For Better Health - Spring 2023

Memory Loss Can Be Everyday Forgetfulness, Or A Stepping Stone Toward Alzheimer’s Disease

By Shannon hickS

Newtown Senior Center recently hosted a well attended program that covered warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease.

An estimated 55 million people worldwide are living with dementia. In the United States alone, more than 6 million have Alzheimer’s disease, a type of dementia.

Danielle Ramos, a volunteer community educator for the Alzheimer’s Association, led the March 31 presentation. Ramos has been a volunteer with the association, she told The Newtown Bee, “well over 15 years.”

She also works in healthcare, as director of community relations in Connecticut for National Health Care Associates Inc. Ramos went over “typical agerelated memory thinking and behavior changes” and common warning signs of Alzheimer’s and dementia. She also offered tips on approaching someone with memory concerns, covered the importance of early detection and benefits of diagnosis, and shared resources available through Alzheimer’s Association.

One of the first things she did was offer a definition of the disease.

Dementia is an umbrella term for an individual’s changes in memory, thinking or reasoning.

Alzheimer’s is a cause of dementia, according to a video Ramos shared with her audience.

Other causes of dementia are vascular dementia, marked by changes in the blood flow and blood vessels in the brain; Lewy body dementia, or LBD, which is associated with abnormal deposits of a protein in the brain; and frontal temporal dementia, marked by brain cell loss in the front section of the brain, or frontal lobe.

Each type of dementia has its own characteristic to cause specific behaviors. There can also be overlapping behaviors among the different types.

Discovered over 100 years ago, Alzheimer’s is a progres-

sive brain disease that is marked by key changes that impact memory, thinking and behavior.

Alzheimer’s disease causes nerve cells in the brain to die, which leads to brain tissue loss and causes loss of function and communication between cells.

Those changes cause the symptoms of Alzheimer’s: memory loss, behavioral issues, problems with thinking and planning, and at the end stage, swallowing.

“Dementia is more the umbrella term that describes the general symptoms,” Ramos explained. “A lot of times we hear the terms used interchangeably, but as we just saw, there are a lot of different types of dementia.

“As a reference, if you think of the term ‘cancer,”’ she added.

“Cancer is a pretty broad term, but there are many types — you could have breast cancer, lung cancer, or prostate cancer.

It’s the same thing: dementia is your umbrella term, it’s your general description of symptoms, and then Alzheimer’s is one type of that.”

Warning Signs Ramos then covered each of the ten warning signs:

*Memory loss that disrupts daily life.

*Challenges in planning or solving problems.

*Difficulty in completing familiar tasks.

*Confusion with time or place.

*Trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships.

*New problems with words in speaking or writing.

*Misplacing things and losing the ability to retrace steps.

*Decreased or poor judgement.

*Withdrawal from work or social activities.

*Changes in mood or personality. Dr Stephen Salloway, a global leading researcher in Alzheimer’s research, was filmed for many segments of the video

Ramos shared during her Newtown visit.

Cognitive problems, Salloway said in the video, “become more noticeable in almost everybody.

“It can vary from person to person,” he said. “Typically with age, people have trouble coming up with the word they want, right when they want it. They have trouble remembering names, and they don’t think quite as quickly.”

Those are standard events for most people, he said.

“What’s more concerning, and what might be the beginning of

a memory problem,” he continued, “is when people have a lot of trouble coming up with words, or names, and it’s happening more frequently, and the words or names don’t necessarily come to them later.

“Then they start misplacing things,” he said. “Not just once in a while — we all misplace things,” he added encouragingly.

“When it happens more often, and it begins to affect day-today, that should be a warning sign to people,” he continued. “It might be the beginning of a

memory problem.” Ramos reiterated that some forgetfulness is normal.

“We all have difficulty finding the right word sometimes,” she said. “Sometimes we think of it 30 minutes later. But for someone with dementia, that word is irretrievably lost.”

One of the biggest takeaways from the presentation was the idea that everyone occasionally forgets something. It’s the life changes that are concerning.

“Keep in mind people and their norms,” Ramos suggested. “If you keep your checkbook to

the penny, always, but then start having trouble with your math, that could be an issue.”

Not being able retrace steps after misplacing something is also something to watch for if it becomes routine.

