Posts
Saturday, February 03, 2024
Find meaning. Distinguish melancholy from sadness. Go out for a walk. It doesn’t have to be a romantic walk in the park, spring at its most spectacular moment, flowers and smells and outstanding poetical imagery smoothly transferring you into another world. It doesn’t have to be a walk during which you’ll have multiple life epiphanies and discover meanings no other brain ever managed to encounter. Do not be afraid of spending quality time by yourself. Find meaning or don’t find meaning but 'steal' some time and give it freely and exclusively to your own self. Opt for privacy and solitude. That doesn’t make you antisocial or cause you to reject the rest of the world. But you need to breathe. And you need to be. Albert Camus, Notebooks 1951-1959
Friday, February 02, 2024
Nervous about going to the dentist? Ollie the Labradoodle can help
Patients of the Minneapolis office where the dog "works" say they actually look forward to going to the dentist.Donna Hedin was so nervous going to the dentist that she had to have a mouthwash that numbed her gums just to get her teeth cleaned.
That changed when the Minneapolis woman started booking her appointments with Ollie, a Labradoodle.
At her last appointment, the curly haired, golden-brown fluffball jumped on Hedin's lap once she was reclined in the dentist's chair. He lay there all the while Hedin was having her teeth cleaned, placing his head on her shoulder.
"Ollie is wonderful," she said. "The anxiety just goes away. I feel so calm because I'm concentrating on the dog instead of my fear."
The 80-pound dog clocks into at J&D Dental in downtown Minneapolis once a week and typically sees about eight patients in a day, said his owner April Kline, who works as a hygienist. Because he's an unabashed mama's boy (he rarely leaves her side), patients have to book appointments with Ollie through Kline.
Ollie got his job almost by accident.
Kline started training Ollie when she was unable to work during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. When she went back to the office, she took him with her on a day her family was coming in for their biannual teeth cleaning.
"Ollie was very curious about how my family was doing in each chair," she said. "Then, finally he jumped on my husband and laid on him and took a nap. I couldn't believe it."
She snapped a few photos of Ollie snoozing with her family, and shared them with clients. A few of them, in turn, asked if Ollie could be with them on their next appointments. It took off quickly from there: Ollie's only been on the job a few months and he's already booked 6 months out.
The well-tempered dog typically snoozes on his patients, said Kline. Though he also will sit next to them, if they prefer — as long as they occasionally pet him.
"They're petting him nonstop and he loves it," Kline said. "He can be pampered all day and they just love it."
A day maker
A lot of people fear going to the dentist, said Dr. Jennifer Herbert, who owns the practice. Some are scared of the pain, others are gripped by the anxiety of not knowing what to expect, while still others find even the most common procedures intrusive.
Besides using the numbing mouthwash, patients can request laughing gas or a Xanax to help them with their anxiety. But Herbert has noticed patients who book with Ollie seem not to need sedatives.
"He just calms the patient, even just having him in the room — it just lightens the whole mood of the office with staff and patients," Herbert said. "The most common comment we get is, 'This is the best day of my life.'"
All of J&D Dental's patients are given a heads up if they book an appointment on a day Ollie is in, so they are aware a dog will be in the office, Kline said.
But Ollie isn't the only four-legged office regular. There's a chihuahua that sometimes works the front desk and on any given day there might be a few other dogs milling about.
"We're very big dog people here," Herbert said. "We are learning how just the presence of those animals can help our patients have a better experience."
Ollie the Dental Dog
A dog on your lap at the dentist? ‘Yes, please.’
‘He’s such a good boy, and he was really calming,’ said patient Debbie Zaiger, who has anxiety around dental visits
By Cathy FreeJanuary 30, 2024 at 8:05 a.m. ESTWhen Zaiger, 61, showed up for her hygiene appointment in downtown Minneapolis, she reclined in the dentist’s chair and Ollie, a fluffy, 80-pound English goldendoodle, hopped into her lap and sprawled across her legs.
Zaiger said she was able to relax, this time without nitrous oxide.
“While my teeth were being cleaned, I was petting Ollie and rubbing his head and ears, and he fell asleep on top of me,” she said. “He’s such a good boy, and he was really calming. I’m surprised at how much he helped.”
Ollie belongs to hygienist April Kline. She started bringing the sweet-natured 4-year-old canine to work with her at J & D Dental from time to time last year, thinking he might help comfort nervous patients.
Studies have shown that petting dogs can relax people and reduce stress, and also that dogs benefit from the interaction as well. About 36 percent of Americans have dentophobia — a fear of going to the dentist, with 12 percent having an extreme fear, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Kline is familiar with what that anxiety looks like.
