The Connections Bridgewater-Somerville Edition Feb/March 2021

HEALTH & WELLNESS PAGE 16 theconnectionsnj.com FREE new patient consultation to learn how to optimize your immune system & eliminate risk factors that create poor response to COVID. Quarantine and Fear of COVID19 Many have actually increased their risk factors during quarantine, by eating comfort foods that are immune suppressive, not exercising, gaining weight, having increased stress and increased alcohol consumption. Somerset | 908-252-0242 NMRnj.com/appointment-request COVID-19 should be a wake-up call for us all to determine our health status and risk factors. m Fear and quarantine have put a heavy stamp on humanity over the past year, to say the least. The recently reported rise in cases, despite wearing masks and prac- ticing social distancing, prompted new restrictions recommended by officials. These restrictions are very sad for us all as its impact on the pandemic is highly questionable at best. With endless mixed messages from health authorities, many are confused and frustrated with so many aspects of this pandemic and wondering: • Who is most at risk for more severe effects of COVID? • How do I conduct my- self in public? • Should I even be in public? • Are my kids OK to be with friends? • Can I even visit other healthy friends and family members? With all these con- cerns there are some very important, if not critical, things we should be ad- hering to with our lifestyle in order to support our immune system, giving it and our bodies the best fighting chance to defend any invading patho- gen, viral, bacterial or other, in a most effective way. Quarantine will decrease your expo- sure, but it does not decrease your risk factors. The known risk factors from the CDC are poor sugar control and diabetes, hypertension, lung disease and obesity. The CDC data mentions these risk factors but unfortunately the conversation about how to address these does not move any further and people are left to believe that quarantine and wearing masks is all that is needed and so all they need to do. People have been wearing masks and many are now working from home, social distancing and avoiding crowds, and yet the cases we are told have been spiking. These are external measures to decrease exposure and they do not address the fact that most of us have lifestyles that foster or invite disease. How about in- ternal measures? How do we fortify our physiology and optimize our immune sys- tem to be most resilient in times of great- est challenge? It has become evident that many have actually increased their risk factors during quarantine, by eating comfort foods that are immune suppressive, not exercising, gaining weight, having increased stress and increased alcohol consumption. This global health pandemic should be a wake-up call for us all to determine our health status and our risk factors to chronic diseases as well as to COVID-19. How do you reduce risk factors to COVID-19? Working with aggressive lifestyle changes to decrease risk factors by estab- lishing blood sugar regulation, exercise, stress management, whole food nutrition and supplementation can transform, decrease, or eliminate these risk fac- tors. This is powerful be- cause it provides us with a much greater degree of control. And maybe what is more important, these positive lifestyle action steps are health and life giving thus provide a true sense of hope. At Natural Medicine & Rehabilitation, we have made steps to educate, support and help our pa- tients implement aggres- sive lifestyle changes that will support their physiology, optimize their immune system responses and eliminate risk factors that create poor response to COVID or any oth- er health offender. Once individual drivers of disease are identified in a patient, we can then make recommendations and provide therapeu- tic interventions to eliminate the driving forces of those imbalances and fortify the body’s efforts to rebuild and heal. For those that want to take aggressive charge by building immune resilience, thus minimizing their risks to COVID-19 or any other health offender that may come their way, please call 908-252-0242 or request a FREE new patient consultation online at www.nmrnj.com/appointment-request/ Quarantine will decrease your exposure , but it does not decrease your risk factors. The known risk factors from the CDC are poor sugar control and diabetes, hypertension, lung disease and obesity. It has become evident that many have actually increased their risk factors during quarantine, by eating comfort foods that are immune suppressive, not exercising, gaining weight, having increased stress and increased alcohol consumption. QUARANTINE AND FEAR OF COVID19 By: Dr. Vince Sferra