“Putting things in unusual places, like keys in the freezer, or accusing others of stealing because you can’t recall what you did with something is problematic,” Ramos said. “Shortterm forgetfulness, again, is OK, when you can retrace your steps. “A person with Alzheimer’s is

not able to retrace their steps. That short-term memory is gone,” she said. Decreased or poor judgement can mean becoming more susceptible to scams, or hygiene begins to slip, or even recognizing that boiling water is hot.

Ruth Drew, MS, LPC, the director of information and support services for Alzheimer’s Association, was also featured in the video.

“This is not just a disease of memory. Alzheimer’s can also affect how we perceive things,” said Drew.

Withdrawal from work and social activities can include hobbies and engagements, she said.

“That can lead to feeling lost, which often leads to withdrawal,” she said.

Feeling nervous about going to an event is not the same.

“A person’s comfort zone will change,” she said. “When people lose confidence in their cognitive abilities, they will stay home because they won’t have to worry about remembering names, not because they’re a little nervous about walking into a room.”

If You Notice Signs

Family members and friends may notice changes before a patient does.

In the video, Dr Salloway said family members will often notice when someone is more irritable or anxious without obvious reasons.

“An interesting phenomenon is that family and friends often notice someone else having memory problems,” he said.

“Often that can be an early sign of Alzheimer’s or memory loss.”

Memory is variable, he added.

“There are different symptoms that develop, at different rates,” he said.

A person does not have to have every symptom to be concerned, he also noted. Warning signs are not meant to be diagnostic. They are “just a guide,” he said, “something to keep an eye on.”

Ramos told those in attendance that approaching someone they are concerned about is not always easy.

“It’s not an easy conversation,” she said. “Consider in advance who will lead the conversation, and when and where is the best time to have that conversation.”

Multiple talks may need to be held.

“The first conversation may not go well, or you just may not be able to finish talking about everything you want to cover,” she said.

When opening the discussion, one of the most important things a person can offer is to go with the friend or family member to see doctors. Help them make appointments, and reach out for any available resource, Ramos suggested.

“The benefits of early diagnosis,” she said, “is the person is going to have a voice in what will happen to them, including lifestyle, caretakers, and finances. It allows them to work with their family to make plans.”

Consulting a doctor can also alleviate concerns.

“Alcohol use, high blood pressure, and even urinary tract infections are factors that can go into cognitive issues, but can be controlled,” Ramos said.

The stigma and misconceptions about Alzheimer’s lead many people to not get diagnosed.

“They think it’s a life sentence, and nothing can be done, and that’s wrong,” Ramos said. “If something is concerning enough to make you think about Alzheimer’s, you should get it checked. There are a number of assessments and tests available to diagnose and determine what level someone is at, or even if they’re at a point to be concerned.”

Among the resources Ramos shared during her visit was the phone number for Alzheimer’s Association’s 24-7 Helpline: 800-272-3900.

“The helpline is phenomenal,”

( continued on page C- 3 )

District

Alzheimer’s Association volunteer Danielle Ramos recently gave a very informative and well attended presentation at Newtown Senior Center on Alzheimer’s disease. She helped attendees understand the difference between Alzheimer’s and dementia, and offered guidance on taking first steps when memory changes are noticed. —Bee Photo, Hicks

Sports Burnout: From Athletes Overdoing It To Gender Issues

By anDy hUTchiSon

Burnout can happen in any activity, including one people often do to burn off steam and burn energy — sports.

Kevin Cleary, who has had a career as an athlete, coach, and athletic trainer, and owns Athlete Factory, LLC, at 77 South Main Street, where he trains athletes, mixes up the exercise routines when he works with athletes in order to avoid burnout — or overuse of muscle — at the gym.

“We over-compete them at such a young age,” Cleary said of society perhaps putting too much emphasis on trying to get children to pick up a competitive edge at a high cost — both monetary and in terms of the physical grind.

Cleary, passionate about getting the most out of athletes without overdoing it, has been motivated to write a book, Let

‘Em Play, in which he details the lost days of children being active by having fun compared to the focus on expensive sports leagues in which parents invest their children and dollars.

“Too much competition at too early an age, for too long a period of time makes it not fun,” Cleary said.

“I see it with youth sports. The mentality is more is better,” said Newtown High School Athletic Director Matt Memoli, who noted that burnout and injuries can occur when athletes go hard year-round, including when specializing in one sport.

