Seems it never rains in southern California

Seems I’ve often heard that kind of talk before

It never rains in California, but girl, don’t they warn ya?

It pours, man, it pours

It’s an oldie but a goodie from the Mamas and Papas. There have rains and snows all over the country. But I have got to tell you about the good luck I have had when it comes not to rain…but snow.

My family and I went to NYC for the Christmas holidays to visit my in-laws who live about an hour outside of the city. We stayed right across the street from Grand Central Station….which turned out to be an incredible break because we used trains the and subway to get everywhere that we couldn’t walk to. We were a short walk from both Rockefeller Center and Time Square. My kids and I have never been in falling snow in a city ever before, so the Christmas Blizzard of 2010 in NYC was so cool for us to be in…Central Park was beautiful. Having the subways across the street meant we did not have to go far to get anywhere..except for the one record store Josh wanted to check out. That was walking in the middle of the blizzard.

So fast forward another week, another Sunday, sitting at home in Santa Clarita and guess what. It snowed. It followed our family. Not only did it snow, but it actually stuck overnight for the most part. Freeways nearby were shut down. Now I am not comparing it to the Big Apple, but it was definitely different to be driving on streets that had slush accumulations on it. So it did not rain here in sunny Santa Clarita, but we got the snow. It actually got thicker and heavier as the day went on. By the end of the flurry I am guessing we had about 1/2 an inch of snow on the ground.

So how are you doing with your New Year’s Resolutions? So far, I hope I have been doing OK trying to keep everyone around me a little happier. Mental health is such an important part of our overall health. Think about it, will science ever be able to determine just how much of a risk factor stress is in our lives? I don’t know, but I know that stress plays a big part in dental health. In my 28 years plus of practicing dentistry I have seen people under stress grind and/or clench their teeth causing any combination of the following symptoms: premature wear on their teeth, broken teeth or fillings, generalized sensitivity of teeth and headaches/jaw pain. And as a dentist I can also tell you that these issues account for a large amount of the dentistry that we do in our office. If you think you are clenching and/or grinding your teeth you are a candidate for a bite splint, an appliance that will help protect your teeth from the destructive stresses that clenching and grinding create.

Last comment on health this week. I read on the internet where high intensity exercise is much better for you than the slow-go (thanks Joel Marion). The high intensity exercise has been shown to raise your metabolism for up to 48 hours after you work out., which helps to burn fat. So I have changed my routine on the recumbent bike that I have. I went from the 40-70 minutes a day I would ride to a program that takes 20 minutes and has 8 high intensity cycles in it. Got to give it some time to see if I can burn a little more of the love handles away. I will keep you posted.