HEALTH & WELLNESS

Health,Wellness&FitnessGuideADVERTISERCONTENT DR. KAPLAN: A Brain-Healthy Holiday Season to Remember

Many people let the holiday season get the better of them.Do you notice that when youʼre in a ramped-up state, you start forgetting things? Thatʼs because stress really does have a negative effect on your memory. If you want to make sure you remember every trimming and trapping this holiday season, follow these tips to help alleviate stress and improve your memory.

The holidays are best spent relaxing and enjoying the simple things in life. Announce to your family that you want to have a low-pressure, super-relaxed holiday season. This is definitely the best option for your health and your brain. Maybe it will even become a family tradition! Invite everyone to come to holiday dinner in funny sweaters or even pajamas. It will definitely make for a memorable family picture, and everyone will benefit from the chance to kick back and get comfortable.

Many people spend the nights before the holidays staying up late doing last-minute shopping. Make it a priority to get plenty of sleep instead! Try shopping ahead of time or online. Getting an early nightʼs sleep will improve your mood, memory, and focus so you can enjoy all that the season has to offer. Plus, winter is the best time of year to get cozy under some blankets and have a nice warm beverage.

The start of a New Year is also a perfect time to make achievable goals, and the perfect time to start some new habits that are good for building your memory. Learn how to do Sudoku, or download an app designed to teach you a new language. Invest in a new musical instrument to learn how to play, just for fun.

Meditation is another brainhealthy practice that you can try. These simple approaches can eventually have a major impact on your memory.

Unfortunately right now lots of people are getting sick so I also wanted to go over a few concepts that might help keep your immune system strong. Most people believe that the best way to avoid getting sick is by figuring out ways to prevent viruses and bacteria from entering your body, such as social distancing, using antibacterial products, wearing a mask and gloves, and staying at home.

My contention with this line of thinking is that you cannot hide from viruses because they are in your body right now and most people do not even wear the masks properly for the best protection. In my opinion, you have to have a strong immune system and be healthy so that when you do encounter a new virus, you can fight it off without the help of medications, antibacterial soaps, or lotions. If you are using a lot of antibacterial products, you will end up killing good microbes such as bacteria, fungi, and protozoa, which act as a defense system to keep out the bad stuff, absorb nutrients, and maintain a strong immune system.

It is better to get some exposure to bacteria and viruses so you can make your immune system stronger rather than trying to avoid any type of exposure. If you try to hide from viruses and avoid bacte-

ria, you will weaken your immune system due to lack of use, as well as create resistant superbugs and superviruses that medication cannot treat. I agree you can help reduce transmission of bacteria and viruses by staying home when you are sick, washing your hands with soap and water, and avoiding touching your face, but we have toDR. ERIC KAPLAN, KAPLAN BRAIN & BODY be careful with all of the lysols, bleaches and antibacterial products that have known toxins in the ingredients. Make your body strong and improve your health, so that when you do get exposed, your immune system can handle it and fight it off appropriately. We do not need to live in fear. If you are in fear, you will increase cortisol, which is the stress hormone. As a result of the increase in stress, your immune system will become suppressed and viruses are able to thrive and cause more harm to your body. Most Americans have adopted a very unhealthy lifestyle that consists of a poor diet, sedentary lifestyle, poor sleep, lack of water, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and high stress levels. Therefore, when you receive blood work, they are comparing you to a bunch of sick Americans, most of whom have heart disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, and lung disease. So when the blood work comes back and they tell you everything is normal, they are really telling you that you are like a typical unhealthy American. When looking at blood work, it is recommended to use the functional medicine scale instead of what most labs use as the normal scale. For example, in reference to vitamin D, most laboratories will

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Ask the Dentist: Plan before you plan to have a dental implant

The general public has gotten used to seeing advertisements and various information about dental implants. ROBERT H. GULLER, D.M.D OF PASCACK DENTAL ARTS An interesting fact is that many people do not understand that an implant is not a tooth. An implant is actually an anchor for a tooth or teeth. People think they want and need implants, but what they really want are teeth. In much the same way people want a house to live in, but they are not as excited about having a concrete foundation.

Why do I make this point? For several reasons: 1. As more people understand this important concept, it makes our job as dentists easier. 2. Most importantly patients need to understand that if they decide to go though the implant process, they should begin with the end result in mind. Just like the process of building a house, the final plans should be completed before the actual building process begins .

In planning an implant case, the final plan or in many cases variety of plan options should be “engineered” and be presented by the restoring dentist who will be responsible for putting teeth on those implants. Patients may or may not have an idea about what they want their final case to be.

In some cases, the implant surgeon and restoring doctor may be the same, in many cases there will be one doctor who places the implant (or anchor) and another doctor who is responsible for fabricating the tooth or teeth on the implant anchor or anchors.

It is very important to know what the final case will look like before the implants are installed because the position, size, number and angulations of implants will vary from case to case and from individual to individual. The type of implant and implant design may vary from case to case and the type of foundation need in terms of bone volume and dentistry can affect both the planning and outcome of a case.

For these reasons, it is in the best interest of the patient to be evaluated prior to the placement of an implant or implants to plan the final case before it begins. Once implants are surgically placed, and some time has passed, it is very difficult to remove or change the position of the implants without causing potential problems.

Hopefully this information will be helpful to those who are thinking about dental implants. Maybe it would be less confusing for dental implants to be called dental anchors, so that people would understand that an implant is not a tooth.

For questions about this and other dental procedures contact Dr. Guller at askdrguller@aol.com or call (201) 391-5565.

L. SCOTT BERKOBEN, P.A.

AProfessional Corporation Attorneys at Law

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