“The reality is a majority of our kids aren’t going to be playing college sports,” Memoli said.

For those who do advance to the collegiate sports-playing ranks, burnout remains real — especially when combining training with studying.

Sacred Heart University psychology professor and a biology student teamed up to research extreme mental and physical exhaustion — burnout — among student-athletes.

Gender And Burnout

Professor Mary E. Ignagni and junior Erin Burgess, a SHU field hockey player, started their research in 2021 and continued their research through this academic year. Specifically, they are exploring a correlation between gender and burnout, as well as student-athletes’ overall well-being and the impact coaches have on managing stress. They hope that if burnout is indeed prevalent among student-athletes, strategies can be put into place to alleviate or prevent it.

The two women joined forces after Ignagni presented research at the College of Arts & Sciences’ annual conference, CASCon, about social media and its effects on females. The subject matter intrigued Burgess, so she contacted Ignagni to offer research assistance. Ignagni responded that she had completed that project, but if Burgess thought of another topic to pursue, she would work with her. That’s when Burgess suggested researching burnout among student-athletes. “Burnout was something I knew of, something I had experienced,” said Burgess, 20, from San Diego, Calif., in a press release from SHU. “I have seen it firsthand. It’s complete mental and physical exhaustion. It’s when something someone loves doing is no longer fun.”

Her interest also stemmed from reports of gymnast Simone Biles’ struggles during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, when the stresses of performing — in front of a global audience that held high expectations for her routines — and other pressures, led the athlete to withdraw

A Sacred Heart University psychology professor and a biology student have teamed up to research extreme mental and physical exhaustion — burnout — among student-athletes. Specifically, they are exploring a correlation between gender and burnout, as well as student-athletes’ overall well-being and the impact coaches have on managing stress.

from some competitions. Burgess said burnout often isn’t addressed, and if people don’t investigate its causes, the problem won’t be fixed. “We need to make sure the proper supports are in place to protect student-athletes,” she said. While their study focuses on males and females, the researchers wanted to determine if burnout is more prevalent in females.

Ignagni said recent events suggest female athletes are not

treated the same as their male counterparts, which can contribute to burnout. She recalled the 2021 NCAA tournament, when women basketball players were given a substandard weight room with limited equipment, while the men were assigned a larger, better-equipped weight room. “Such situations add to the stress females endure. They’re putting in the same time and effort and putting their bodies

on the line, but they aren’t given the same respect as males,” Ignagni said.

With those premises, Burgess and Ignagni began researching burnout in athletes to determine what had already been studied. From there, they formulated a hypothesis and sent surveys to student-athletes, including an “athlete burnout questionnaire” that asked about the students’ energy levels while playing a sport. They also shared the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale, which assesses a person’s overall mental health.

“As we get the surveys back, we have to run the data,” Burgess said. From there, they will look for connections and patterns.

The two also are trying to get a larger sample size of participants so their results will be statistically significant. They are working together with the goal of publishing a paper on their findings.

Presenting Findings

Ignagni and Burgess presented their preliminary results at the Eastern Psychological Association’s annual conference in Boston in March.

“I hope whatever the research shows will be taken to heart,” Burgess said. “Hopefully, our work and that of other researchers will lead to practices that prevent this type of exhaustion or determine why it happens in the first place.”

The Newtown Bee followed up with Ignagni and Burgess this spring.

Ignagni told The Bee: “Added findings we presented at the conference include the following: We found a significant effect of coaches’ gender such that female collegiate athletes with male coaches have higher feelings of burnout, higher feelings of emotional physical exhaustion, and decreased satisfaction with coaching behaviors compared to female athletes with female coaches. The coaching behaviors include social support and positive feedback. All these findings are significant.

“Patterns include that compared to male athletes — noting that our sample of male athletes is very small — female athletes have higher feelings of burnout compared to male college athletes. Also, female athletes have higher feelings of exhaustion, less satisfaction with coaches, and lower feelings of well-being compared to male athletes.”

Ignagni said she has learned quite a bit from this research.

“I have learned a lot so far from studying collegiate athletes. I did not realize how much coaches’ behaviors are impacting athletes, and females in particular. I knew coaching was important for athletes, that is a given, but the impact on burnout is enlightening. Especially this idea of social support from coaches being important to female athletes. We definitely have a lot to look at moving forward from this study as this study is giving us a beginning understanding of burnout and well-being of athletes,” Ignagni said.

