NutriDrips: IV Supplement Therapies

By Taylor Smith 

Intravenous (IV) nutrient infusions have long been available at hospitals and holistic wellness centers as a means of replenishing the body’s essential vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and electrolytes. Now, IV therapy is being used as a general wellness therapy in urban centers around the country, including New York City’s own NutriDrip (www.nutridrip.com). With locations in the East Village, Flatiron District, and Midtown East, NutriDrip’s DripLounges provide visitors with a liquid boost that can help to restore physical well-being and boost brain function.  more

Downtown Dental Opens on North Avenue in Westfield

By Taylor Smith 

Downtown Dental has opened a brand-new facility at 219 North Avenue West in Westfield, N.J. Under the direction of Dr. Paul Zhivago, Downtown Dental offers regular check-ups, cleanings, cosmetic evaluations, extensive restoration, and surgical work.  more

Can Technology Be Used to Improve Mental Health?

By Taylor Smith 

Most people use some form of technology throughout the day. Whether it’s listening to music, ordering an Uber, booking a dinner reservation, or responding to emails. Have you ever thought that those apps on your phone could be used to improve mental health? Below are some specific apps that can be used for potentially improving thoughts, feelings, sleep, and general happiness levels.  more

Get Ready for the New Jersey State Triathlon

July 20 & 21 in West Windsor Township 

By Taylor Smith 

The largest triathlon in New Jersey (and the region), the New Jersey State Triathlon will be held at Mercer County Park in West Windsor on Saturday July 20 and Sunday, July 21. The race is in the top 25 largest triathlons in the United States, and sells out every year. The average competitor pool is 3,500.  more

Running Camps for Adults

By Taylor Smith 

Camps are not just for kids. For runners, a host of options are available across the country. Here are a few to check out…

Craftsbury Running Camps, Vermont 

https://www.craftsbury.com/running/running-camps/running-camps-home/

Based out of a cross-country ski center where Olympians train, Craftsbury Running Camps offers one workout few other camps do: biathlon practice. Daily running workouts are complemented by guided strength training, swimming, and mountain biking. 

Did all that running work up an appetite? The campus dining hall is committed to making sure 50 percent of its ingredients are local.  more

The Science Behind Weighted Blankets

By Taylor Smith 

Weighted blankets have been used in niche medical communities for many years, but only recently have the suggested health benefits taken off as a newfound trend. Without a prescription or dramatic changes in one’s routine, weighted blankets have allowed some people to fall asleep faster and to feel less general anxiety. 

These specific blankets are engineered to be 7-12 percent of your body weight to relax the nervous system and mimic the sensation of being held or hugged. Also known as “deep touch pressure stimulation,” many weighted blankets are designed to apply gentle weight to pressure points on the body. Similar to what is experienced during massage or yogic exercises, these pressure points can correspond to improved mood, feelings of safety, and relaxation.  more

Probiotic-Rich Foods for Body-Wide Health

Kimchi ramen

By Taylor Smith

In case you haven’t heard, your gut health has a dramatic impact on your overall brain and body-wide health. The “good” bacteria found in probiotic rich foods can actually help improve the microbiome of your digestive system. The following are some of the best good bacteria-fueled foods to include in your daily or weekly routine. more

Chill Cryotherapy Expands in Westfield

By Taylor Smith 

Westfield’s premier cryotherapy center, Chill Cryotherapy, has announced its expansion into an adjacent storefront at 327 South Avenue West in Westfield, N.J. The business offers customized protocols for specific health and wellness concerns, such as weight loss, muscle recovery, anti-aging, and chronic pain.  more

Build Your Run Route with Strava’s New App

By Taylor Smith

A new Strava activity tracker feature called Route Builder for mobile can make planning the location and distance of your next run much easier.

Andrew Vontz, Strava’s director of communications, says that the new mobile feature also makes exploring a new town or city much more safe and efficient. “You can land almost anywhere in the world, someplace you’ve never visited before, and, with a just a few swipes on a map, create the best possible route,” Vontz told Runner’s World Magazine. more

CAP Beauty: Take Your Beauty Routine to the Next Level

By Taylor Smith

CAP Beauty is an unusual beauty store.

