Lessons on Health and Meaning with Dr. Nedelya Shtonova

“Laziness should be included in the International Classification of Diseases. I never slack off, I never mess around, I don’t look for shortcuts; I like to do things thoroughly, to put more and more of myself into them!” shares the charismatic doctor and host of “The World of Health.”

MINA UZANICHEVA

For Dr. Nedelya Shtonova, it is going to be a long day. Her daughter is celebrating her graduation from the English Language High School in Plovdiv after having also received a diploma in England, and the mother wants to be by her side at this important moment. The next morning, she leaves for a congress in Venice. She is also working on a new book, in which she presents an integral system for health and conditioning together with Prof. Julian Karabiberov – the conditioning coach for our national basketball and volleyball teams. And she often writes at night. “I sleep no more than 4-5 hours a night. I know the risk this carries. I’m not proud of it, I’m actually worried, but I try to fit 37 hours of activity into a 24-hour day and sometimes I just pray that God spares me. But then again, different people have different needs. Leonardo da Vinci, for example, slept only 3-4 hours…” the doctor smiles.

The comparison with Leonardo is not inappropriate. Nedelya Shtonova is among the few representatives of the “Renaissance man” type with diverse interests and activities, against the modern trend of narrow specialization. A neurologist by profession, she does not abandon her work as a health journalist on her show “The World of Health” on bTV, she is preparing her own brand—the first product of which will be a nutritional supplement for concentration and memory—and she finds time for jogging, tennis, yoga, Pilates, piano, and ballet. Furthermore, this spring she even won the fifth season of the bTV show “Dancing Stars,” showing enviable form and grace under the guidance of professional dancer Atanas Mesechkov. Last but not least, there is her doctoral dissertation at the Medical University of Sofia. You get the feeling she has done the work of at least three lifetimes, but the more she achieves, the greater her plans become.

Chess for a warm-up

“Knowing what was waiting for me today, I played a game of chess with my husband this morning. At home, chess has been held in high regard since we lived with my parents in Mozambique. They worked there when I was a child. There was no television, nor many amusements, so every Saturday and Sunday we organized family tournaments. This is the only game where I have cried when losing because I felt it as a defeat against my mind, my logic, and my ability to strategize. My brother and father are incredible; they are mathematicians, and my mother and I were regularly beaten by them. My husband, Valentin Marinov, is an architect, also a mathematician, and he loves this game too. In the morning I told him: ‘Let’s play a game of chess to warm up!’ A 10-minute blitz game and he beat me! As often happens!” Nedelya laughs.

Thanks to chess, she learned the valuable skill of losing from childhood. And she doesn’t take it too painfully. “The things that happen to me—the victories, the losses, the tears, the happiness, the exaltation, the abysses of sadness—I don’t perceive them as good or bad. It is part of the experience. It is not good for the brain to drop anchors in such states. You just turn to the next page and move on.”

After her daughter’s graduation, and before that the victory in “Dancing Stars,” what stage is the doctor in now? “A stage of reflection. I also feel happiness from the freedom, because the show was like a barracks where nothing existed except dancing. One day I was driving on the highway from Sofia to Plovdiv and suddenly I noticed that it was green all around me and there were flowers. I said to myself: ‘Spring has come and I didn’t even notice it!’ But with this freedom, I also realize how many things I have yet to do. And they require my complete dedication.”

Awareness of a mission

The charismatic doctor shares that she has always had an awareness of a personal mission. She clearly remembers the moment when this idea crystallized into the thought that people need a “university of health” and that she could create it. This happened in her hometown, Plovdiv.

“It was during a shift at the neurology clinic at the ‘St. George’ University Hospital in Plovdiv. Two patients arrived in a severe, life-threatening condition, and there was only one perfusor in the ward—a device that dispenses the medication I needed to give to both of them. I was a young neurologist, having just graduated, and I was very worried. I asked myself who I was to decide who should get the perfusor! Both of them were overweight and had poorly controlled blood pressure. I thought about how many fatal complications you could avoid if you had the motivation and literacy to protect yourself.

A few days later, I saw an advertisement: ‘Eurocom TV announces a competition for an entertainment slot.’ I went there with a slightly comical plan of action. I stood before a committee of 10 people and said: ‘I suggest we change the purpose of the slot and create a health show!’ This happened on October 1, 2000. No one had ever heard of science-based health journalism. The boss, Mr. Georgi Barbudev, called Vassa Gancheva and Tosho Toshev and told them that a doctor wanted to make a health show. I asked for a chance; I persuaded them for a long time. My dream was to create a television university that promotes the prevention of diseases, because there is a huge gap in people’s health literacy and the scale of this mission is enormous.”