Burgess told The Bee: “So far, the data supports three of our hypotheses. Together these indicate that female athletes with male coaches have higher burnout rates, higher emotional/ physical exhaustion, and are generally less satisfied with their personal treatment from their coach compared to if they have a female coach. We’re still in the process of collecting data, but hopefully our other hypotheses will become significant and supported by the samples.

“Being a college athlete, this research has been a particularly interesting way to take something that was such a large part of my life and see it from a new point of view. It has also been a satisfying experience, as the things I have witnessed in collegiate athletics finally have grounded support and reasoning as to why some of my friends or other athletes may be experiencing burnout.”

Sports Editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.

Some Need Improvement— Experts Rank 10 Popular Diets For Heart-Healthy Elements

DALLAS, Tex. — Many popular dietary patterns score high for heart health; however, a few contradict the American Heart Association’s dietary guidance and did not rank as heart healthy, according to a new scientific statement published today in the Association’s flagship, peer-reviewed journal Circulation

“The number of different, popular dietary patterns has proliferated in recent years, and the amount of misinformation about them on social media has reached critical levels,” said Christopher D. Gardner, Ph.D., FAHA, chair of the writing committee for the new scientific statement and the Rehnborg Farquhar Professor of Medicine at Stanford University in Stanford, California.

“The public — and even many health care professionals — may rightfully be confused about heart healthy eating, and they may feel that they don’t have the time or the training to evaluate the different diets. We hope this statement serves as a tool for clinicians and the public to understand which diets promote good cardiometabolic health,” Gardner added.

Cardiometabolic health refers to a group of factors that affect metabolism (the body’s processes that break down nutrients in food, and build and repair tissues to maintain normal function) and the risk of heart and vascular disease. These factors include blood glucose, cholesterol and other lipids, blood pressure and body weight. While abnormal levels of one factor may increase the risk for heart disease, abnormalities in more than one factor raise the risk even more, and for more severe disease.

The statement rates how well popular dietary patterns align with the American Heart Association’s Dietary Guidance.

The guidance includes ten key features of a dietary pattern to improve cardiometabolic health, which emphasizes limiting unhealthy fats and reducing the consumption of excess carbohydrates. This balance optimizes both cardiovascular and general metabolic health, and limits the risks of other health conditions such as Type 2 diabetes and risk factors such as obesity that may result from excess consumption of carbohydrates, particularly processed carbohydrates and sugar sweetened beverages, which are both associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

The new scientific statement is the first to analyze how closely popular dietary patterns adhere to those features, and the guidance is focused on being adaptable to individual budgets as well as personal and cultural preferences.

Breaking Down Diets

The committee reviewed the defining features of several dietary patterns that are meant to be followed long term. Dietary patterns were grouped by similarity in key characteristics, resulting in 10 categories:

*DASH-style — describes an eating pattern that’s like the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, emphasizing vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, and low-fat dairy and includes lean meats and poultry, fish and nontropical oils. The Nordic and Baltic diets are other types of this eating pattern.

*Mediterranean-style — also known as the Mediterranean diet, this pattern limits dairy; emphasizes vegetables, fruit, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, fatty fish and extra virgin olive oil; and includes moderate drinking of red wine.

*Vegetarian-style/Pescatarian — a plant-based eating pattern that includes fish.

*Vegetarian-style/Ovo/Lacto — plant-based eating

patterns that include eggs (ovo-vegetarian), dairy products (lacto-vegetarian) or both (ovo-lacto vegetarian).

*Vegetarian-style/Vegan — a plant-based eating pattern that includes no animal products.

*Low-fat — a diet that limits fat intake to less than 30% of total calories, including the Volumetrics eating plan and the Therapeutic Lifestyle Change (TLC) plan.

*Very low-fat — a diet that limits fat intake to less than 10% of total calories, including Ornish, Esselstyn, Pritikin, McDougal, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) diets. Some may also be considered vegan.

*Low-carbohydrate — a diet that limits carbohydrates to 30-40% of total calorie intake, and includes South Beach, Zone diet and low glycemic index diets.

*Paleolithic — also called the Paleo diet, it excludes whole and refined grains, legumes, oils and dairy.

