Friday 10 May 2019

Music and Dementia

Anyone in the UK who watched the two programmes on BBC 1 about Music and Dementia cannot fail to have been inspired by them.   My friends and I play once a month for group of Dementia patients and their carers and we notice the difference between how they behave and react when they arrive and how they are when they leave - it is uplifting and does the heart good.   If you have access to the two programmes and didn't watch then please do - you will not be disappointed even if you do have to have a handkerchief at the ready.   The programmes are not sentimental - they are part of a scientific experiment to measure the effect of music on the brain and as such they should be so useful for medical science.   But of course - as always - money for research is the problem.   That and the fact that it is not a 'fashionable' illness and the money for the 'unfashionable' usually finds its way elsewhere.

Today the sun has shone more or less all day.   It is still not very warm but it is set to warm up over the week-end and just to see the sun instead of black cloud was welcome in itself.

An hour of Gardening on the TV shortly - I am now very much an armchair gardener - always ready to pass on any hints to the chap who does my garden for me.   Sitting with my feet up, with a cup of tea and a biscuit, is quite enjoyable these days.

11 comments:

Rachel Phillips said...

I watched only one, the one last night, and was very moved by it. Like you say, not sentimental but I did find it both sad and happy at the same time. I was going to write whilst watching it to tell people on blogs to watch it too. The girl organising it all was very uplifting and amazing and she cried at the end.

JayCee said...

My dad suffered from vascular dementia and was asked on his admission at the care home when diagnosed with terminal cancer if he would like any particular music. He was also unfortunately profoundly deaf and the local hospital had somehow managed to lose his hearing aids during the original diagnostic visit. He spent his last remaining days gazing at a TV screen with subtitles when the care workers remembered to switch it on for him. I wonder whether being able to hear music would have helped ease his last few weeks.

angryparsnip said...

I can not gardeni either but I tell Son and the Gardener what to do not as much fun but what can you do !

cheers, parsnip

Heather said...

You have found the perfect way to garden Pat. No aching back or tired joints! So pleased it is due to get warmer again. Having the heating on in May is just not right. I didn't see the programme on the effects of music on dementia patients but can imagine that it would be very moving at times.

Ann said...

They highlighted Dementia Choir programme on the One Show and it looked very moving. I must watch it on catch-up. We’ve had a lot of heavy showers, here in Devon, today. I hope you enjoyed your armchair gardening :)

Leilani Schuck Weatherington said...

A good friend of my parents slid into dementia, and even near the end, when she "wasn't" herself any more, she still recognized familiar hymns and could remember the words. A minister I know takes his guitar and plays and sings for residents in the Alzheimer unit in the nursing home and says it is quite marvelous to see how they respond.

Tom Stephenson said...

A young friend of mine's mother who has dementia came into the pub tonight, hand in hand with her daughter and then her husband. She looked so cute as she stared at her surroundings as if for the first time, and I really think that she knew she was loved and cherished by them. Sad but strangely reassuring at the same time.

Derek Faulkner said...

Not my kind of programme I'm afraid Pat, to be brutally honest, I would find nothing entertaining or interesting in watching an hour's worth of what could easily be my near future.
Far more inspirational was Gardeners World and the series, every evening this week, about farming families competing against each other.

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The Weaver of Grass said...

I am glad so many of you watched the programme It should have been compulsory viewing in my view - and that includes Doctors and Nursing Staff too. So many people(and not all old as became obvious from the programme)suffer and any therapy like this which does so much good in stimulating the brain should be automatically offered to all. Less drugs too.

Thanks everyone for your contribution.

The Weaver of Grass said...

And yes Derek - I never miss Gardeners' World either - one of the highlights of my week end.