Lindsay Grainger’s mother-in-law was having a hard day at the care home where she lives. She was struggling to express herself – the effect of early onset dementia – and couldn’t formulate sentences. That is, until Grainger’s daughter started singing “You Are My Sunshine” to her. Instantly, she joined in, singing every word perfectly.
“It was night and day,” recalls Grainger, an assistant professor at the Mary Black College of Nursing.
That day four years ago inspired Grainger’s research on improving dementia symptoms through personalized music, work she recently published in the Journal of Gerontological Nursing. Much research has already been done on the benefits of music for people with memory issues, Grainger notes, so she saw an opportunity to observe what that looks like in practice.
After getting permission from a memory care facility and the families of 10 of the residents, Grainger began visiting twice a week. She brought headphones and MP3 players with playlists that were curated for each individual. If the families knew of specific songs that were meaningful to their loved ones, Grainger included those, but otherwise she selected songs that were in the Top 40 when each resident was 20.
“Research shows the brain’s very supple at that time,” Grainger explains. “That period is just one where we encode music more easily. The thought is that the reason music memories stick around is because they touch so many different areas of the brain.”
That’s because when people are young, music isn’t just an auditory experience but a holistic one, she adds. Songs may be connected to specific life events, feelings or experiences, for example. That may be why people can still access those memories long after others have slipped away, she says.
She recalls working with a patient in his 70s who felt very isolated and would yell for the nurse multiple times a day. When Grainger first showed him the headphones, he was confused and didn’t want to try them. Eventually, he changed his mind and his mood transformed immediately.
“I’m talking about a big smile on his face,” she recalls. “Then he opened up. He could actually form coherent sentences.”
He told Grainger he spent a lot of time lying on his back staring at the ceiling due to his physical ailments and he felt his life had no value. But singing along to the music soothed him.
“Sometimes in research, it’s so lengthy” that results may not be known for years, Grainger says. “But what was cool about this is I had the benefit of immediate results.”
Although Grainger’s study only lasted eight weeks, she and care home staff noticed the reduced agitation in participants lasted beyond their immediate listening sessions. She cautions that longer study would be needed to fully quantify the benefits, especially as dementia progresses. Music also may not have as beneficial an effect when played in a group setting, where listeners reflect a wide range of ages and stages of memory loss.
Still, Grainger sees a lot of potential for dementia patients to reap great benefits from a relatively inexpensive investment. And music also gives families a way to connect with their loved ones when language fails.
“It reduces a barrier and creates a pathway for communication that may not have previously existed,” she says. “It just facilitates a meaningful experience together.”
