Good Neighbor Podcast: Bergen
Bringing together local businesses and neighbors of Bergen County
Good Neighbor Podcast: Bergen
Ep # 161-Brains Over Bots
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What if convenience is quietly shrinking your mental edge? We sit down with Dr. Kaplan of Kaplan Brain and Body to unpack how AI, GPS, and always-on devices are shifting core cognitive work away from our minds—and how to take that work back with targeted brain training. Instead of waiting for forgetfulness to become a crisis, we map out simple, science-backed steps to strengthen memory, focus, coordination, and mood.
Dr. Kaplan explains how structured neuroplasticity turns daily practice into lasting change. We break down QEEG brain mapping and VNG eye tracking to show how noninvasive tools reveal strengths, weaknesses, and progress over time. From hyperbaric oxygen and neurofeedback to cold laser and far infrared therapy, you’ll hear how a modern brain rehab toolbox supports oxygenation, regulation, and healthier signaling—while the real engine is consistent, precise exercises tailored to your baseline.
We also explore why music locks in memories, how emotion cements recall, and what to do when names and keys start slipping. You’ll learn why prevention should begin earlier than most people think, how to spot meaningful warning signs, and why you can still get sharper at 50, 60, and beyond. Plus, we make the case for physical books over screens at night—more senses, better eye engagement, and calmer brainwaves—especially when reading with kids.
If you’re ready to be the 1% that chooses training over passive decline, this conversation gives you a clear plan: move your body, challenge your skills, anchor new facts with emotion, protect your sleep, and measure what matters annually. Want more? Grab Dr. Kaplan’s Boost Your Brain Power at kaplandc.com or reach out to the Emerson or West Village clinics for in-person and virtual care. If this episode sparks a new habit, share it with a friend, subscribe for more insights, and leave a quick review to help others find the show.
Kaplan Brain and Body
Dr. Kaplan of Kaplan Brain and Body
85 Kinderkamack Road Suite 100 Emerson, NJ 07630
New York: 212-620-8121
New Jersey: 201-261-2150
Text Us: 646-221-6738
Email: info@kaplanbrainandbody.com
kaplandc.com
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together.
Doug Drohan:Here's your host, Doug Drohan. Yeah, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast. I am your host, Doug Drohan, the owner of the Bergen Neighbors Media Group based in Bergen County. Isn't that surprising? Uh today we're joined again by Dr. Kaplan of the Kaplan Brain and Body, well, the Kaplan Brain and Body, uh not Institute, but just Kaplan Brain and Body. And the cool thing is he's not only located in Bergen County in Emerson on Kinder Kamack, but he's also got an office located in the heart of the West Village in New York City. I used to live down there on Bleaker and Thompson. Uh welcome back to the show, Dr. Kaplan.
Dr Kaplan:Thank you so much for having me.
Doug Drohan:Yeah, so you know, it's January. It's it's that time of year where it's kind of like New Year's resolutions, which usually coincide with health and wellness. Um, I mean, just a little bit about you. You know, you're a uh a full-service chiropractic neurology and wellness center. And I mentioned you're located in in the West Village, but for people in Bergen County, you're on Kinder Kamac in Emerson. Uh for many years, right, you've been committed to not only your patient's health, but the overall quality of their life, which I think is really important because it's not a reactive approach, it's more of a proactive approach. And it's it's not only their health. Um, you know, if you say chiropractic, it's it's not just talking about the spine, but you have a holistic approach. So um, you know, what I wanted to get into this time was maybe, you know, it's 2026. Um, you know, has anything kind of presented itself this in the last year that you're seeing as as patients come in in the new year?
Dr Kaplan:Well, there's a lot of uh new concerns with the brain, uh, starting from all the the AI and the technology. So with all the AI and the technology and all these smart devices, it's actually making everybody's brain worse because we're relying on the technology to do our brains work.
Intro/Close:Yeah.
Dr Kaplan:So, you know, you remember when we were growing up, right? You knew everybody's phone number.