She and her family got Ollie as a pup a few years ago at the height of the pandemic and trained him to respond to basic commands. At the time, the dental office was temporarily closed because of covid.
After Kline returned to work, she said her husband and two teenage daughters came in one day to get their teeth cleaned and brought Ollie with them.
“My husband is a very anxious patient, and while he was lying in the chair, Ollie jumped on top of him and fell asleep,” said Kline, 47. “He wasn’t bothered at all by the dental noises.”
Jerry Kline Jr. and her daughters, Jaelyn and Abigail, loved it, she said.
“Ollie helped my husband to relax — he said he felt better having him there,” Kline said. “That gave me an idea: What if Ollie could help some of our other anxious patients too?”
Dentist Jennifer Herbert, who owns the practice, thought it was a great idea. She agreed that Ollie could provide emotional support for clients who requested him, as long as other patients with appointments on those days were okay with having him in the office.
“I’m a huge dog lover,” said Herbert, who occasionally brings her own dog in to hang out behind the front desk.
“Dentistry isn’t an easy profession — nobody tells us that coming here is the best day of their life,” she said. “Having Ollie here has been a game changer. He brightens everyone’s day and he’s become a huge hit.”
Even clients who don’t fear dental drills like having the cute pup around, she said.
“I don’t have any [dental] fears or dislikes, but I did enjoy his fluffy presence on my lap,” said Maya Norman, 42, about her cleaning appointment with Ollie.
“It was a great distraction,” she said. “I don’t own a dog, but I do love them. An hour with Ollie and super clean teeth? Yes, please.”
That’s what Kline said she had in mind when she began scheduling appointments to include cuddle time with Ollie.
“He’s a very chill dog,” she said. “Patients tell us that having him with them made it the best appointment of their lives. They feel like they’re wearing a warm weighted blanket.”
For now, Ollie works about three days a month and is paid with dog treats and lots of pampering. Kline said he seemed excited to be featured recently in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
“We don’t have him here every day because we don’t want him to work too hard,” said Herbert, 51. “And we want to make sure that everyone who comes to the office on those days is okay with him being here.”
Most people are tickled to see him, Kline said. Ollie, who Kline keeps well groomed, rests in a dog bed in her office between appointments, and he accompanies her to greet patients in the waiting room when they show up.
“When I lay the patients back, if they want him on them, Ollie will jump in their laps, snuggle between their legs and lay his head down on their chests,” she said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is no evidence that animals pose a more significant risk of transmitting infection than people do in these kinds of environments. The CDC also says that anecdotally, some people with pets at home recover from medical procedures faster than people without pets.
Ollie, who is not a service animal, is fully vaccinated to comply with OSHA guidelines and is trained not to lick patients’ faces or go near their mouths, Kline said, noting that she and others who work with patients always thoroughly wash up and wear masks and gloves.
“He doesn’t go near their mouths,” Kline said.
Sue Heger is among the patients who wants every future appointment with Ollie.
“I had bad experiences at my childhood dentist’s office — it was a scary environment that carried over into my adult life,” said Heger, 57. “So I was excited when I came across a Facebook page and learned about Ollie.”
“It was the polar opposite of what I experienced as a child,” she said. “For 30 minutes, I petted Ollie while he rested his upper body on me, and I’ve never been more relaxed.”
“Even though I’m still a little nervous about going to the dentist, it’s not nearly as bad now with Ollie,” Heger added.
Kline said her popular pup is listed on the staff roster and is now booked up for the next several weeks, so at some point she may need to add additional time to his work schedule.
“Ollie loves being around people, and he goes to the door every morning when I grab my jacket and purse,” she said. “He thinks now that he should be allowed to go to work every day.”
A fan of black coffee and dark chocolate? It’s in your genes, a new study says
Editor’s Note: Sign up for our Eat, But Better: Mediterranean Style newsletter, an eight-part series that guides you in a delicious expert-backed eating lifestyle that’s good for your health.
CNN —Prefer your coffee black? Then you probably like dark, bitter chocolate, according to new research identifying a genetic basis for those preferences.
If that’s you, then congratulations – you are the lucky genetic winner of a trait that may offer you a boost toward good health, according to caffeine researcher Marilyn Cornelis, an associate professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
“I tell people my cup of tea is coffee research,” Cornelis said. “It’s a hot topic.”