This was the beginning—the show “Before Medicines” on Eurocom, during which Nedelya filmed her documentary “The Temptation,” dedicated to the fight against diabetes. In 2010, it brought her the gold statuette at the Media Prize competition in Stockholm. Work at bTV followed, with the show “The Spirit of Health,” which later became a segment on “Before Noon,” and then “The World of Health” every Saturday and Sunday. Speaking about this, Dr. Shtonova mentions the main causes of premature mortality: strokes, heart attacks, peripheral thrombosis, diabetes. “All of them are preventable. These are lives that could have continued, families in which there could have been a mother, a father, a grandmother, a grandfather, but they are gone! And there is an obituary at the entrance because someone was not informed about preventive programs, motivation, and the desire to protect the most valuable thing—health!

For 24 years on television, I have told over 1,300 stories from all over the world. In all of them, the heroes start from a major problem: stroke, heart attack, amputation, impossible pregnancy, loss of the love of their life. But at point B, like phoenixes from the burning embers of sorrow (I love that expression!), they forge a new path, more aware. I have told these stories to show that you can turn every game around! Human nature is full of miracles, and no one has the right to say who will live and who will die. You must fight to the end!”

The great are always in work clothes

Long before being crowned as the most popular doctor in the country, Nedelya Shtonova had already received another crown—for beauty. Few people know that the neurologist is the first modern winner of the “Miss Plovdiv” title. She entered the competition almost as a joke when she was very young, and she won. This title appears in her biography when she proposed her concept for a health show. Could it be that a dose of vanity was involved in the idea?

“When I became Miss, and later, when I went to America more than once for various specializations, I received many offers for a career based on my appearance. I could have been a model, and if vanity and an easy life derived solely from visual reality had been important to me, I would be married to a millionaire in the USA, have tickets to all the operas in Europe and Grand Slam tournaments, and drink tea at 5 o’clock with ladies showing off their expensive outfits.

But I chose to study medicine—6 years, to get a specialty in ‘Neurology’—4 years, to spend 3 years writing a dissertation, and 24 years to make an educational show. I chose to live my life through hard work, to gather a little bit every day, like a little bee, without stopping. My favorite motto, written in my childhood room years ago: ‘Nedelya, remember, the great are always in work clothes!’

Vanity and things derived from appearance do not tempt me. But beauty, to the extent that I have it, helps me. The show’s cameramen, for example, say: ‘If you weren’t doing it, we wouldn’t be watching.’ And you think: ‘If God has given you a pleasant appearance, why not use it for good? If the way I look helps people keep their attention on what I am doing, why not?’

Besides, I have noticed: I invite a guest who is an academic person, a professor, who does science, but, being dedicated to that, stops taking care of himself and allows, for example, obesity. The conversation is wonderful, but the comments are: ‘This person, instead of teaching me, should better fix himself!’ It’s cruel, because this person is like the shoemaker who is barefoot because he takes care of other people’s shoes. Dedicated to their patients, many doctors forget themselves, but even on an airplane, they warn: in case of an emergency, take care of yourself first. When you are in condition, you are a good professional, parent, friend—a person.”

Philosophy of the long game

Dr. Shtonova professes the philosophy of the long game, which requires daily work and constant accumulations of knowledge and experience. Where does this mindset take root? “I am a child created with a lot of love, but I did not appear easily. My parents waited for me for a very long time. Then I myself struggled for 10 years to become a mother. I have seen examples of many people who want to have a child but cannot. Life is sometimes born very difficultly, and often it doesn’t happen at all, and I think that if you have been kissed by the divine chance of existing on Earth, you must give a return gift. When you develop yourself and your personal identity, you thank God for the chance that you exist. A person can raise the environment around them only to the extent of their personal identity. If I am a toxic, perpetually dissatisfied, and gloomy character, I draw everyone around me into my darkness. But if I fly, I will try to lift others too.

These small steps I take forward are part of the philosophy of the long game, which I am in love with. I don’t have a short-term relationship with my life, nor a short-term project. The only exception is the 3-minute blitz chess game per match with a few seconds per move—great prevention of dementia.

There is an opinion that when people get old, they move to a lower category. But there are two options: either you are 20-30 years old, young, beautiful, and then something happens to you and you turn into a sad obituary, or you strive to be like a beautiful cathedral. I don’t like clichés, but I like cathedrals. They are created over many years, and there is so much beauty in that! I did an interview with one of the most futuristic scientists—Aubrey de Grey—who developed a program according to which we can live at least up to 100 years (it’s a different question whether we want to). There is no need for us to be sick, immobilized, overweight, or disabled. It is completely possible to age beautifully, to metabolize time in a graceful way. But that requires you to be consistent and clear about the direction in your life. Because anyone can be beautiful at 20 or 30, but then you have the face, the body, and the clinical status that you have worked for yourself.

