Some
music inspires you to move your feet, some inspires you to get out
there and change the world. In any case, and to move hurriedly on to the
point of this article, it's fair to say that music moves people in
special ways.
If you're especially into a piece of music, your brain does something called Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR), which feels to you like a tingling in your brain
or scalp. It's nature's own little "buzz", a natural reward, that is
described by some as a "head orgasm". Some even think that it explains
why people go to church, for example, "feeling the Lord move through
you", but that's another article for another time.
Turns out that ASMR is pretty special. According to a recently published study in The Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer's Disease
(catchy name!), the part of your brain responsible for ASMR doesn't get
lost to Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's tends to put people into layers of
confusion, and the study confirms that music can sometimes actually lift
people out of the Alzheimer's haze and bring them back to (at least a semblance of) normality... if only for a short while. ASMR is powerful stuff!
This
phenomenon has been observed several times but rarely studied properly.
One of the most famous examples of this is the story of Henry, who
comes out of dementia while listening to songs from his youth:
Jeff Anderson, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor in Radiology at the
Univerity of Utah Health and contributing author on the study, says "In
our society, the diagnoses of dementia are snowballing and are taxing
resources to the max. No one says playing music will be a cure for
Alzheimer's disease, but it might make the symptoms more manageable,
decrease the cost of care and improve a patient's quality of life."
PORTLAND, Ore. -- To welcome us to Portland, Oregon, 67-year-old Steve Goodwin would like to play one of his songs for you.
You have no idea how much he would like to play one of his songs for you.
"It
made me almost hate the piano. But then I realized it's not the piano's
fault, it's this thing that's going on in my brain," he said.
Three
years ago, Steve was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. He had to give
up his job as a software designer, but his wife Joni says the cruelest
part is the toll it's taking on the music he composed.
Steve trying to remember songs at the piano
CBS News
"Losing the songs would be like losing him," she said.
Steve
and Joni have been married 47 years, and along the way, Steve composed
more than two dozen songs, mostly for her. He played them daily, and
they became the soundtrack of their lives.
Joni Goodwin
Unfortunately,
he never wrote down most of them. So when his memory started failing --
and the songs started fading -- there was no way to get them back.
Until a family friend, a professional pianist, offered to launch a
rescue mission.
And so, for the past two years, Naomi Laviolette has been reconstructing his compositions note by note.
"I said if he can at least play through it, even in pieces, I can learn it," Naomi said.
And of course they're recording the songs, never to be lost again.
"I realized there was a part of him that wasn't going to fade away," Joni said.
Alzheimer's disease is something that affects over 5 million
Americans - and millions more all across the world. Not only is the
disease debilitating to those diagnosed with it, but it can also be
frustrating and draining for family members and loved ones.
Unfortunately for Ted McDermott and the rest of the McDermott family,
he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's several years ago. Each day his
memory and temperament gets a little worse, but his son Mac found
something that brings his father back - if only for a minute at a
time....
Music has always been Ted's passion. He traveled the United Kingdom
in his younger days, singing at clubs and venues wherever he could. But
as he aged, got married, had children and his memory began to fade, it
got harder and harder to perform.
Although the professional acts may be over now, Mac explained that song still roars in his heart.
"Dad was a singer all his life - he was a Butlin's Redcoat and then
traveled around singing in clubs around the country. He worked in a
factory after he got married and still did the bit of singing on side.
His nickname is 'The Songaminute Man' - simply because of how many songs
he knows.
In the last few years his memory has deteriorated a lot - often not recognizing family and with many aggressive episodes."
These outbursts make it hard to deal with Ted, both medically and
emotionally, but Mac is determined to keep his father's spirit alive. So
he devised a genius plan!
When Mac realizes his father is cognizant, he turns on some of his
favorite tunes and begins to sing. Sure enough, Ted remembers the words
and belts them out right alongside of his son. These tiny fragments of
time keep Mac motivated to help his father work through these trying
times.
"Now when we've got him singing again he's back in the room. It's these moments that we treasure.
The plan is to share as much of Dad's singing as we can and hopefully
help raise money to fund the work of the Alzheimer's Society - more
specifically to go towards paying for a person at the end of the phone
line to help other people like us."
Now Mac and Ted record their singing sessions for the world to see -
they pray their journey of bonding through music can inspire others to
help those with Alzheimer's cope with the symptoms. They even started a Just Giving
page in hopes that they can raise enough money for Ted to produce his
own album - and they vowed to donate 25 percent of the proceeds to
Alzheimer's research!
Watch Ted and Mac sing in the car in this heartwarming video!
Life may not always be easy for Ted and Mac, but at least they have each
other and their music to fall back on. They will keep trying to raise
Alzheimer's awareness and release the songs that bring the joy back into
Ted's soul!
WASHBURN — A pair of Gouldian finches live inside an aviary at the Northern Lights Nursing Home and sing all day long. Recently 20
residents with dementia who are participating in a program called Memory
& Music are also starting to sing.
A national program called Music & Memory has swept the
nation, and Northern Lights Services, Inc.(NLS) in Washburn has been
swept up into it. In September, NLS, a non-profit facility which
includes a nursing home, assisted living apartments and a rehab center,
was awarded a grant through the Wisconsin Department of Health Services
(DHS) to become trained and certified in the Music & Memory program.
The idea is to introduce personalized music to residents with dementia.
DHS hopes to certify all 397 skilled nursing facilities in the state,
but in this first round only 100 were selected out of 230 applicants.
In January, a package arrived at the Northern
Lights Nursing Home. Inside were 15 iPod Shuffles, headphones and AC
adapters; two headphone splitters and a set of external speakers; as
well as a $150 iTunes gift card and technical assistance and support to
launch the Music & Memory program — a package valued at over $2,000.
After one and a-half months of implementing these new toys — loading
iPods with personalized music for participants — the results are
astounding.
“We’ve seen such a positive change in our
residents,” said Jessica Porter, Director of Resident Life at Northern
Lights and manager of the program, “so much so that staff is asking, ‘Do
you have another iPod for this person?’”
WASHBURN — A pair of Gouldian finches live inside an aviary at the Northern Lights Nursing Home and sing all day long. Recently 20
residents with dementia who are participating in a program called Memory
& Music are also starting to sing.