Beyond makeup, lotions, and potions, CAP Beauty prides itself on holistic beauty with the philosophy that what you put into and onto your body can actually improve the quality of your thought and life. more

Tech Product Review: Fitbit Charge 3

By Taylor Smith

With a wide array of fitness trackers available, Fitbit is probably the best-known name in terms of high-quality trackers. The user-friendly devices come in many style options and can suit everyone, no matter their fitness level. The trackers will monitor everything from basic daily movements to running, walking, swimming, cycling workouts, and sleeping. more

CycleBar Makes Waves in the Garden State

Spin your way to better fitness and feel like a rock star 

By Taylor Smith 

Indoor cycling has long been an appealing option for those looking for all the benefits of vigorous cardio and strength routines without the high-impact aftermath that can come from pounding miles on the pavement, such as in distance running activities. Enter CycleBar, the latest concierge-style indoor cycling studio to make waves in the Garden State.  more

A Passion for Service at Dean’s Natural Food Market

By Taylor Smith 

With locations in Basking Ridge, Chester, Ocean Township, and Shrewsbury, Dean’s Natural Food Market is making an impact on the quality of food and produce available to New Jersey residents. 

At Dean’s, all produce is 100 percent organic. “With our non-GMO policy, we don’t bring in any items unless they’re non-GMO product verified or free of the top 10 GMO crops. People know that about us now, they’re coming here for that,” says founder Dean Nelson.  more

Jersey Eats: Playa Bowls

The Jersey Shore’s original acai shop now has more than 50 locations nationwide

By Taylor Smith 

With multiple locations in Monmouth, Ocean, Middlesex, Morris, Union, and Essex counties, Playa Bowls (https://playabowls.com) is now a big part of the New Jersey food scene. 

If you’ve visited towns like Belmar, Red Bank, Asbury Park, Seaside, or Toms River during the summer months, chances are you’ve known about Playa Bowls for a long time. What originally started out as a food truck is now a popular staple in New York City, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, with 20 more locations planned in the near future.  more

Strengthen, Lengthen, and Tone at The Bar Method in Madison

By Taylor Smith 

Located at 122 Main Street, 2nd floor, in Madison, NJ, The Bar Method is a great option for building muscles, confidence, and long lines in the New Year.  more

Picky Bars: High Performance Nutrition in Foodie Flavors

By Taylor Smith 

Available at running stores and REI locations across the country, Bend, Oregon-based Picky Bars is the latest nutritional bar to make a splash on the outdoors scene.  more

Techniques for Improving Sleep Naturally

By Taylor Smith 

Sleep is vital for overall health, but elusive for many. Whether you’re a parent under stress or you’ve become reliant on prescription sleep aids like Lunesta or Ambien, here are some non-habit forming methods for improving overall sleep quality and duration.  more

Can Virtual Reality Help Fight Dementia?

What U.K.-based health care company Virtue is doing to help people age well

By Taylor Smith

According to the World Health Organization, “an estimated 47 million people currently suffer from dementia and that number is expected to increase to 75 million by 2030. It is projected that the number will triple by 2050.” To put these numbers into perspective, the Alzheimer’s Association estimates that “the cost to care for an Alzheimer’s patient in a private room in a nursing home is around $97,455 per year.” This is where U.K.-based health care start-up Virtue steps in (https://www.virtue.io). With the goal to “empower the silver generation,” Virtue aims to “develop transformative solutions for aging well.” more

Holiday Gifts for the Rower in Your Family

By Taylor Smith 

Companies like One Peloton (www.onepeloton.com) have engineered some of the most attractive and effective workout machines in recent years. Equipment like the Peloton Cycle and Peloton Tread enable users all over the world to get a boutique indoor cycling and running studio experience from the convenience of their own homes, day or night. For a lot of working people and parents, the opportunity to get a solid sweat session at any time of day (and no car travel required) is a huge relief. more

Helping New Jersey Stay Healthy

Local hospitals offer state-of-the-art care

by Anne Levin

Despite its small size, New Jersey boasts more than 75 hospitals and medical centers. An impressive group of them are located in the Central and Northern counties, offering state-of-the-art care in increasingly comfortable, even architecturally distinctive, surroundings. Following is a sampling:

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Exploring Ways to Sleep Better Naturally

By Taylor Smith

For many people, sleep is elusive. You run around all day completing your to-do lists and when it’s time to shut down, you can’t. This is an all too common complaint at places like Santé Integrative Pharmacy in downtown Princeton.

Have you ever heard the term wired and tired? That’s is the state that Michael Pellegrino, a clinical nutritionist and wellness practitioner at Sante, finds most customers in when they walk into the store looking for suggestions. “The goal is to nourish and calm the nervous system,” explains Pellegrino. “This includes both a daytime and evening regimen and often an adjustment to their current lifestyle.”

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Finding Silence in a Not So Silent World

How Meditation is Changing the Lives of Adolescents Everywhere

By Taylor Smith

Healing traumatic stress and raising performance among at-risk populations doesn’t just apply to adults, it also applies to the daily lives and circumstances of many of today’s modern middle and high school students. The science and research behind the impact of meditation on highly stressed or suffering adult populations is well-documented through brain research, and has been incorporated into standard health treatment at hospitals like The Graf Center for Integrative Medicine at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center in Englewood, N.J.