Doug Drohan:Oh yeah.
unknown:Right?
Dr Kaplan:That was funny.
Doug Drohan:I there's a comedian I saw on um, you know, I get on Facebook and she did a joke about I was in an accident and they asked me for my my husband's phone number, and I I said, Oh, you mean Pookie? Like she didn't know his phone number, you know, it was just you know, mom, my wife, you know, you don't remember that, but you know, it's funny because we didn't call it AI when when spell check was first invented, right? Like you don't even have to worry about misspelling anything anymore because you know you're gonna get autocorrect.
Dr Kaplan:Exactly. You don't have to worry about that. You remember, like when you would take a trip, you'd take out the map and you'd you know, draw the and then you'd have to remember all the streets and the landmarks, and now you just put it in the GPS and you don't even have to think. Like we don't have to think anymore because all the computers and the technology does it for us. So we have to go beyond what everybody else is doing and challenge our brain. So in our clinics, we do all these brain rehab therapies where we're checking their memory and their balance and we're having to do coordination and eye exercises. So it's like a brain rehab to strengthen the brain because you know everybody does, oh, let me brush my teeth every day and let me eat my fruits and vegetables and go for a walk, but nobody teaches you how to strengthen your brain. And every year, people's brains are getting worse and worse and worse. We're getting more dementia, more Alzheimer's, and then more mood disorders too, more depression, more anxiety. So the brain's not going in a good direction until people start taking responsibility and strengthening their brain doing therapeutic exercise called neuroplasticity, where we could actually strengthen the brain. And in our offices, we also have hyperbaric oxygen chambers and neurofeedback and cold laser and far infrared devices. So there's all this great technology now that can enhance your brain function, but people just don't have the knowledge of what these things can do to improve their brain because everyone just wants, you know, the pill or the supplement, but they don't want to do the work. But we have to do the work. So what we do at our office is make sure that our people are are strengthening their brain. Just like you go to the gym and strengthen your muscles, we got to strengthen your brain to prevent dementia, prevent Alzheimer's.
Doug Drohan:So when you say dementia and Alzheimer's, you typically think of somebody 60 and over, 70 and over, 80 and over. Um, when do you feel like it's necessary? I mean, because like to your point, you know, that the concern in education now is that college students are using AI to write their papers and do all these other things. Are you like, at what point do you feel there's a need to strengthen the brain? Is it early on or not until you're at that typical age of you know when dementia presents itself?
Dr Kaplan:Well, my opinion on that, that's a great question. And you literally start 30 days before you're trying to get pregnant. So I want my kids to never get Alzheimer's.
Intro/Close:Yeah, okay, right?
Dr Kaplan:So what I did, I don't want them because my grandma had Alzheimer's, so it's in my family, so I don't want them to get it. So I started 30 days before we even decided to have kids, and I said, I'm gonna give the healthiest sperm, I'm gonna give my wife the healthiest environment for her egg. We're gonna work our brains, we're gonna exercise. So we you you literally have to start before conception. That's how important this is because Alzheimer's takes 40 years to develop. So by the time the memory's lost, it's already 40 years gone. So we can't wait till that happens. It's all about the prevention there. But the good news is you can do stuff if you're already, hey, I'm losing my keys. You know, why did I come into the kitchen? I can't remember this guy's name I just met two minutes ago. So if you're getting these signs now, there's a lot of stuff we could do, like I was explaining, to prevent that and reverse it and improve your brain. You could be better brain function at 50 than you are at 40, and you could be better at 60 than you are at 50, but you got to do the work. There's no magic pill that's gonna do it for you. You got to do the work.
