3 Ways Memory Disorder Patients Can Benefit From Music Therapy

Music has long been known to provide benefits for listeners. It seems to have a diverse range of powers in many cases. Listening to our favorite songs can help drive away the blues or melt away the stress of a particularly bad day. Playing music in the company of others can spark conversations and bring people together. Of course, when we're alone and feeling isolated, music is sometimes the only companion we need to make the world seem a little less lonely. Some studies even show it can help improve academic performance. Those are only a few of the advantages music may bring to the table.

Using Music Therapy for Memory Disorder Patients

Research also indicates that music may be an effective tool for Alzheimer's and dementia patients. These conditions alter victims' personalities, motor functions, and other elements of their lives. By extension, they can also have a profound impact on patients' loved ones and caregivers. Using music as a component of memory care services may aid in the treatment of these conditions to at least some extent. Consider the following benefits music can offer those who suffer from memory disorders.

1) Relaxation and Improved Sleep

Quite a few people will testify to the fact that music can promote relaxation. In turn, it can help people fall asleep, stay asleep longer, and enjoy a better quality of sleep. That has been proven helpful for those living with memory disorders. Studies have linked sleep deprivation to increased production of a specific protein in the brain that can hamper thought and memory function. That protein may increase the risk of developing Alzheimer's and speed up its progression. While music can't prevent a person from developing dementia or halt its progression, it may help improve memory function along the way.

From another perspective, memory disorders like Alzheimer's can increase the risk of suffering from insomnia. Lack of sleep may exacerbate some of the other symptoms of dementia. Since music fosters relaxation and improved sleep, it may help patients battle insomnia and its ill effects.

2) Combating Anxiety and Depression

Music may likewise reduce the risks of anxiety and depression in those suffering from Alzheimer's and dementia. It's common knowledge that certain songs can have soothing effects whereas others are more uplifting. As such, music can alter people's moods. Research shows that this impact is deeply seated in the mind and body. It can certainly reduce agitation or sadness in dementia patients by eliciting specific neurochemical responses. By extension, those same responses may help to lower the risk of anxiety and depression and ease the symptoms of those conditions.

3) Improved Communication

People have often alluded to the fact that they can communicate thoughts and feelings through music that can't be expressed with words. That concept may extend to memory care as well. Dementia patients progressively lose their ability to communicate effectively. Some studies indicate that music can improve verbal communication for dementia patients by stimulating relevant neural pathways in the brain. It may also improve memory recall among other benefits.

Using Music in Effective Memory Care Treatment

Those are some of the ways music can aid in the treatment of Alzheimer's and other memory disorders. Improved sleep quality may help slow the progression of these conditions while reducing the additional emotional and physical effects of insomnia. Music can be an effective tool in preventing and treating anxiety and depression while allowing dementia sufferers to communicate more effectively with others. It may also help patients to recall lost memories.