*Very low-carbohydrate/ketogenic — limits carbohydrate intake to less than 10% of daily calories and includes Atkins, ketogenic and the Well-Formulated Ketogenic diets.

Each diet was evaluated against 9 of the 10 features of the American Heart Association’s guidance for a heart-healthy eating pattern. The only element not used in scoring was “eating to achieve a proper energy balance to maintain a healthy weight,” since this is influenced by factors other than dietary choices, such as physical activity level, and applies equally to all the diet categories.

Defining features of the diets were given points based on how well each feature aligned with the Association’s guidance: 1 point for fully meeting, 0.75 points for mostly meeting and 0.5 points for partially meeting the guidance. If an aspect of the diet did not meet the guidance at all, zero points were given for that component.

The resulting scores were totaled and adjusted to arrive at a rating between 0-100, with 100 indicating the closest adherence to American Heart Association’s dietary guidance.

Of note, the statement did not review commercial dietary programs, such as Noom or Weight Watchers; diets designed to be followed for less than 12 weeks; dietary practices such as intermittent fasting or time-restricted eating; or diets designed to manage non-cardiovascular conditions (such as gastrointestinal conditions and food allergies or intolerances).

The writing group found that the dietary patterns reviewed varied widely in their alignment with American Heart Association guidance, earning scores from 31 to 100.

The DASH-style eating pattern received a perfect score by meeting all of the Association’s guidance. These eating patterns are low in salt, added sugar, alcohol, tropical oils and processed foods, and rich in

non-starchy vegetables, fruits, whole grains and legumes.

Protein tends to be mostly from plant sources (such as legumes, beans or nuts), along with fish or seafood, lean poultry and meats, and low-fat or fat-free dairy products.

The Mediterranean-style diet is also highly rated. Since it doesn’t explicitly address added salt and includes moderate alcohol consumption (rather than avoiding or limiting alcohol), it has a slightly lower score than DASH. In addition, most of the features of a vegetarian eating pattern align with AHA’s dietary guidance. Pescatarian and vegetarian eating plans that include eggs, dairy or both were also in the top tier.

“If implemented as intended, the top-tier dietary patterns align best with the American Heart Association’s guidance and may be adapted to respect cultural practices, food preferences and budgets to enable people to always eat this way, for the long term,” Gardner said.”

Equity In Healthy Eating

The statement suggests opportunities for dietary research and interventions to promote health equity, recognizing the importance of social determinants of health in shaping dietary patterns. Advocating for changes at each of these levels supports all populations toward achieving health equity.

Individuals: Educational efforts should be culturally relevant to increase their effectiveness for people from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. Studies that examine dietary patterns from the various African, Asian and Latin American cultures may prove helpful in creating the knowledge base for these types of educational efforts.

Relationships and social networks: Families, friends and traditions are important influencers on eating patterns. Programs are needed to promote relationships that support healthy eating across diverse population groups, and particularly those that leverage the family structure as a means of social support. One example is the American Heart Association’s new campaign Together at the Table/ Juntos En La Mesa, designed to help Hispanic/Latino families cook and eat a heart healthy diet that celebrates their cultural flavors while improving their families’ health.

Communities: Structural racism is a contributing factor to diet-related disease. Historically marginalized populations should be involved in all phases of research and in the development of programs and interventions. Diet intervention studies should incorporate healthier versions of dietary patterns from racially and ethnically diverse cultures.

Policy: Policies may address disparities in dietary patterns by race and ethnicity, dismantling unjust historical practices that limit healthy food access. Legislation at the local, national and global levels may provide long-term support for healthy eating for large numbers of people and shape more equitable and healthy societies.

In learning more about various dietary patterns and how effective they may be, Gardner notes that people may hear conflicting information from different studies of the same diet.

“We often find that people don’t fully understand popular eating patterns and aren’t following them as intended. When that is the case, it is challenging to determine the effect of the ‘diet as intended’ and distinguish that from the ’diet as followed.’ Two research findings that seem contradictory may merely reflect that there was high adherence in following the diet in one study and low adherence in the other.”

Brain Health Practitioner Applying

By noELLE VEiLLETTE

If you’re struggling with mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, obsessivecompulsive disorder, or posttraumatic stress disorder, you are likely accustomed to hearing the same types of advice from concerned friends: “Have you tried yoga?” and “Maybe you should take up meditating” are a few common cure-all suggestions from well-meaning individuals.