Doug Drohan:Yeah. Uh, you know, somewhat related, I have a um a uh in one of my magazines in Riverdale, actually, it's a a new uh advertiser and she's a uh music teacher. And I wrote an article about the power of learning an instrument, not so much from hey, I'm up on stage and I'm I'm gonna be a rock star or play in a concert in the orchestra, it's about the cognitive uh you know benefits of learning an instrument. Because if you think about, I you know, I play guitar, I've been playing for a long time, and you know, if somebody says, Oh, can you play this song that I learned maybe 30 years ago, chances are I'm gonna be able to play it because I just you know maybe I've got to remember a couple of things. But somehow I built these neural pathways, kind of like muscle memory. Like, and I'll maybe I'll ask you this like, why do you never forget how to learn a bike? Once you learn how to ride a bike or swim, you never ever forget how to swim or ride a bike. It's a balanced thing. But if I go out in the golf course after I haven't played in six months, it's almost like I forgot how to play golf. But the point is that there are certain, I guess, you know, through the repetition of learning a song, that once you learn it, it's really, really hard to forget it. Um, like is like what type of exercises do you do to help improve memory, but also um, you know, because you obviously treat students as well, like what are the types of things that you do and and what's the science behind that? Let's call it the muscle memory when it comes to sports, but also when it comes to like learning an instrument and learning music.
Dr Kaplan:Okay, so well, the with learning a musical instrument, you know, there's four different types of uh musical instruments. If you learn any of those uh before your brain's fully developed, so a male brain is usually fully fully developed around 22, and the female brain is usually fully developed around 16. Uh, so if you learn any of those instruments before your brain's fully developed, it's gonna be really implanted in there, and it's gonna be very hard to forget that kind of stuff. Uh when people uh their memory starts going, they don't usually forget the old stuff that they learned many years ago. It's more the newer stuff, you know, the more short-term and immediate memory. And they might remember a lot of that old stuff too, even people with Alzheimer's, which is kind of cool. But you know, it's more the recent memories that usually start to go first, that the old memories, because they've been in there for so long, you know, that those are harder to get rid of there. And especially if there's an emotional connection, those are the memories that last the longest. If there's some emotional connection, you know, obviously and music has so much emotional connections to it, right? So you know, it's like, oh, this song was playing with my first kiss, and you know, when I met my wife, and you know, all this stuff. So you know, there's a lot of emotional memory, is you know, how how you could really strategize when you meet somebody and you're trying to remember their name, put some emotional connection. Oh, that's you know, my best friends growing up. You know, it's like put an emotional connection and then you'll remember those names and the numbers too. Oh, that was my you know, street address growing up or whatever it is, you know, it's like make an emotional connection and that'll increase your memory and focus and function.
Doug Drohan:So was there a time like when you like, yeah, I forgot where I put my keys or walk into the room or open up the refrigerator? Oh man, I forgot what I wanted. Like, is there a point? Because it seems like that happens to everybody at any almost any age, but is there a point where you might have a warning sign to say, hmm, maybe something's changing here?
Dr Kaplan:Yeah, I mean, definitely, because when it's things that, you know, you used to be able to remember the person's names and now you can't, right? So it's like I never really used to lose my keys, you know, twice a month, you know, maybe it was once a year, you know, but now it's been more frequent. And you know, I used to, you know, be a lot more organized, and now I forget where I put things, and you know, so if there's changes, it usually, like I said, it takes 40 years. So that's the problem. People usually don't notice it because it's so gradual. You know, that's why don't wait till now it becomes obvious. You know, get your brain tested, just like you get your blood work done every year, and you get your urinalysis and you get your eyes checked, and you go to the dentist. You've got to get your brain checked every year, but you don't want to get CAT scans, and you don't want to get these MRIs with all the contrast fluids, and you don't need the radiation. So, what we do in our office is have no radiation, no contrast fluid, there's no claustrophobic small tube. Uh, it's called a QEEG brain mapping, uh, where you just put this cap on your head and it measures your uh signals and your brain waves. And we have a VNG where you wear these goggles and it measures your eye movements and the speed and the reaction time and the different right and left brains. And so we can analyze the brain with all this technology without exposing you to any risk or radiation or chemical exposure. Uh so that's what we like to do is at least once a year get your brain checked, just like you would get your blood work checked every year.