The brain repeats patterns; it is neuroplastic. If you are used to being lazy, sabotaging yourself, slacking off, and complaining, it takes a lot of attention to turn the game around. If you are used to being disciplined, hardworking, and knowing that the process is important, even when you fall and it hurts, and they betray you, if you don’t stumble in the daily puddles, pits, and filthy people and scenarios, life is wonderful. That is the way to be in the long game.”

It’s stupid! Sign him up for piano!

Hardly anyone who has watched a show by Dr. Shtonova, has been her patient, or has simply had the opportunity to talk to her would believe that her parents once thought she had no great potential for learning. Moreover, they directly declared her stupid when she was a child.

“My mother is a teacher, and my brother is a year and a half younger than me; we grew up like twins. I clearly remember one evening in Mozambique, our parents looking at our notebooks. Vasil’s is perfect, and mine—a fire! All in red! Mom and Dad said about me: ‘If it’s stupid, it’s stupid; let’s just pray it stays healthy! She won’t become a mathematician, let’s sign her up for piano!’ I feel it as if it were yesterday! But I have no traumatic memory. I have learned not to maintain a negative fixation on anything. Naturally, brutal things happen in life, but I don’t drop an anchor in those states. Even if someone insults me, I take the constructive part from their criticism. That’s how I took the positive from ‘It’s stupid!’—they will sign me up for piano!

My teacher was named Aurelio, a Portuguese man; he lived on the 7th floor, several floors above us in the same building. In his home, there were French windows—from top to bottom. Through them, you could see the Indian Ocean, huge tidal waves, a cerulean sky, beauty! And a piano in the room! He started to play, and I saw how the left hand was doing something, and the right one—something completely different. I was hypnotized! I was 8 years old and I hadn’t seen anyone play the piano. I asked how it was possible for both hands to do different things, and he said: ‘Think, Nedelya, think! Your head is given only to think!’

That’s how I fell in love with the piano! Nobody ever forced me to play; I was just drawn to it. When I went to lessons, I took the stairs two or three at a time! I was flying! Now at home, I have two pianos. On one I play jazz, on the other—classical. Through a project in ‘The World of Health,’ Blagorodna Taneva, an internationally recognized violin teacher, invited me to perform something in front of the Music School. I am an amateur, but I was very happy! Since then, we have done jam sessions on four hands with Bobby Valchev, who has opened for Tom Jones and has been teaching piano in Dubai for 11 years.

In Paris, I found myself in an interesting situation years ago. I went for a specialization, but my money and documents were stolen, and I had to pay for my hotel. Right opposite was Charles Aznavour’s piano bar. I went there—when I’m sad, I either run or play the piano. As soon as the pianist at the bar went on break, I told him the situation I was in and asked to play. He agreed, and after 15 minutes he said: ‘You’re very good! Do you want to play for another half hour because I have a meeting?’ Of course, I agreed! On the piano, there was a large blue cup where people left something if they were pleased. When the pianist returned, he took the money in it and said: ‘It’s for you! Thank you very much!’ I was so happy! I played in that bar for a week to pay for my hotel. These are the most beautifully earned funds in my life!”

To improvise Mozart

Against the backdrop of the pink clouds upon which the conversation with Dr. Shtonova seems to float, it turns out that she is clearly one of those people who knows how to “make lemonade” when life “hands them lemons.” That’s how it was at the piano school in Plovdiv that she attended after returning from Mozambique with her family. To this day, she remembers the day she was simply expelled from it.

“I was in the seventh or eighth grade and I had to play a sonatina by Muzio Clementi at a concert. I knew it, but I didn’t like it at all. At the same time, I was learning the Turkish March by Mozart. Divine! I knew the first part wonderfully, the second—not so much. At the concert, the announcer says: ‘For you, Nedelya will play a sonatina by Clementi.’ I go out and a bandit voice awakens in me: ‘There’s an audience here, a piano, you know the first part of the Turkish March—something that is dear to your heart. The announcer said you would play the sonatina, but you go ahead and play Mozart!’ And with all my boldness, I start to play the Turkish March! In my peripheral vision, I see that the head, Comrade Valkanova, hears everything…” Nedelya recounts and sits down at the piano. “Let me show you!” she says and starts to play. Her fingers dance on the keys, and the beginning of Mozart’s popular piece sounds. After that, she plays the second part—how it should sound and how she presented it at that decisive moment. “Instead of stopping, I start to improvise and switch to jazz. Comrade Valkanova shoots onto the stage, grabs me by the neck, and says: ‘You are going to jazz up Mozart? That was your last day in this school!’ And she threw me out,” the doctor laughs.

To this day, her former teacher is her friend, and her son created the digital package for Nedelya’s show. But after that incident, her piano sessions remained at home. In their place appeared ballet.

