Welcome Back to The Synergetic Health Newsletter! 

March 6th, 2025. Greetings from Sapa! I arrived to this lively mountain city in the northwest of Vietnam on a Saturday night, greeted by a hotel manager rocked on rice vodka. No mention of me checking in to my room was made until I joined him and his friend for a late dinner which included three shots of that rice vodka, bamboo shoots, chicken liver, chicken feet, and duck (“no net, walk free, taste better”- aka cage-free). I’ve been spending my days exploring the terraced hillsides, eating even more pho, and getting wrecked by my first hit from a điếu cày pipe that my new friend handed me with a grin before erupting in laughter as I struggled to stay upright.

In today’s newsletter I write about a travel experience here in Vietnam. Then I return to the emotional suppression and cancer connection, analyzing patterns between high and low mortality rate countries. After that, a look into the mind of Nick Camarata and his thoughts on trauma.

😭 When Dylan Made Me Cry in Vietnam

Written Saturday March 1, 2025

Yesterday, I floated through Ha Long Bay—one of the most breathtaking natural wonders on earth. Limestone karsts jutting dramatically from emerald waters. Caves with stalactites hanging like ancient chandeliers. Picture-perfect vistas at every turn.

I felt nothing.

Not the awe I was supposed to feel. Not the spiritual connection to nature I was hoping for. Just a vague appreciation filtered through the lens of tourism, Instagram frames, and my own distracted mind worrying about Bitcoin prices and stock portfolios.

That numbness clung to me until today. Now I'm lying in a sleeper pod on a $20 luxury bus winding through northern Vietnam. Rice paddies stretch endlessly on either side, farmers bent over their work much as they have been for centuries. I'm watching "A Complete Unknown," the Bob Dylan biopic, to pass the time.

And then it happens. Dylan takes the stage at Newport. The opening chords of "The Times They Are A-Changin'" fill my headphones.

Come gather 'round people, wherever you roam...

Suddenly, I'm crying. Not just a few dignified tears, but a genuine sob.

And admit that the waters around you have grown...

The irony isn't lost on me. Ha Long Bay couldn't touch me, but here I am, curled in my private pod with a (thankfully) privacy curtain and massage capabilities, coming undone over a song written when this country was being torn apart by the same war that defined Dylan's generation.

And accept it that soon you’ll be drenched to the bone…

Travel is strange that way. We chase experiences, thinking the most Instagram-worthy moments will be the most meaningful. We plan our itineraries around must-see attractions, believing that's where the magic is.

But the real moments ambush us when we're just passing through, when we've forgotten we're supposed to be having magical experiences.

If your time to you is worth savin’…

Maybe that's the problem with places like Ha Long Bay. They're pre-packaged as transcendent. The emotional response is expected, almost mandatory. Whereas Dylan caught me unguarded, the song colliding with the landscape outside my window in a way no tour guide could orchestrate.

Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone

For whatever reason, Dylan's voice calling across six decades spoke more directly to something inside me than all those ancient limestone formations. And that's okay. Maybe authentic travel isn't about having emotional responses to the world's recognized wonders, but about remaining open to being surprised by what actually moves us.

Even if it happens in a massage-capable sleeper pod, somewhere between Hanoi and Sapa, Dylan in our ears and Vietnam rolling by outside.

For the times they are a-changin’

🌎 Cancer Patterns Suggest Emotional Roots

In a recent post, I explored Paul Leendertse’s theory: after 16 years and hundreds of patients, he claims emotional suppression—not just stress—drives cancer. Global stats back him up: cultures that process emotions well have lower rates. Could suppression be cancer’s root?

Global Cancer Paradox

Mainstream explanations—genetics, toxins, diet—don’t explain the gaps:

Lowest Cancer Mortality Rates (per 100,000): Qatar (40.1), UAE (42.3), Saudi Arabia (45.8), Indonesia (53.8), India (63.7), Ecuador (64.8), Mexico (65.3)

Highest Cancer Mortality Rates (per 100,000) UK (108.3), Canada (103.2), US (102.7), Germany (100.8)

Age-adjusted, screening varies, but mortality hints at more than lifestyle. What ties these low-rate countries together isn’t diet or genes—it’s culture and emotion.

Emotional Ties

Leendertse’s theory is that cancer starts when emotions like grief, anger, or shame get buried, not just stressed over. These suppressed feelings block energy in the body, leading to cellular breakdown. Leendertse links cancers to buried wounds: lung (grief), breast (sacrifice), prostate (shame), colon (family stress), etc.

These patterns show up worldwide, yet some societies seem to escape the worst of it.

Cultural Factors in Low-Cancer Countries

Four traits stand out in countries with low cancer rates:

• Collectivism: They prioritize community over individualism—averaging 76 on the collectivism scale, compared to 45 in high-rate countries.

• Multi-generational Homes: 61% of households include multiple generations, versus 16% in high-rate nations.

• Emotional Expression: They embrace feeling openly—scoring 73 versus 50 in the West.

• Spiritual Practices: 77% engage daily in prayer or meditation, compared to 29% in high-rate countries.

These aren’t random; they’re a shield against suppression.

How It Works

How do these traits protect against cancer if suppression is the cause? In collectivist cultures with big families and open expression, emotions don’t stay trapped—they move through talking, rituals, or prayer. Research shows chronic stress weakens immunity and fuels inflammation, while emotional states can disrupt cellular health. Leendertse takes it further, saying that suppressed emotions kill cells, and fungus steps in to clean up.

