Music Therapy In Dementia Patients: Write A Prescription For Some Good Tunes To Get Better Brain Health!
I not long ago browsed a broadcast on the Wall Street Journal website concerning the use of music therapy in dementia patients. The report indicated that one of the criticisms of music playback devices is that people who use them tend to withdraw from communication with other folks and stay in an isolated universe of their own. However, recent study of stroke and Alzheimer's patients are disclosing that iPods and other MP3 devices often have the opposite end results.
By listening to some old common songs, advanced dementia patients can reconnect with their memories and with others in some surprising ways, especially for those with degenerative brain problems. For example, as reported by the Journal, listening to rap and reggae on a borrowed iPod every day helped a 28-year-old stroke victim to learn to walk and utilize his hands again.
In another incident, a 52 year-old man who fell out of a fourth-floor building site and suffered a crushed larynx became so fascinated with music that he composed 400 songs and produced four albums. An 85-year-old dementia patient in Florida listens to her beloved 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 somewhere around 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 very efficacious. They have observed for decades that Alzheimer's sufferers can recall and sing songs for some time after they have stopped knowing names and faces. Hospitals and aging care facilities have been using music as amusement for a long time, because it causes patients pleasure. Furthermore, beyond the amusement value, there is meaningful evidence that listening to music can also help stimulate apparently lost memories, and even help restore cognitive function in some cases. (via IPod Therapy for Alzheimer's Patients, WSJ.com)
As a senior citizen myself I am a big supporter of iPods and related devices for senior citizens. I myself have an iPhone, which is pretty much an iPod with a phone built into it. I am cognizant that many of you will be dubious because you think such devices are too confusing for seniors. However, as research as shown, using complicated devices can be quite efficacious in slowing memory loss due to aging. Now we have determined that the musical functions can be helpful even for those who have already begun to experience memory loss.
Well, okay, you might decline to actually leave an iPod in the hands of a person who is experiencing cognitive decline, 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 great for those who are willing to be creative and discerning in applying its use. IPod music therapy in dementia patients is a classic example.
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