If you have ADHD, people in your life may suggest you should just be more organized, try to arrive on time, or be less impulsive.

Maybe you are seeing a therapist, or are on medication for one or more of these diagnoses or suspected diagnoses, and nothing is working how you would like it to. After receiving help and implementing suggested lifestyle changes, having to face continued struggle can lead to feelings of helplessness.

Jeffrey J. Schutz, MA, MA, LMFT, BCN, ORD, The Neurovation Center’s senior neurofeedback clinician, owner and executive director, said he

noticed a “gap” in the way mental illness is treated during his time as a marriage and family therapist. This was a place between medication and therapy that wasn’t being explored: looking at the brain.

Schutz, one of only a few dozen neurofeedback therapists in Connecticut, said the brain is in charge of behavior, sensory, and perception, but the medical community tends to ignore it when it comes to treating mental illness. That led him to establish The Neurovation Center — after becoming aware of the benefits of neurofeedback treatment. The Newtown clinic, among just a few in the region, specializes in using neurofeedback to treat symptoms of mental illness without traditional therapy or medication.

The Process

It all starts with an EEG scan that takes under an hour, according to Schutz. The resulting map lays out the electrical activity of the brain — revealing what areas are active. These correlate to symptoms

associated with conditions such as anxiety, depression, PTSD, OCD, ADHD. The scan is then reviewed by a neuroanalyst who discusses possible symptoms or conditions the patient may be experiencing.

“It’s affirming, it makes sense. It’s a really fun review,” Schutz said of this patient interaction, expressing it validates a patient’s concerns of what they’ve noticed in themselves.

After the EEG, the neurofeedback treatment begins at subsequent appointments.

“Once we know where the symptoms are coming from, we can now retrain your brain. We can teach it to adapt itself,” said Schutz. Patients are attached to the headpiece again to a computer trained to watch for features of their brain, according to Schutz. In each session, patients watch a movie or television. Schutz explained if there’s too many impulses allocated to an undesired section of the brain, the TV screen dims for the patient. Schutz said the brain

To Restrategize Mental Health Treatment

intuitively wants lights and to watch TV, so it will try to make it bright again, which trains the brain to be healthier.

“Your brain learns how to reallocate its resources, and the symptoms go away,” said Schutz.

Filling Gaps

Those who promote general self-improvement as a cure for mental ails may balk at the idea that more time in front of the TV counts as treatment. If taken out of context, the neurofeedback route can seem absurd, or futuristic. However, Schutz reported the results of the non-invasive process are real.

“Panic almost never responds particularly well to medication,” said Schutz, adding that 80 to 90 percent of people who seek treatment at his practice for a panic disorder will never have one again after a month.

Some of the EEG results include a redirection in a diagnostic impression from the specialists at the center. Schutz said a generalized anxiety disorder could be identified as a

sensory processing disorder. He explained an EEG scan can also parse and analyze an ADHD sufferer’s specific areas of need, as ADHD tends to be a broad diagnosis.

Schutz said his favorite condition to treat with neurofeedback is PTSD because of the treatment’s effectiveness.

“A lot of stuff doesn’t work, and this gives people their lives back,” he said. Schutz, who identified himself as a “meds-minimalist,” said the root cause of most symptoms is neuromodulation, and things that don’t respond to neurofeedback are going to be more adjustable by medication.

Switching Gears

Getting serious about mental health is becoming a more common prerogative in 2023, but when all else fails, it can still

be hard to see where to turn next, or turn first. A lesserknown avenue may be the missing piece.

Some people who seek neurofeedback treatment at the center are “early adopters of new technology,” according to Schutz, and are excited by the scientific developments. Others, Schutz said, are people who saw the effect neurofeedback treatment had on their friend. Some come after a traumatic event, like sexual assault, or don’t want to be on medication for their condition anymore.

“Neurofeedback is the top tier treatment that people should consider first,” said Schutz, “Nothing else can compare with it.”

Reporter Noelle Veillette can be reached at noelle@thebee. com.