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New Shingles Vaccine Offers Lifetime Protection

By Taylor Smith

Shingles is a viral infection that lays dormant in those who have had the chicken pox and is most common in those ages 50 and older, both men and women. Shingles can occur anywhere on the body, but is most common as a single stripe of extremely painful blisters around the torso, lower waist, chest and/or face. While it isn’t a life-threatening condition, the virus can be very painful, causing many people to suffer for anywhere from three to six months with severe discomfort. 

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Build Mental and Physical Toughness with Boxing, Kickboxing, and Strength Training By Taylor Smith

By Taylor Smith | Photo courtesy of CKO Kickboxing

Cardio is out and HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) is in. Many workout enthusiasts are noticing that their spin classes and running routines aren’t cutting it anymore when it comes to building overall health. Boxing and kickboxing are growing in popularity throughout New Jersey and New York because people are seeing results. The fighter’s physique, long desired for its lean look combined with powerful muscular strength, is what people are after and requesting in many gyms. Here is the rundown of some of the gyms throughout the area that are not only offering opportunities to build muscular strength but are specializing in it, with well-trained fighters as instructors challenging both the body and the mind.  more

Does Hemp Have the Power to Heal?

By Taylor Smith

Cannabidiol, also known as CBD oil, is a chemical compound derived from the cannabis sativa plant, but it contains no THC (the psychoactive constituent) and is not evident in a drug test. Also known as hemp oil, many wellness practitioners have begun to tout the many benefits of CBD oil for the treatment of everything from anxiety and/or depression to pain relief, PTSD, insomnia, skincare, digestion, and seizures.  more

Hackensack Meridian Health and Carrier Clinic Plan to Merge to Enhance Behavioral Health in Tri-State Area

By Jonathan Dusza

Merger includes plans for new addiction treatment center in New Jersey, more coordinated care and enhanced research and medical education opportunities

Hackensack Meridian Health, New Jersey’s largest and most comprehensive and integrated health network, and Carrier Clinic, a leader in behavioral health with a 100-year history in the state, are proud to announce they have signed a definitive agreement to merge to deliver unsurpassed behavioral health care to the region. more

Bike, Hike, and Raft the Lehigh Gorge This Summer!

Photo Courtesy of Poconowhitewater.com

By Taylor Smith

Five times larger than New York’s Central Park, Lehigh Gorge State Park in northeastern Pennsylvania is a 4,548-acre wilderness just 90 minutes from Philadelphia and two hours from New York City. The region is home to the Northeast’s most accessible and convenient whitewater rafting, family style rafting, hiking, and rail trail biking. This summer, encourage your kids to put down their screens and instead experience an action-packed Whitewater Dam Release weekend, biking, or hiking in the great outdoors.  more

Take Your Game to the Next Level at New Jersey National Golf Club

By Laurie Pellichero | Photographs Courtesy of New Jersey National Golf Club

Nestled in the lush meadows of the Watchung Mountains, New Jersey National Golf Club in Basking Ridge is a premier private golf club featuring 18 holes of championship golf and the highly-rated Red Oak Grille restaurant. It is a special place to play, entertain, and relax in a family-friendly atmosphere. It also serves as the perfect venue to host corporate and charity golf events on Mondays only. more

Hackensack University Medical Center Joins Bergen County Stigma-Free Movement, Recognizes Mental Health Month

Hackensack Meridian Health Hackensack University Medical Center is pleased to join the Bergen County Stigma-Free Campaign, a county-wide program which aims to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness, as the medical center recognizes Mental Health Awareness Month.

“We are proud to join the Bergen County stigma-free movement and declare Hackensack University Medical Center a Stigma-Free Zone,” said Ihor S. Sawczuk, M.D., FACS, president of Hackensack University Medical Center. more

Patrick Kennedy is at Home in New Jersey

By Taylor Smith 

Photography by Tom Grimes

The youngest son of Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy and Virginia Joan Kennedy, Patrick Kennedy has put down roots in Brigantine, New Jersey with his wife, Amy, and four children, Harper, Owen, Nora, and Nell. Amy is expecting their fifth child in May. A New Jersey native, Amy has more than 15 years’ experience working in New Jersey public schools and is the education director of The Kennedy Forum. Patrick lovingly refers to Amy as his “Jersey girl,” who grew up in a neighboring shore town. Located on the bayside of the Jersey Shore, a stone’s throw from Atlantic City, the Kennedy’s waterfront home is centered around family and the beauty of the natural setting. On the day of Urban Agenda Magazine’s visit, seagulls were dive-bombing around Patrick’s boat and fine grains of sand blew across the roadway. more