Regional Case Studies

• Middle East: Qatar, UAE, and Saudi Arabia have low rates, tied to daily prayers (85-92% participation) and strong family networks. Reflection and support cut through isolation.

• Southeast Asia: Indonesia blends community ceremonies with multi-generational living. Tradition keeps emotions alive.

• Latin America: Mexico’s Día de los Muertos transforms grief into celebration. Expression becomes a cultural strength.

These examples show how culture can turn emotional flow into a defense.

What Mainstream Medicine Misses

Standard oncology offers excuses for these gaps: screening limits, genetic differences, or lifestyle. But Qatar’s advanced healthcare debunks the screening argument. Immigrants adopting new countries’ rates directly challenge the genetic argument.

Lifestyle can’t explain why collectivist societies with varied diets consistently win out. What’s ignored is emotion: the 4x higher multi-generational living, the 2.6x gap in spiritual practice. These point to disconnection as the real driver.

The Emotional Root of Cancer

Global patterns don’t lie: low-rate countries share emotional strengths mainstream medicine overlooks. Leendertse’s work with patients and these stats suggest cancer isn’t just cellular—it’s a cry from our disconnected selves. Treatments might help short-term, but without tackling the emotional root, we’re stuck. It’s time to rethink cancer, from the inside out.

𝕏 Thread of the Week

Nick Camarata, one of my favorite follows on X, goes on to talk about how humans’ ability to store patterns makes us smarter but comes at a huge cost.

I agree with him when he says that people have no idea how “traumatized” they are, and as you clear it away your wellbeing improves tremendously. I can testify to this. People think they are normal when they actually have a pile of stored emotional energy/trauma just waiting to be excavated.

He goes on to say that going on this quest has its tradeoffs but if more people saw the magnitude of the issue we would say “isn’t this a little excessive?”

“It’s not that we’re a lot more miserable than we realize, we’re accurately reading our state, it’s that we don’t realize how much we’re carrying, and how happy we’d be without that. without the trauma I think humans are naturally very light and happy creatures".

👆 This is so spot on. We are designed to be free- light and happy- not contracted, anxious, depressed, and full of stress and worry. You won’t know just how much BS you’ve been carrying until you go digging. And then you’ll, like me, go tell other people what happened to you as a result of your dig.

“It’s not about how bad the thing is it’s about how it’s stored in your body. imo it’s weirdly non-linear some horrible thing might not store much but then someone looking at you weirdly when you’re 4 might cause some big emotional repressed thing you have to deal with 30yrs later.”

👆 Most people expect the big traumas they experienced to be the ones that leave deep emotional wounds, but that’s often not the case. Something super small and unmemorable could be the thing that stays stuck for years.

“It’s a little hard to talk about without phenonomology, but basically energy gets trapped, and that weighs you down, zaps your life, this is the karma you carry around, you can let it go by feeling it clearly and it’s very visceral but first you have to be able access it/feel it”

👆 There is no pill to swallow here. To really pull this out you need to feel that trapped energy in all its ugliness.

🔎 Research Corner

😴 Keep Waking Up in the Middle of the Night?: This study investigates the effects of collagen peptide (CP) supplementation on sleep quality and cognitive function in physically active males experiencing sleep complaints. In a randomized, crossover design involving 13 participants, each consumed 15 grams of CP or a placebo one hour before bedtime for seven nights. Results indicated that CP supplementation significantly reduced nighttime awakenings compared to placebo, as measured by polysomnography and subjective reports. Additionally, cognitive performance improved, evidenced by better scores on the Stroop test.

📡 Living Near Mobile Towers Is No Bueno: A cross-sectional study conducted in Egypt examined 85 people living near mobile phone base stations compared to 80 matched controls. Researchers found significantly higher rates of neuropsychiatric complaints among those near base stations, including headaches (23.5% vs 10%), memory changes (28.2% vs 5%), dizziness, tremors, depression, and sleep disturbances. Despite radiation levels being below standard limits, researchers concluded that living near mobile phone towers may pose neuropsychiatric risks and recommended guideline revisions and regular neurobehavioral assessments for nearby residents.

💉 Childhood Vaccines Cause Autism? Let’s hit the hot button. A new peer-reviewed study by Mawson and Jacob using Florida Medicaid data suggests a strong correlation between childhood vaccines and autism. The research found that children with 11 or more vaccine visits showed a relative risk (RR) of 4.4 for autism compared to those with fewer visits. The study indicates a dose-dependent relationship, suggesting that vaccines may be responsible for approximately 80% of autism cases in the US. Steve Kirsch, no friend of the pro-vaccine crowd, notes that Congress has not required the NIH to conduct comparative studies between vaccinated and unvaccinated children, and mainstream medical professionals have been largely silent about these findings.

🔗 One Hitters

💉 Why Did The FDA Greenlight The COVID Vaccines? (Article)

✈️ 50 years of travel tips on one page (Article)

☀️ Sunlight/UV light is huge for health and healing (Thread)

✔️ That will do it for this time! Hopefully you got some value out of it. If you have any questions/comments/things you’d like to learn more about please don’t hesitate to reach out.

🔗 If you know anyone who loves learning about these types of topics, send them this link!

📰 To read all past newsletters, go here.