Did playing music have any long-term effects with late-stage Alzheimers patients?
The long-term positive effect was that when they were engaged for longer periods of time, that attention would carry over to other things, like being able to eat better. So after a music session, if they were sitting at lunch and there was food on the table, they would recognize not only that there was food on the table but they could engage with the person feeding them for 15 or 20 minutes during lunch, as opposed to constantly getting distracted and not knowing what was going on. On the negative side, sometimes when people become more aware, this can be upsetting because all of a sudden they realize they aren’t at home. Does music work differently for people with early-stage Alzheimer’s? Improving memory is possible if music is used early. Repetition and the consistency of hearing the words to music facilitates memory function in people with early to mid-stage Alzheimer’s. What is your music advice to people with Alzheimer’s and their caregivers? I do a lot of talks to caregivers for