Doug Drohan:So you create a baseline. So if you come in today and then you come back a year from now, at least you have something to compare it to.
Dr Kaplan:Exactly. You got it. That's exactly right.
Doug Drohan:And then I'd imagine that certain things affect your performance, like did you like sleeping, uh, stress. So like if I if I came in today and and you did a uh Q E G brain mapping with me, and then I come in a year later, but I didn't really sleep well the night before, or I'm really stressed about something. Um, is that a fair comparison? If like that's a great that's a great question.
Dr Kaplan:So let's say you're the type of person that uh never sleeps, right? You got insomnia, you got sleep deprivation, can't fall asleep, you're light sleeper, everything wakes you up, you're tossing and turning, you're peeing five times a night, right? So let's say that's you, but the night before the QEG, you sleep like a baby. Okay, you're well rested, and you know, you sleep eight hours and you wake up energetic. The QEEG is still gonna show sleep deprivation because that's how your brain is. Got it. Let's say it's the opposite. Let's say it's the opposite, where you sleep perfect every night, eight hours a night, right? You sleep 10 to 6, uh, you wake up energetic, you don't toss and you turn, you didn't get up to P at all. No, you know, really nice, relaxed, deep REM Delta brain waves, really good sleep. But the night before, you know, it was New Year's Eve and you were out all night, and you know, you only got four hours of sleep. The QEEG brain mapping is gonna say you sleep great because that's how your brain's functioning. It's not gonna just, you know, change based on one day. Just like same thing with your blood work, right? If you're you have the perfect diet and you eat amazing, but the day before your blood work, you know, you have a lot of bread and pasta and rice, you're not gonna show up with diabetes from one day. You know, it's something that you know you're gonna diabetes is something over time or high cholesterols over time, you know, same thing. So you're you're you're it's gonna show how your brain's functioning overall. The the VNG that might pick up a little bit more of something the night before. Um, so but for the QEG, that's gonna really tell you how your brain is.
Doug Drohan:That's great. Yeah, I mean, it you know, it's something I I didn't think about, but yeah, I guess AI and automation just does make us lazy in terms of how we use our brain. And you always read about like when it comes to seniors, like how it's important to socialize and do things that keep your your brain active and and um you know, I guess it's somewhat like your muscles, right? If I if I'm working out all the time, then you know I'm I'm staying fit and tone, and then my body hits a homeostasis, but it'll go the other way. If I sit on a couch and eat potato chips for a year, uh it it's you know, it's gonna uh get soft. And I guess for want of a better word, our brains get soft when we don't expose it to any kind of stimuli. And that's a really interesting thought. And I hadn't really thought about that, and I'm sure it's one of the concerns you hear about AI concerns about taking jobs away and maybe how it could affect uh what I call the terminator effect, and all of a sudden robots take over. But yeah, it's interesting to look at it from a um a brain health perspective and uh and the long-term implications of that.
Dr Kaplan:Yeah, it is very scary times, but you know, if you have the knowledge right now to take action, then you're not gonna fall down the road. I tell my patients you got to be the 1%. You know, the 99% people's brains are gonna get worse and worse every year. But you gotta be the one percent and do the stuff that nobody else is doing, and then your brain can get stronger and stronger every year. So you can do better and better and better with neuroplasticity, but you got to take action. We can't sit around waiting for the robot and the pill and the surgery and the supplement and the magic herb. We have to do the work ourselves. That's what I'm here to teach people is the work you need to do to get your brain stronger. But we find the weaknesses with the QEEG. So now we know what specific areas are weak, so we could strengthen that and create those neuroplastic changes.
