The Effects of Music on Azheimer's

by Kevin Smith Author

When looking for a good Augusta nursing home for Alzheimer's, it is important to understand the disease and what kind of care you are looking for to further its treatment. While not yet curable, Alzheimer's disease is known to be treatable in a large number of ways. From blood transfusions to experimental medicines, there are a lot of pathways one can take. One such treatment is rapidly gaining attention in recent years: music.

Music as a Medicine

Have you ever gotten a song stuck in your head? For nearly everyone, the answer is a definite yes. This comes from lyrical music's powerful ability to function as an effective mnemonic device. Applied to Alzheimer's disease, one study proposed two hypotheses:

In general, music improves the memory of words and phrases.

This memory can largely benefit patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Putting Music to the Test

This study employed two groups for study. The control group was composed of 15 healthy individuals who demonstrated adequate intelligence and a negative diagnosis for Alzheimer's. The other group, on the other hand, were patients diagnosed with mild Alzheimer's.

Both groups were given texts that were four lines long and were conclusively reviewed to be easy to memorize. One of these texts was a memorable line from a recognizable movie. With these texts, the three groups were put under three procedures, as follows:

1. A text was shown, and a spoken recording was played. Participants were encouraged to memorize the spoken words.

2. The movie line was shown, a spoken recording was played, and the accompanying clip of the film was shown silenced. Participants were encouraged to memorize the spoken words.

3. A text was shown, and a sung recording was played. The song was the famously recognizable "Ode to Joy" by Beethoven. Participants were encouraged to memorize the sung words.

With this procedure set, this study was successful in testing both a musical and non-musical association with memory (tests 2 and 3, respectively) and a controlled test with no association (test 1).

The Results

Overwhelmingly, this study confirmed both of its hypotheses. As expected, the success in memorizing the three texts improved with association, meaning that the musical text was most successfully memorized, followed by the movie clip, and the final text with no association. In addition to proving that music helped general memory, this trend was also proven to be successful in Alzheimer's patients. By demonstrating this, it was concluded that memory is certainly a powerful mnemonic device that holds great potential in Alzheimer's treatment.

At the end of the day, Alzheimer's disease can be a difficult thing to deal with. Regardless of the treatments out there, a positive diagnosis can seem overwhelming. Therefore, it is important to find the right Augusta nursing home for you.