Music Therapy In Dementia Patients: Utilize An IPod To Aid With Better Cognitive Health!

I not long ago checked out a bulletin 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 folks who use them are apt to shun conversations with other folks and remain in an isolated world of their own. However, recent observations of stroke and Alzheimer's sufferers are revealing that iPods and other MP3 players in many cases have the contrary result.

By listening to some old often encountered songs, advanced dementia patients can relink with their memories and with others in some extraordinary ways, especially for folks with degenerative brain disorders. For instance, as stated in the Journal, listening to rap and reggae on a borrowed iPod each day helped a 28-year-old stroke victim to resume walking and make use of his hands again.

In another example, a 52 year-old man who fell out of a fourth-floor building site and suffered a crushed larynx became so beguiled with music that he wrote 400 songs and produced four albums. An 85-year-old Alzheimer's 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 by. According to her daughter they listen for at least one-half hour a day and "It seems to touch something deep within her."

Caregivers have been aware for many years that music therapy in dementia patients can be tremendously efficacious. They have observed for decades that dementia patients can still remember and sing tunes for some time after they have stopped recognizing names and faces. Hospitals and nursing homes have been using music as diversion for a long time, because it causes patients pleasure. Now, beyond the entertainment value, there is significant evidence that listening to music can also help improve apparently lost memories, and even help recover cognitive function in some cases. (via IPod Therapy for Alzheimer's Patients, WSJ.com)

As a senior citizen myself I am a big fan of iPods and equivalent devices for senior citizens. I myself have an iPhone, which is pretty much an iPod with a telephone built into it. I am cognizant that many of you will be skeptical because you think such devices are too complicated for seniors. However, as research as shown, using complicated devices can be quite useful in reducing memory loss due to aging. Now we discover that the musical capabilities can be helpful even for those who have already begun to experience cognitive decline.

Well, okay, you might decide not to actually leave an iPod in the hands of a person who is experiencing Alzheimer's, 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 highly beneficial for those who are willing to be creative and wise in applying its use. IPod music therapy in dementia patients is a consummate example.

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