There are increasing incidences of dementia in our aging community. As a result, there’s an urgent need to develop treatments or ideas to alleviate the symptoms of dementia, including memory loss, hallucinations, confusion, and disorientation.
Exclusive research carried out by Degenerative Neurological and Neuromuscular Disease suggests that listening to music or singing songs can provide behavioral benefit to people who have dementia.
This study involved 14 patients in a ward suffering from dementia. The individuals were exposed to Baroque music by Musicians such as Handel, Bach, and Corelli.
During this 6 weeks study, the researchers identified various challenging behaviors, which they measured in frequency and how severe they were and rated them.
The study produced massive results and found the use of music to reduce challenging behaviors by 40%. Additionally, it had a profound tremendous positive effect on one particular patient who would strip herself and agitate other patients. During the 6 weeks music intervention, her behavior changed drastically.
This comprehensive study by Degenerative Neurological and Neuromuscular Disease published at NCBI (The National Center for Biotechnology Information) concludes that a music type preferred by the patient is of greater benefit than a generic form of music.