Why hot? Because studies find moderate amounts of black coffee – between 3 and 5 cups daily – has been shown to lower the risk of certain diseases, including Parkinson’s, heart diseases, Type 2 diabetes and several types of cancer.
But those benefits are likely to be more pronounced if the coffee is free of all of the milks, sugars and other fattening flavorings we tend to add.
“We know there’s growing evidence suggesting there’s a beneficial impact of coffee consumption on health. But reading between the lines, anyone advising someone to consume coffee would typically advise them to consume black coffee due to the difference between consuming black coffee and coffee with milk and sugar,” Cornelis said.
“One is naturally calorie free. The second can add possibly hundreds of calories to your coffee, and the health benefits could be quite different,” she added.
A gene for coffee
In prior research, Cornelis and her team discovered that a genetic variant may contribute to why some people enjoy numerous cups of coffee a day, while others do not.
“People with the gene metabolize caffeine faster, so the stimulating effects wear off faster, and they need to drink more coffee,” she said.
“This could explain why some individuals seem to be fine consuming a lot more coffee relative to someone else who might get jitters or become very anxious,” she added.
In a new study published in Nature Scientific Reports, Cornelis analyzed more precise types of coffee drinkers, separating black coffee lovers from cream and sugar (or more) lovers.
“We found coffee drinkers with the genetic variant that reflects a faster metabolism of caffeine prefer bitter, black coffee,” Cornelis said. “We also found the same genetic variant in people who prefer plain tea over sweetened, and bitter, dark chocolate over the more mellow milk chocolate.”
Bitter foods and that mental boost
But here’s a twist. Cornelis and her team don’t think the preference has anything to do with the taste of plain black coffee or tea. Instead, she said, people with this gene prefer black coffee and tea because they associate the bitter flavor with the boost in mental alertness they crave from caffeine.
“Our interpretation is these people equate caffeine’s natural bitterness with a psycho-stimulation effect,” Cornelis said. “They learn to associate bitterness with caffeine and the boost they feel. We are seeing a learned effect.”
The same applies to the preference of dark over milk chocolate, she added.
“When they think of caffeine, they think of a bitter taste, so they also enjoy dark chocolate,” Cornelis said. “It’s possible these people are just very sensitive to the effects of caffeine and they also have that learned behavior with other bitter foods.”
Dark chocolate contains some caffeine, but much more of a compound called theobromine, a known caffeine-related stimulant of the nervous system. But more is not better when it comes to theobromine, studies find – higher doses can increase heart rate and ruin mood.
Dark chocolate is also full of calories, so keeping consumption down is good for the waistline. Still, studies find that even a small bite of dark chocolate a day can contribute to heart health and reduce the risk of diabetes.
That’s probably because cocoa contains plenty of flavanols – epicatechin and catechin – antioxidant compounds that are known to improve blood flow. Other foods that contain flavanols include green, oolong and black teas; red wine; kale; onions; berries; citrus fruits and soybeans.
Future studies will try to tackle the genetic preference for other bitter foods, Cornelis said, “which are generally linked to more health benefits.”
“It might show that individuals who are genetically predisposed to consume more coffee are also engaged in other potentially healthy behaviors,” she said.
Roald Dahl Books in Order
Roald Dahl has had a truly fascinating life. Born in Wales to Norwegian parents, he was a pilot in the RAF during the Second World War, then an intelligence officer. In the 1960s he invented a stent, the Wade-Dahl-Till valve prompted by the need to alleviate head injuries. He then went on to write; children's books, adult books and screenplays. He is for many the world's Number One storyteller
Children's Books
- The Gremlins (1943)
- James and the Giant Peach (1961)
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964)
- The Magic Finger (1966)
- Fantastic Mr Fox (1968)
- Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (1972)
- Danny, the Champion of the World (1975)
- The Enormous Crocodile (1978)
- The Twits (1980)
- George's Marvellous Medicine (1981)
- Revolting Rhymes (1982)
- The BFG (1982)
- Dirty Beasts (1983)
- The Witches (1983)
- The Giraffe, and the Pelly and Me (1985)
- Matilda (1988)
- Rhyme Stew (1989)
- Esio Trot (1990)
- The Vicar of Nibbleswicke (1991)
- The Minpins (1991)
- Roald Dahl's Guide to Railway Safety (1991)
Anthologies and collections
- The Roald Dahl Cookbook (1991)
- Revolting Recipes (1994)
- The Roald Dahl Treasury (1997)
- Even More Revolting Recipes (2001)
- Songs and Verse (2005)
- More About Boy (2008)
- Completely Revolting Recipes (2009)
Autobiographical Works
- Boy: Tales of Childhood (1984)
- Going Solo (1986)
Adult's Books
- Over to You (1946)
- Some Time Never (1948)
- Someone Like You (1953)
- Kiss Kiss ((1960)
- Switch Switch (1974)
- The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar and Six More (1977)
- My Uncle Oswald (1979)
- Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories (1983)
- Two Fables (1985)
- Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life (1989)
- My Year (1991)
What happens when a narcissist becomes a parent? They force their kids into these roles.
