Music Can Cure Dementia!?
- Ani M
- Dec 29, 2021
- 3 min read
Well, no, not actually. But it can come close! But first... what is Dementia?
Dementia is the loss of cognitive function where a person's memory, thinking and judgement, and ability to complete daily activities are deteriorating. This also strongly affects a person's behavior, feelings, and relationships. Some causes may be disease, strokes, and even head injuries. Dementia mostly occurs in the elderly as their brain activity may lessen due to age. One type of dementia is Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's accounts for almost 60-80% of most dementia cases. Alzheimer's occurs due to microscopic bleeding and blood vessel blockage in the brain.
Some of the symptoms people with dementia face are: difficulty with everyday tasks, confusion with familiar environments, difficulty with words and numbers, memory loss, changes in mood and behavior, and inability to speak or understand language. But along with these symptoms are the terrible emotional effects of dementia. People may experience irritability, personality changes, anxiety, loneliness, mood swings, nervousness, depression, and hallucinations or paranoia. Bringing all of these symptoms and effects together, the scale to which dementia affects one person is huge. Therefore, ideas for any way or any thing that can help aid people with dementia is greatly welcomed.
Now let's introduce the concept of music and its general effect on the brain. It gives your brain a "workout". It is also proven to reduce anxiety, blood pressure, and pain. It improves sleep quality, mood, mental alertness, and the biggest one... memory.
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, music jump-starts your creativity. It can recall a memory from a while ago. I am sure we have all had that one song that every time we listen to it, we recall a specific memory. Often times your brain will associate a certain song with a certain memory, and every time you listen to that song, it will replay that memory. Music helps you listen to your body. It helps you decide what you need to concentrate (which music you enjoy). The musical experience is different for everyone.
Music has a positive effect on: the frontal lobe, temporal lobe, broca's area, wernick's aera, occipital lobe, cerebellum, nucleus accumbens, amygdala, hippocampus, hypothalamus, and putamen.
[Check out this link for more information on music and the brain: https://www.ucf.edu/pegasus/your-brain-on-music/]
Now let's look at what it does to people with dementia...
In terms of my own research, music helps maintain a better quality of life. It also reduces depression and anxiety which come along with dementia. Music provides an outlet for those with dementia to express themselves as well as boost mood and wellbeing. Music elicits emotions that are tied to a person's past. And this is exactly how music can help people with dementia. It can bring back pieces of memory.
A Harvard article was published about ties between music and dementia. It detailed an experiment by a social worker who wanted to research these ties. Family members of patients with dementia were asked to create a playlist with some of their loved one's favorite songs. As they listened to it, they were able to link past event with certain songs. Some even spoke, danced, and sang along to the music!
Music can be deemed therapeutic to those with dementia. Music and Memory is an organization that helps individuals with cognitive and physical conditions through personalized music. There are so many more organizations out there that promote the use of music to heal and improve the quality of life of those with certain conditions. Seeing music take a more involving role in healthcare is so exciting to me! If used in the right way, music can help so many people.
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I will be documenting my journey of understanding music’s role in public health. I want this blog to be a place for me to explain my findings and connections. I think it’s amazing that I have the opportunity to explore my passions and even more awesome that I can find a way to combine them.
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Over this summer, I enrolled in a course focusing on healthcare through the arts. One of our topics was music and dementia. This was such an eye-opening topic and my research truly intrigued me. I thought my learning and findings were too incredible to not share. Much of my information in this post came from there!
Sources:
Music and Memory Organization: https://musicandmemory.org/about/
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