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Five Reasons Why Music Boosts Brain Activity
Music can evoke emotion even in the most advanced people living with dementia
By pairing music with everyday activities, people living with dementia can develop a rhythm that helps them recall the memory of that activity, thus improving cognitive ability over time.
Musical aptitude and appreciation are two of the last remaining abilities in people living with dementia
As these two abilities remain long after other abilities have passed, music is an excellent way to go beyond the disease and reach the person living with dementia.
Music can bring emotional and physical closeness
In the later stages of dementia, loved ones often lose the ability to share emotions with their caregivers. Through music, as long as they are ambulatory, they can often dance. Dancing can lead to hugs, kisses and touching which brings security and memories.
Singing is engaging
As singing activates the left side of the brain, listening to music sparks activity in the right. With so much of the brain being stimulated, your loved one will exercise more mind power than usual.
Music can shift mood, manage stress and stimulate positive interactions
Music requires little to no mental processing, so singing music does not require the cognitive function that is not present in most people living with dementia.
The benefits of a personal playlist
Listening to music can really help improve the quality of life for a person living with dementia. The music they listen to could range from an old favourite song that reminds them of a special moment, to lullabies from childhood.
Over the last two decades, scientific research has shown that listening to a personal playlist can improve the lives of those living with dementia. Furthermore, listening to personalised music has many psychological benefits which include:
- Reduced anxiety
- Maintain speech and language
- Improvement of your mood
- Making difficult tasks more manageable
- Evoking memories that can help families and carers connect.
Playlist of Life harnesses the powerful effects of personal music to assist anyone living with dementia as well as their families and carers. Sharing your songs and memories can help people living with dementia connect with family, friends and carers.
Playlist for Life continues to train people to become music detectives, so they can support more people to create and use personal playlists. This has included Alzheimer’s Society dementia advisers, among many others. They have also been encouraging family members to send music players loaded with personal playlists to their loved ones who are under lockdown, to lift a person’s mood when physical contact hasn’t been possible.
How can Cavendish Homecare help?
At Cavendish Homecare we can help support you and your loved ones with our expertise in delivering dementia homecare. We know that being diagnosed with dementia can have a huge emotional, social, and psychological effect on both the person living with dementia and their family. Therefore we ensure specialist care in the comfort of one’s own home.
If you would like to enquire about our dementia care or other services, contact us on, 02030085210 or email us at info@cavendishhomecare.com.