive or in some dramatic examples, patients removing themselves from stressful situations, maybe a stressful relationship or a job that's harmful for them or something like that. So we talk about all those details because we know from science that all those stressors add up and they make cancer treatment that much harder if these barriers are not addressed. So let's talk about some ways we can practice good mind body medicine. And I want to give you some tips you can use. You know, assuming you're not my patient, some things you can even do on your own at home, even if you don't have an integrative oncologist who is overseeing your care and being supportive of your efforts. The first is the idea of mindfulness. Now, you know, a lot of people use the word mindfulness is a very, you know, new agey term in terms of, you know, meditation and meditation is fine, but mindfulness in general is just being present in the moment. It's being very intentional about having a heightened awareness of your thoughts, your moods and even your words. And this even extends to the way we consume food.
Speaker2:
You know, mindful eating is is a term that's out there now. And I think it's a great way to think about being more present in the moment. And I want to ask you, when was the last time you really sat down and savored the food you ate? How or where were you of the smell of that food, the texture, the taste? To be honest, many people can't remember the last time they really sat down and enjoyed what they ate. So many of us are in a rush. We're eating on the go. We're throwing something together quickly, maybe something we made already, or throwing something in the microwave and scarfing it down as quickly as possible. Many of us reach for the first thing we see when we're hungry, and it's sort of just a reflex almost to eat, and it's not something we're really actively thinking about. So this extends obviously to other areas of our lives as well. How aware are we of our emotions? For many people, their emotions throughout the day are a rollercoaster. They're always in the mode of reacting. They're not really in control of what they think and what they feel. And it's easy to fall into the trap of viewing our emotions as being reactive to a situation. And and we're not really in control, but but in reality, we are we have the ability to control our emotions in a very powerful way.
Speaker2:
And I think with a cancer diagnosis especially easy, after going through those initial emotions, upon receiving a diagnosis, it's easy to allow those emotions to persist and become very chronic to the point where there's just a great deal of anxiety and worry and fear and even depression that we allow to continue over the weeks and months now a symbol. Full way to improve upon this is to, again, be very mindful, be focused about being as positive as possible. We actually have good studies showing that people who are positive respond better to their treatments. There was one study on cancer patients and patients who focused on being positive, smiling as much as possible, laughing as much as possible, and even incorporated some meditation and prayer had a 65% reduction in mood disturbances, and they had a 31% reduction in their symptoms of stress. Now, these are very real outcomes, and to be honest, if we're going to make a significant effort to fight cancer in the best way possible, we must address the power of our thoughts and our words on a regular basis. Now words are extremely important. We can go back to the Bible and see multiple verses about the power of our words. And there's an old saying that whatever you think. Whether it's you think you can or you think you can't, you're right. And all of this isn't 100% accurate. I do think the essence of that quote is absolutely true.
Speaker2:
What we believe in our heart and confess with our mouth can and does have a tremendous effect on the course of our lives. And this is certainly true as it relates to health. One of the things I work on with my patients is the power of confessions. So I actually give my patients a list of confessions, and these are things I instruct them to say at least twice a day, but ideally three or four times a day. I typically recommend that they get somewhere by themselves where they can kind of relax and focus and not be distracted and audibly say not just in their minds, but say aloud these confessions. It's easy to fall into the trap of of dwelling on the negative and saying things like, I'm so sick, I feel terrible. My cancer is getting worse. I'm going to die. But this is doing nothing beneficial in the body. And in fact, it's causing harm in the body. It's causing the immune system to work less efficiently. It's causing all of those stress hormones and chemicals in the body to go haywire and make the challenge of fighting cancer that much more difficult. Words affect us to the core. So these confessions I give patients are things like, I feel good, I am healed, I am healthy. These are simple and powerful, but they're very effective. And I typically give them a list of 15 or 20 different confessions. And the nice thing is, if you're listening to this, you can come up with your own.
Speaker2:
It's it really becomes common sense and you can really tailor it to your situation. But as Proverbs 1821 tells us, the tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. And in my opinion, these confessions that you say aloud multiple times a day should not only be with regard to your health, but also with your relationships, with your family, your finances, any aspect of your life, in my opinion, that's important to you. Warrants a place in your daily confessions. I personally will say my daily confessions aloud every morning as I drive to work by myself, and it's a real powerful time to get my mind right and prepare for my day ahead. And I truly believe that that those words create action. Now, if you're still not convinced, I want to talk to you a little bit about what research has uncovered in this area. We tend to think of our brains as being mostly under our control, our conscious thought. But research has found that only 5 to 10% of our brain activity and thoughts are due to our conscious control. This means that 90 to 95% of our brains capacity is subconscious thought. Now, subconscious thoughts exert an enormous influence over our conscious thoughts. Our actions are behaviors as well as the functioning of our bodies. I envision the subconscious mind as a tape recorder and a data storage facility.
Speaker2:
From the time we're born, the subconscious mind tape recorder is running and it's recording everything that we are exposed to our thoughts and our emotions and our words. And this tape recorder is keeping a log and storing all of this information. So you can imagine over a period of years and decades that as this record keeping occurs in the subconscious mind. We're bombarded on an on a level to which we're unaware with a lot of negativity. And so our job is to focus on the positive as much as we can. And I truly feel that this is a vital aspect of effective cancer treatment. And of course, in integrative oncology, we embrace this. To conclude today's episode. As you can see, effective cancer treatment isn't just about the substances you put in your body. It's also about how you navigate the battlefields of the mind and harness the power of your thoughts, emotions and words to create a healing environment inside the body. I hope you found this information helpful and I encourage you to begin implementing some of these changes immediately. The great thing about mind body medicine is that it's something that's in your direct control that you can easily implement on your own as often as you like. In our next episode, we will conclude season one with a question and answer session where I will tackle your most common questions. Thank you again for listening. I look forward to next time the bye.
Speaker1:
Thank you for listening to the Cancer Secrets podcast. If you were encouraged by this show, please share it with a loved one or friend. Help support the show by leaving us a rating and review on iTunes. The more reviews, the more friends like you can find the show. Finally, to learn more, visit us online at DRS Dotcom. The Cancer Secrets Podcast. Changing the Cancer Paradigm.
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