Posts Tagged ‘dementia’

How can music help people who have Alzheimer’s disease?

Posted By admin / 14th May 2013

How can music help people who have Alzheimer’s disease?

from Glenn Smith, Ph.D.

Limited research suggests that listening to music can benefit people who have Alzheimer’s disease in various ways.

For example, music can:

Relieve stress

Reduce anxiety and depression

Reduce agitation

Music can also benefit caregivers by reducing anxiety, lightening the mood and providing a way to connect with loved ones who have Alzheimer’s disease — especially those who have difficulty communicating.

If you’d like to use music to help a loved one who has Alzheimer’s disease, consider these tips:

Think about your loved one’s preferences. What kind of music does your loved one enjoy? What music evokes memories of happy times in his or her life? Involve family and friends by asking them to suggest songs or make playlists.

Set the mood. To calm your loved one during mealtime or a morning hygiene routine, play music or sing a song that’s soothing. When you’d like to boost your loved one’s mood, use faster paced music.

Avoid overstimulation. When playing music, eliminate competing noises. Turn off the TV. Shut the door. Set the volume based on your loved one’s hearing ability. Opt for music that isn’t interrupted by commercials, which can cause confusion.

Encourage movement. Help your loved one to clap along or tap his or her feet to the beat. If possible, dance with your loved one.

Pay attention to your loved one’s response. If your loved one seems to enjoy particular songs, play them often. If your loved one reacts negatively to a particular song or type of music, choose something else.

Keep in mind that music might not affect your loved one’s behavior or quality of life and that further research on music and Alzheimer’s disease is needed.

Loneliness Increases Odds Of Dementia, Study Says

Posted By admin / 14th May 2013

Even adjusting for factors like age, socioeconomic factors, and initial cognitive functioning, researchers found that feelings of loneliness increased the odds of an older adult developing dementia by 64 percent.The research, conducted over the course of three years on more than 2,000 seniors living outside of a long term care setting, found that loneliness was significant predicator of dementia. Nearly half of the study participants lived alone and about 75 percent said that they had no social support. One in five participants also reported feeling lonely.

Over the course of the study, 9.3 percent of those living alone developed dementia and 5.6 percent of those living with another person had developed dementia. When controlling for other variables, researchers concluded that social isolation was not a strong predicator of dementia, but feelings of loneliness was a significant predicator. Those who had reported feeling lonely were 250 percent more likely to have developed dementia than their not lonely peers. When researchers adjusted for other factors, lonely individuals were still 64 percent more likely to develop dementia.

“These results suggest that feelings of loneliness independently contribute to the risk of dementia in later life,” the researchers say in the study. “Interestingly, the fact that ‘feeling lonely’ rather than ‘being alone’ was associated with dementia onset suggests that it is not the objective situation, but, rather, the perceived absence of social attachments that increases the risk of cognitive decline.”