Doug Drohan:That's great. That's amazing. You know, when I was growing up, if you were in front of the TV, my mom would say, you know, get away from the boob tube. Um felt like you sit there and watch TV all day, you're gonna, you know, you're gonna get like uh you're gonna become an idiot. Um a zombie. Yeah, exactly. So to um to your point about teaching people, uh, I want to uh kind of segue that into the Boost Your Brain Power book that you have. So there's a book called Boost Your Brain Power, a guide to improve your memory and focus. So if you can't make it into the office, or even if you do, this book is something you can read, which is great for building those neural pathways, but um you can read it in a printed version, right? Or is there a um uh an ebook version of it as well? Yeah, there is uh print. We lost a little audio, so you might be able to hear me. I'm I'm gonna uh help Dr. Kaplan. So there is a print version of the book, but you can download a free ebook from his website, and the website um just for those of you who want to look it up, it's Kaplan uh D C. So K-A-P-L-A-N-D-C.com. And uh and there you are. Hi. So um, yeah, so I was just saying you could download a free ebook of uh of your book of pushing your brain.
Dr Kaplan:Exactly, exactly. And then we're also on uh Amazon. Uh if you want to get it sent through Amazon, and then if you want the a printed uh version, you could call my office and I could sign a copy and send it to you as well.
Doug Drohan:Oh nice. So let me ask you about that when it comes to brain function and uh with reading. So there's there's a lot of studies on the tactic, the tactile uh benefits of reading a real book versus an ebook. And I, you know, to back up, uh when I worked at Nickelodeon and Viacom, I was in the publishing division, and ebooks were something that were taking off at the time. And you, you know, you get on a plane, you see everybody has a Kindle and they're reading. You don't see that much anymore. And specifically, it never took off in the children's space because parents wanted to read a book with their kid in bed or at the chair and look through the pictures. Doing it on a computer never was something that parents ever gravitated towards, I think for that reason. But are there any like um scientific studies to show that the benefits of actually holding and reading um a book or a magazine or whatever versus reading it online?
Dr Kaplan:So uh that's a great question. I personally just I I have to read books, you know. I I don't like reading uh on the screens at all. I just think the screens in general uh have this uh light that emits this blue light that increases cortisol, which is the stress hormone, and it actually stresses people more out. And you know, reading to me is something that should calm your brain down, not to stress it out. Uh so the the you want to use all your senses, right? And you want to smell the book and touch the book and see the book. You know, we lose these senses uh with our technology uh and the iPad and the computer and the cell phone because you're taking away those five senses that are so important for our brain function there. So, yeah, you know, and you know, and everyone, as I say, smell the book, people know, like they could smell a book, you know. It's not like you can, and you can feel it, and you can feel those pages, and obviously you can see it, but you know, and you could hear the pages turning, right? That that the also we need those senses, you know. So when we we use these uh ebooks and uh you know these machines uh to uh read, it's you're losing a lot of brain stimulation for sure. Um, and then there's nothing like you know reading a book with your kids, right? And cuddling in bed with them. It's like it's not the same, you know, like to have the kid turn the page and point to the little pictures, and you know, you have to you have to do the real book. In my opinion, it's very, very important. And you have to. Change the distance for your eyes, right? With a screen, it's always the same exact flat screen. So with a book, you go a little bit further, a little bit closer. So you're exercising your eyes at the same time. And you're looking up and down. It's not you're looking at the same line each time, like when you're on digitally looking at it. So there's a lot, there's so much to to go with that with the reading uh with a book as opposed to electronically.
Doug Drohan:All right. So yeah. So basically uh there's uh the email is info@kaplanbrain and body.com. The phone number in New Jersey is 201-261-2150. You could text at 646-221-6738. And I was saying, uh, you know, if you work in Manhattan and you're in the village, there's a way to, you know, see you there. And then if you're back home in New Jersey in Burton County or nearby, you could always visit in the office. So you got two great locations. And um yeah.
Dr Kaplan:So I'm also do virtual also, because we see a lot of people around the world who want to improve their brain. So we do virtual sessions as well.
Doug Drohan:Oh, that's amazing. That's amazing. Well, Dr. Kaplan, thank you again for uh for joining us. And um, you know, stay with me for a minute. We're just gonna have Chuck take us out and I'll be right back. Thank you. You got it.
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