Music Therapy In Dementia Patients: Try Some Old Tunes To Aid With Memory Health!
I recently saw a broadcast on the Wall Street Journal website about the use of music therapy in dementia patients. The article stated that one of the criticisms of music playback devices is that those who use them seem to stay away from communication with other people and stay in an isolated universe of their own. However, recent studies of stroke and dementia patients are disclosing that iPods and other MP3 devices frequently have the opposite end results.
By listening to some old common songs, advanced Alzheimer's patients can relink with their memories and with each other in some unexpected ways, especially for folks with degenerative brain problems. For example, as reported in the Journal, listening to rap and reggae on a borrowed iPod each day helped a 28-year-old stroke sufferer to resume walking and use his hands again.
In another incident, a 52 year-old man who fell out of a fourth-floor construction site and suffered a crushed larynx became so absorbed with music that he composed 400 songs and produced four albums. An 85-year-old dementia patient in Florida listens to her favorite opera and Yiddish songs each day on an iPod with a home health aide or her daughter when she drops in. According to her daughter they listen for about a half-hour a day and "It seems to touch something deep within her."
Caregivers have known for many years that music therapy in dementia patients can be extremely effective. They have observed for decades that dementia patients can still remember and sing tunes for an extended time after they have stopped knowing names and faces. Hospitals and nursing homes have been using music as recreation for a long time, because it brings patients pleasure. Furthermore, beyond the delight value, there is meaningful evidence that listening to music can also help stimulate apparently lost memories, and even help reconstruct cognitive function in some cases. (via IPod Therapy for Alzheimer's Patients, WSJ.com)
As a senior myself I am a big fan of iPods and comparable devices for senior citizens. I myself have an iPhone, which is pretty much an iPod with a telephone built into it. I am aware that many of you will be skeptical because you think such devices are too confusing for seniors. However, as research as shown, using complicated devices can be quite effective in minimizing memory loss due to aging. Now we realize that the musical capabilities can be helpful even for those who have already suffered cognitive decline.
Well, okay, you might decline to actually leave an iPod in the hands of a person who is experiencing dementia, but such a device can certainly be used, under supervision, to provide the kinds of music therapy in dementia patients set out in this article. Technology can be amazing for those who are willing to be creative and farsighted in applying its use. IPod music therapy in dementia patients is a classic example.
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