Charles TrepanyUSA TODAY
Narcissistic relationships tend to follow common patterns − and relationships between narcissists and their children are no exception.
If you grew up in a family system headed by a narcissistic parent, mental health experts say it's likely you fulfilled a specific role or archetype, such as the golden child, the scapegoat or the peacekeeper.
"In a narcissistic family system, every child exists for the narcissistic parents' needs," says Ramani Durvasula, a psychologist and author specializing in narcissism and narcissistic abuse. "The system's about the narcissistic parent or parents, and every child is trying to find a way to get their attachment needs met in that system."
As a result, she says, children of narcissists can fall into one or more roles. Though these roles vary in presentation, they have one thing in common: They're all ways to cope with the psychological hardships of living with a narcissistic parent.
"In a narcissistic family system, kids aren't given a mirror to get to know themselves. They're given a mold to fit into," says Chelsey Cole, a psychotherapist and author specializing in narcissistic abuse. "Narcissistic parents don't see their kids as their own sovereign individuals. Narcissists see their children as extensions of themselves."
Were you a golden child or a scapegoat?
Two of the most common roles narcissists force their kids into are the golden child and the scapegoat.
As the name suggests, the golden child often gets treated as the apple of the narcissist's eye. But it's not out of love − it's because this child has qualities the narcissist can leverage for attention and validation, also known as narcissistic supply.
"The golden child is held up as the epitome of perfection," Cole says. "They're usually good at something that the narcissistic parent values. They're really smart. They get great grades. They get recognized at school. They're an exceptional athlete. They're really attractive. They tend to receive more attention and resources from the narcissistic parent. They literally get treated better than all the other siblings."
Is narcissism genetic?Narcissists are made, not born. How to keep your kid from becoming one.
Getting heaps of praise from a narcissist may sound lucky, but it's not all it's cracked up to be. Durvasula says the golden child is at risk of becoming a narcissist themselves as a result of overindulgence as well as suffering survivor's guilt for getting treated better than their siblings.
The opposite of the golden child is the scapegoat: a child who gets blamed for everything that goes wrong, including for things that are the narcissist's fault.
A child can get scapegoated for a number of reasons, but usually it's because they don't fulfill the narcissist's expectations in some way. For example, a narcissistic father may scapegoat a son who doesn't have traditional masculine qualities valued by the narcissist, Durvasula says.
Narcissist, gaslighting, love bombing:A guide to all the buzzwords around narcissism
"The scapegoat is the recipient often of the worst of the narcissistic parent," Durvasula says. "A child may end up being the scapegoat because they don't behave the way the parent wants. They don't look the way the parent wants. They don't hold interest the parent wants. They may not be what the parent wants."
She adds scapegoats are at risk of a host of mental health issues, including complex trauma, anxiety, self-doubt and self-blame.
More:Are you unintentionally enabling the narcissist in your life? Here's how to tell.
Other roles in a narcissistic family
Cole and Durvasula say children of narcissists can fulfill several other roles as well. Here's a few of them:
- The Truth Seer: "The truth-seeing child is the child that at some level gets this is not OK, and there's a wisdom to this child," Durvasula says. "This is a child who, because they see the truth, may try to soothe siblings."
- The Invisible Child: "The invisible child is literally the child that is unseen," Cole says. "It doesn't matter if they're doing well, if they're not doing well, if they're succeeding at school or failing at school, if they are engaging in positive or negative behaviors at home, they're simply just not seen. They're forgotten. They're just completely overlooked."
- The Peacekeeper: "This is the kid who is trying to minimize the conflict and the fighting in the family system, who is trying to keep the system running," Durvasula says. "You can imagine for a kid like this, there can be a lot of anxiety."
- The Adherent: "They're a big fan of the narcissistic parent," Durvasula says. "It almost feels cult-y. They're totally bought into what this family is, even though no one's being nice, even though everyone's being mistreated. As all these siblings get into adulthood, (they) might be the person who says, 'Don't say that. This is our family. You shouldn't say that.'"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)