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Lisa Boule, MSN, APRN, CPNP, Lactation Consultant

Dayna Nethercott, PA-C

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—Alzheimer’s Association graphic

Memory Loss Can Be Everyday Forgetfulness, Or A Stepping Stone Toward Alzheimer’s Disease

( continued from page C- 1 )

Ramos said. “You will always get a person, at all hours. They can give you a lot of information that’s right in your area.” Handouts on side tables also included that phone number, and bookmarks listing the ten warning signs to watch for. The association’s website (alz.org) is also very helpful, she said.

Walk To End Alzheimer’s

The program last month also introduced attendees to the Walk to End Alzheimer’s, being planned locally for September 30. The Western Connecticut Walk will be around the Town Green in New Milford.

Connecticut Chapter Development Manager Wendy B. Shreve said the event is the association’s largest annual fundraiser, and that Newtown Senior Center is planning to have a team this year. People can participate in the walk, or raise funds ahead of September 30 through their own fundraisers, she said.

“If you want to sell arts and crafts, and make a donation that way, that’s good,” she said. “If you just want to make a donation to the team, you can do that.”

Shreve is the walk manager for the September event. Readers can contact her for additional information at 860-362-0876 or WBShreve@alz.org. Visit act.alz.org/westernct for more information about the event and to register.

Managing Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.

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Sandy

B y J iM T ayLoR

DANBURY — Veteran podiatrist, author, and philanthropist Dr Paul Betschart recently released The Foot Book: Fast Foot Facts From the Foot Care Front Lines, with proceeds from its sales being steered to support a Newtown nonprofit. The doctor’s new book is intended to serve as a valuable educational resource when it comes to all things about foot health. Offering important knowledge in a fun and easy-to-understand format, this new book takes on different topics — from pain to skin conditions, and equips readers with the tools to improve their foot health and live better.

Betschart, who lives in Ridgefield and grew up in Danbury, is a major supporter of the Newtown-Sandy Hook Community Foundation, raising $5,000 for the cause during the 2019 New York Marathon and doing other fundraising for it over the years.

According to correspondence from Betschart, proceeds from The Foot Book will go to the Sandy Hook Foundation.

“I wanted to give back to a local charity with the revenue

created from the book sales,” Betschart said. “Two years ago, I ran in the New York City Marathon and used that run to raise funds for Sandy Hook Promise. It’s a good cause, creating gun safety awareness and educating peo-

ple when it comes to gun safety reform.”

Betschart said that he was drawn to the foundation as “it’s a local charity with a national reach.” “We see gun violence happening everywhere, and the

foundation does a great job with education and intervening prior to violence happening,” said Betschart. The Foot Book is a comprehensive book that offers the best advice and knowledge from Betschart’s 27 years of experience as a foot and ankle specialist.

From talking about the most common foot health issues to taking a deep dive into more complex topics such as peripheral neuropathy and sportsrelated conditions, the book simplifies medical nomenclature for the average reader and helps people develop a solid understanding of their foot health needs.

Inspiration for this book came from the rhyming Foot Book by Dr Seuss, that Betschart remembered from his childhood. His own The Foot Book has a playful subtitle, “the one for adults,” on the cover.

“We wanted something that would grab people’s attention,” said Betschart. While the children’s Foot

Book contained rhymes about opposites, Betschart’s The Foot Book is an essential read for adults of all ages to become aware of their foot health, which can subsequently help them improve their overall health and live a better life.

“It’s a medical text for the lay person that’s basically about what I do as a podiatrist,” said Betschart. “It introduces podiatry to people that may not know everything I can do for them.”

Some examples are that people may not realize that he treats fractures, and trims toenails and calluses, among many other things, said Betschart.

After running his practice in Manhattan for more than 20 years, Betschart moved his clinic to his hometown, Danbury, where he has been offering podiatric care ever since.

Constantly working with the latest technology to offer more services to his patients, Betschart began working on The Foot Book as a simple yet important foot health guide for the masses. The book offers science- and research-based knowledge, along with pictures, to help people understand foot health without making any guesses.

From diagnosis and treatment to surgery and post-care, Betschart and his team offer individualized care to each and every clinic patient. The Foot Book has also been written in a way that makes it easy for each reader to implement the knowledge and advice to their daily lives and make decisions to improve their foot health.

Betschart said that the Kindle version of The Foot Book reached #1 in the Podiatry category on Amazon. There are two additional books planned to follow Betschart hinted, intending to have more specific focuses than the first.

Associate Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee. com.

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