Medical researchers still can't explain how music helps Alzheimer's patients, but studies indicate that it does. Some feel that the music fills the head like magnetic resonance imaging, and stimulates the brain. Or it may be that music can be linked to distant memories. In any case, music often soothes and relaxes Alzheimer's patients and reduces their stress.
Instructions
1. Play familiar pieces that can trigger long-term memories. Repeated exposure to favorite musical selections may help prevent gaps in synaptic activity and strengthen the bond between multiple memories that may be linked through the music itself.
2. If the patient played a musical instrument, ask a musician to play that instrument in her presence. Knowing play a musical instrument involves some mathematics, and the relationship between notes may remind the patient of certain thought processes and numerical relationships.
3. Play soothing or relaxing music. Play music that is too loud, jarring or dissonant may confuse and disorient the patient.
4. Ask the patient to beat out the rhythm of the music on a small drum. This will help him to identify the beat, and to exercise his concentration. Many doctors feel that rhythm affects the autonomic nervous system and may stimulate memories and emotions viscerally.
5. Invite the patient to sing along. Simple songs such as nursery rhymes or old standards may cause a patient to remember the words almost instinctively. If the patient doesn't know the words, encourage him to make up his own.
Tags: feel that, musical instrument, that music