“The creator in me wanted to express itself. I went to the ‘Rhythm’ dance studio. My teachers were Toshko and Eli Baltadzhievi. The first thing Toshko said was: ‘Nedelya, you will not mark the movements! You are here to perform them in full volume, completely, 100 percent!’ This stayed with me as a denominator for my whole life. I never slack off, I never mess around, I don’t look for shortcuts; I like to do things thoroughly, to put more, more, and more of myself into them!”

On Class and Control

They often say of her, "She has class!" What is class for Dr. Shtonova? "It is a higher form of intellect. Of awareness. Of humility before the miracle of life. And in my opinion, a person should try to be three things: stylish, classy, and gentle. One must have the desire to learn and educate oneself, to speak and write grammatically correctly, to have respect for good manners and for what one does to one's soul and heart, to have a beautiful, conditioned, and maintained body. To move upright, with a smooth, soft, and flexible gait. It is the inner necessity to remain noble, no matter what happens to you, to keep your head held high without being arrogant, haughty, or rude. To have respect for yourself and for life. To move through the world gracefully.

The great ballerina Carla Fracci set a standard for class for me when I saw her in Milan years ago. The deputy editor-in-chief of *Corriere della Sera*, Mario Papagallo, arranged an interview with her for me. She was so exquisite! In white clothes, no makeup, a clear face – a person who glows. There was no Botox, silicone, or 'tuning.' She was simple, restrained, held her head held high, and looked neither conceited nor arrogant. I remember her words: 'You need control to be free!'

First, you learn the classics – from it comes control in everything. Boundaries are very important for the brain. We think freedom is a great thing, but it loves discipline and rules. It goes haywire when in a state of chaos. Control makes you free. Personally, I feel most free when I am most busy."

 

I Do Not Divide

Nedelya discovers an unconventional meaning in her name. For her, it does not originate from the last day of the week, free from work, but means "I do not divide" (*ne delya*). She does not separate her activities from one another, and she views her free time as a white space that needs to be filled. "For me, laziness should be included in the international classification of diseases, and I am free when I am creating. Once, I had a little bit of time and decided to hold a seminar at the Universiada Hall – to talk about the brain, about neuroplasticity, how attitudes and emotional intelligence are built, how one maintains motivation. 'If 50-60 people come, it will be a success!' my husband said then. We made a bet! I held the seminar on June 9th – my daughter Lily's birthday. The hall was packed! People had traveled all night from all corners of the country because they were thirsty for inspiration, knowledge, and motivation.

So freedom does not come from idling. A person can also relax when playing music or exercising, and for me, everything is connected: the piano, dancing, medicine, parenting, because all of this is a derivative of the person I am. I like to travel through the different zones of the brain. That is why I became a neurologist – I traverse the brain and test its limits. An intelligent brain has many branches, the connections between neurons are constantly growing, and the more you work, the better it is. When you learn a *Turkish March*, something happens in the brain. When you learn to play tennis – I am a doctor's tennis champion – something else happens. If you taste defeat by analyzing your mistakes, that is a wonderful process of growth! You graduate from medical school – an intellectual challenge. You write a dissertation – a different model of thinking, you create a health program – back then it was like a white meadow covered in snow, there isn't a single footprint on it and you set off… you can pull everyone along with you and you might all collapse together. But a path is forged by walking. Learning a dance, swimming, doing yoga, skiing, singing, forgiving, overcoming yourself, writing a book… in all of this, two plus two does not equal four."

 

The Black Swans of Everyday Life

"I am inspired by elderly couples in love. It strengthens my faith in the permanence of love. Everything jewel-like that emphasizes how important it is to have culture, reason, and education is inspiring to me. Even in the way one goes through a divorce, a difficult diagnosis, a firing, a shattered dream, there can be a jewel-like quality. In *Dancing Stars*, I had so many injuries! Bruises, hemorrhage, suspected renal capsule rupture; I couldn't open the fridge from the pain. One option is to say: 'It's terrible, I will quit!' But I told myself: 'You can influence the way you perceive pain!' My favorite moment from *Dancing Stars* is a lift. It was very difficult, I made a mistake on stage, but I continued and finished the dance. Franziska Yordanova from the jury then said: 'Although you made a mistake, you were a winner.' Because in life, you often don't manage to pull off the lift perfectly, your plans collapse, things don't happen as you dream them. Nassim Taleb (essayist and economist – ed.) says these are the 'black swans of everyday life.' And everything depends on the way you will pass through them.

Viktor Frankl's (Austrian psychiatrist – ed.) logotherapy – he says: 'He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.' Instead of collapsing and stopping in the middle of nowhere, I overcame myself, and all the footprints I had accumulated through the piano, ballet, medicine, and defending my dissertation came to my aid, and the audience didn't realize we had made a mistake.

Because for me, to live without trying to stretch the limits of your soul, brain, physique, and potential is a crime. And that is possible when you do not divide things, but fly in pursuit of your goal."