Can a playlist save you from dementia?

Can a playlist save you from dementia?

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norman lebrecht

March 11, 2016

Research in Australia suggests that certain kinds of music can help dementia sufferers to delay memory loss.

Read more and listen here.

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Comments

  • Sue says:

    This work is actually building on studies which have been conducted overseas. The documentary is very moving indeed.

  • Pianofortissimo says:

    A study proposal: does hard rock accelerate the onset of dementia?

    • Peter says:

      No, but the drugs and alcohol abuse correlated with it do.

      • Pianofortissimo says:

        I mean a real scientific study. In hard rock the afferent input to the brain is monstrous, tinnitus and deafness are obvious sequelae but the impact in cognitive processes is as far as I know not properly investigated. Control groups would correct for life style factors, recreational drugs and alcohol are not a privilege of hard rockers.

        • Peter says:

          Agreed, but I don’t think anyone, including the head rock fans, even consider it to be a mind refining exercise, but enjoy it as a distraction and diving away from the real and sensitive aural world. It’s a free world.
          What should concern us is peer pressure among teenagers, who feel they must fit in and comply with the applied pressure to consume what they are brainwashed to consume, subsequently damaging their mental and physiological condition.

    • John Borstlap says:

      One does not have to research that, since the debilitating effect can be observed immediately and irrefutably.

      • Pianofortissimo says:

        Our observational capacity in daily life is biased by prejudice (nothing necessarily wrong with prejudices in the daily life, I am proud of my prejudices, continuous observations shows that my prejudices are mostly right, and as a rational individual I feel no shame in changing my mind when evidence demands it), and good scientific methodology can support a demand on official warnings on that pest as we see now in cigarette packages.

  • Stephen says:

    Oliver Sacks wrote and spoke a lot about the healing power of music on the mind.

    • Sue says:

      The responses of the patients in the program reminded me of the film “Awakenings” about the work of Sachs. They awoke from years (some of them) in a catatonic state, but this was sadly short-lived for most of them.

  • Philip says:

    Interesting thought: Conductors are notorious for their longevity but how many can you name who have succumbed to this dreadful condition? I can’t think of any. All that physical exercise and the mental stimulation needed for making music must be doing some good!

    Armchair conductors should feel the benefit too!

    • Peter says:

      The best neuronal exercise – before listening to recorded music – is making music oneself.
      They should systematically and state or health insurance sponsored bring in choir masters in every elderly hospice and retirement center.
      Probably that would also save a lot of money that doesn’t need to be spent on pharmaceuticals.

    • Sue says:

      Notorious?

      • Philip says:

        Ok, famed is probably better but I’d already hit the reply button when I had second thoughts. Whatever, it’s certainly deserving of serious study.

  • Seeker64 says:

    This goes a long way to illustrate why certain religions forbid or devaluate music…

  • John Borstlap says:

    I had read this before but had forgotten about it. Thanks for the update.

  • Marg says:

    Very moving. Thank you.

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