According to an analysis of all relevant studies, music and active music production can provide benefits cognitive to elderly people with mild cognitive impairment or dementia. The analysis also found that music can help improve quality of life and mood.
The results of the study were published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Music boosts brain health
The analysis included nine studies with a total of 495 participants. The authors noted that music therapy-based interventions could potentially provide millions of older adults with critical support for their cognitive, emotional and social well-being.
“We are thrilled to see these results because participating in music therapy, such as singing in a choir or playing in a drum circle, is a safe and engaging activity that our research shows can support cognition at a critical time for older adults facing cognitive decline,” said lead author Jennie L. Dorris, MM, of the University of Pittsburgh.
Listening to music before going to sleep can improve sleep quality among older adults. Seniors who cut out sound snippets experienced significantly better sleep quality than those who didn't listen to any.
Additionally, older adults who listened to sedative tunes experienced a greater improvement in sleep quality than those who listened to more up-tempo tunes. Furthermore, listening to it for more than four weeks was particularly effective in improving the quality of sleep.
“Music intervention is an effective strategy and is easy to administer by a caregiver or health care professional,” the authors wrote. “Music therapy could be the first line of therapy to be recommended in older adults with sleep disorders, which would reduce the need for reliance on sedatives and sleep medications.”
Musical memories are often preserved in Alzheimer's because key areas of the brain linked to musical memory are relatively undamaged by the disease. Research suggests that listening to or singing songs can provide emotional and behavioral benefits to people with Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia.
Alzheimer's disease is a progressive disease that causes the wasting and death of brain cells. Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia, a term used to describe a group of symptoms that affect memory, thinking and social skills severely enough to interfere with daily functions.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as many as 5.8 million people were living with Alzheimer's disease in the United States in 2020. And this number is expected to nearly triple to 14 million people by 2060.
Memory loss is the key symptom of Alzheimer's disease. An early sign of the disease is difficulty remembering recent events or conversations. As the disease progresses, memory impairment persists and worsens, affecting the ability to function at work or home.
“Melodic intervention is an effective strategy and is easy to administer by a caregiver or healthcare professional,” the authors wrote. “Music therapy could be the first line of therapy to be recommended in older adults with sleep disorders, which would reduce the need for reliance on sedatives and sleep medications.”
Music therapy can also benefit caregivers by reducing anxiety and distress, lightening mood, and providing a way to connect with loved ones who have Alzheimer's disease, especially those who have difficulty communicating. .
If you want to use music to help a loved one with Alzheimer's disease, consider these suggestions:
Think about your loved one's preferences. What kind of music does your loved one like? What music evokes memories of happy times in his life? Involve family and friends by asking them to suggest songs or create playlists.
Create the atmosphere. To calm your loved one during meals or during the morning hygiene routine, listen to music or sing a soothing song. If you want to improve your loved one's mood, use happier or faster-paced music.
Avoid overstimulation. When playing music, eliminate conflicting noises. Turn off the television. Close the door. Set the volume according to your loved one's hearing ability. Choose music that isn't interrupted by advertising, which can be confusing.
Encourage movement. Help your loved one clap or tap their feet to the beat. If possible, consider dancing with your loved one.
Sing together. Singing along with your loved one to music can improve your mood and improve your relationship. Some early studies also suggest that musical memory works differently than other types of memory, and that singing may help stimulate unique memories.
Pay attention to your loved one's response. If your loved one seems to enjoy certain songs, listen to them often. If your loved one reacts negatively to a particular song or type of music, choose something else.
People with dementia often lose the ability to communicate verbally with loved ones in the later stages of the disease. But a study by Northwestern Medicine, in collaboration with the Institute for Therapy through the Arts (ITA), shows how this gap can be filled with a new musical intervention.
In the intervention, developed at ITA and called “Musical Bridges to Memory,” a live ensemble plays music from the patient's youth, such as songs from the musicals “Oklahoma” or “The Sound of Music.” This creates an emotional connection between a patient and their caregiver by allowing them to interact with music together by singing, dancing and playing simple instruments, the study authors said.
The program also improved patients' social engagement and reduced neuropsychiatric symptoms such as agitation, anxiety and depression in both patients and caregivers.
More than 6 million people in the United States have Alzheimer's disease.
The study is unusual because it targeted dementia patients and their caregivers, said the study's lead author, Dr. Borna Bonakdarpour. Most previous studies using music for dementia patients have focused only on patients.
“Patients were able to connect with partners through music, a connection that was not available to them verbally,” said Bonakdarpour, an associate professor of neurology at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University and a neurologist at Northwestern Medicine. “Family and friends of people with dementia are also affected. It is painful for them when they cannot connect with a loved one. When language is no longer possible, music offers a bridge between them.”
Musical memories often remain in the brain even as language and other memories disappear in dementia, Bonakdarpour said. This is because brain regions involved in memory and musical processing (for example, the cerebellum) are not affected in Alzheimer's or dementia until much later in the course of the disease. Therefore, patients may retain the ability to dance and sing long after their ability to speak has declined.
In the study, individuals with dementia – residents of Silverado Memory Care (in a Chicago suburb) – and their healthcare partners were recorded on video conversing and interacting for 10 minutes before and 10 minutes after the intervention. Before playing the music, each patient/provider pair received training on how to interact more effectively during the music.
During the 45-minute musical intervention, an ensemble of chamber musicians and a singer performed songs that have fascinated patients since their youth. Patients and their caregivers were given simple instruments such as tambourines and shakers to accompany the music. Specially trained music therapists interacted with patients during performances, having them play drums, sing and dance.
The music was followed by a group conversation. Patients were more socially engaged, as evidenced by increased eye contact, less distraction, less agitation, and elevated mood. By comparison, the control group, which did not receive the intervention and was exposed to usual care and daily schedules, showed no such changes over the same time frame.
Before the intervention, some individuals did not communicate much with their partners. However, during the surgery, they started playing, singing and dancing together, which represented a significant change for the family. These changes also generalized to their behavior outside of sessions.
“As the program progressed, caregivers invited more family members,” said Jeffrey Wolfe, a neurological music therapist at ITA and leader of the Musical Bridges to Memory program. “It has become a normalizing experience for the whole family. Everyone could relate to their loved one despite their degree of dementia.”
The next step in the research will be to conduct the study on a larger group of patients. ITA and Northwestern received three-year funding through the National Endowment for the Arts to expand this study.
The study is called “Musical Bridges to Memory: A Pilot Dyadic Music Intervention to Improve Social Engagement in Dementia.”
Other Northwestern authors i
nvolved in the study include co-first author Rhiana Schafer. Co-first author Aimee Karstens, formerly at Northwestern, is now at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester.
#Music #improves #brain #health #older #adults
