Rationale of the newsletter

Mind and Body Health newsletter constitutes a channel created to holistically promote Health, addressing subjects connected with it. Mind and Body are so profoundly interlinked that perfectly healing you demands healing both your mind and body. Otherwise, you won’t enjoy complete health. A worse situation is that people might not generally know this Mind-Body connection and its deep link with Health.

I use the word “might” which suggests doubt because I have attempted to seek any studies which could directly confirm or invalidate our hypothesis, but I have not found any. Yet with my observation especially based on how I see people generally behaving, I can’t fear to affirm that most people don’t know that their minds and bodies influence each other intensely. Furthermore, I will soon give unquestionable evidence from a study by a highly prominent and credible physician which can help us to confirm the hypothesis.

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There are different reasons which have galvanized me to initiate this newsletter. Some of key ones include an inspiration from Science Journalism courses at university, my thorough investigation around Mind-Body connection and its link with Health since 2012, and the unimaginable importance of (1) this connection and (2) health in all fields. Basically, this first edition is introductory in nature, providing brief information especially justifying the newsletter’s rationale.

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As already said, at university I have studied science journalism courses which feature among factors which have inspired me to make this newsletter. The title of my thesis in 2011 for me to obtain a bachelor’s degree in journalism and communication was ‘The Role of Science Journalism in Development: A Focus on Health Issues.’ This work constitutes the huge starting point for me to perfectly comprehend the vital importance of health in all fields of life. For instance, one respondent told me “People cannot develop their countries, if they aren’t healthy.” Another one said “A healthy nation, a wealthy nation.”

In fact, your good health is essential for you to accomplish peak performance and success in any sectors, and I undoubtedly believe that you can’t challenge this. Peak performance means working to your full potential. It is this type of working which enables you to attain inconceivable success. I define peak performance as performing right things in the right manner and at the right time with the right knowledge and skills as well as the right motivation and the right capacity. The latter one involves accomplishing activities with your full capacity. If you possess the capacity to work for 12 hours a day, while remaining healthy; then, you aren’t performing to your full capacity, if you don’t reach these hours.

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Better Up [ https://www.betterup.com] says that peak performance is when an individual performs at optimal levels physically, mentally, or both and that in many ways, peak performance is parallel to reaching self-actualization.

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Peak performance actually involves performing work to the highest extent but effortlessly and this is feasible when you enjoy both a healthy mind and a healthy body. The Peak Performance Center [ https://thepeakperformancecenter.com] and Smith School of Business [ https://smith.queensu.ca/index.php] echo my point. “Peak performance is a level of exceptional functioning in which a person effortlessly performs an activity to the maximum of their ability, while fully focused and immersed in feelings of confidence, engagement and enjoyment,” says the Peak Performance Center. The school states “Achieving peak performance relies not only on being physically healthy but also on an individual's mental wellness.”

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As I have already said, I have missed any pieces of research contending whether mind-body connection is widely fathomed or not. But I have maintained that mind-body connection remains largely unknown to most people. The work of Dr. Jeffrey Rediger helps us to comprehend it. The Indian Express [ https://indianexpress.com] in its article “Explained: Why patients sometimes make ‘miraculous’ recoveries” has featured this physician. It first states “Now and then, a doctor comes across a patient who improves unexpectedly from a disease that usually progresses, such as cancer, and at times is even cured. This is called spontaneous healing.”

“In their 1966 book?‘Spontaneous Regression of Cancer’, W H Cole and T C Everson defined it (in cases of cancer) as “the partial or complete disappearance of a malignant tumour in the absence of all treatment, or in the presence of therapy which is considered inadequate to exert significant influence on neoplastic disease. Such cases notwithstanding, the medical fraternity is often sceptical and takes ‘miraculous’ recoveries as flukes [accidents/coincidences/chances]. Very few study such cases such or take them into account when treating patients.”

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Among these very few personalities who examine those cases, The Indian Express places Dr. Jeffrey Rediger, MD. He is a psychiatrist who also possesses a master’s degree in divinity. He says that mind-body connection contributes to this miraculous recovery. Ridiger has passed more than 15 years studying spontaneous healing, the results of which he has written in his new book.

His book ‘Cured: The Life-Changing Science of Spontaneous Healing’, according to The Indian Express, explores patterns behind healing illnesses such as the deadliest kinds of cancers, and lays out physical and mental principles associated with recovery. “These include physically healing diets and immune systems, and mentally healing stress responses and identities. Rediger argues that much of our physical reality is created in our minds and perception changes our experiences, sometimes to the point of changing our bodies. Therefore, Rediger argues, healing our identities may be a key tool to recovery.”

?Different prominent medical professionals have extolled the book. Dr. Mark Hyman, MD, Director of the Cleveland Clinic for Functional Medicine, Author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller?‘The Blood Sugar Solution' has declared “Cured is a rare glimpse into the mysteries of human health and disease. Why do some people with incurable disease suddenly heal? This phenomenon has been ignored by medicine rather than investigated. Dr. Rediger finally asks what we can learn from these cases of spontaneous remission and how can we activate the power of the human body using the mind to harness our body’s own healing systems.”

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Martha Stark, MD, Faculty, Harvard Medical School—"Packed with pearls of wisdom gleaned from Dr. Rediger’s intensive immersion in the field of remarkable recoveries and from his thoughtful reflections about his own personal journey,?Cured?will touch the hearts and souls of everyone who reads this book and will inspire them to take charge of their health – and their mindset.”

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Rediger’s work and the quotes-of the professionals who are just very few ones I have selected-show that mind-body connection and its link with health is little known. The work and the quotes indicate that mind-body connection and profound link with health are generally overlooked and unknown. This signifies that most people don’t know the mind-body connection and its immeasurable link with health. The University of Hertfordshire [https://www.herts.ac.uk] says “Our body and mind are one.” By the words “generally and most”, I intend to mean that conducting a study about it, you might find that not even 10% fully understand it.

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Key questions to be addressed by the first next editions include those which will attempt to detail subjects that this edition has not meticulously addressed. For instance, some of topics to be covered by the editions include (1) the detailed definition of health since most people don’t comprehend it, (2) deep mind-body connection and holistic health, (3) extent to which the mind-body connection is overlooked and its consequences, and (4) incredible importance of the connection in one’s healing and other vital areas such as peak performance and success.

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By Jean Baptiste Ndabananiye-Media, Empowerment& MBA.

ADEPE Deputy-Programs Manager, with a demonstrated history/experience of involvement in women’s empowerment, project/program management, peace-building/conflict transformation, training, public awareness campaigns, governance and budget transparency, advocacy, documentation, the broadcast media industry, and community justice, among others.

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He is skilled, among others, in English and French, Project& Program Management, Media Production, Peace-building, Leadership, Advocacy, and Kinyarwanda- English-French Translation, and Mind-Body Connection and its Link with Health through extensive reading and investigation about these two fields as well as Health Reporting and Communication. Strong management, media and communication professional with a Bachelor's and Master's focused in Journalism& Communication and MBA-Project Management respectively from University of Rwanda and Mount Kenya University.

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