The ONE Activity for People with Dementia that Works for Every Stage
As a dementia caregiver, going on the internet to find activities for your loved one is an overwhelming experience. There are so many things you could be doing with your loved one.
And let's be honest, you don't have the time to sift through all the riff raff. You want one activity that you can do for your loved one that is going to work to calm them, keep them busy and most importantly out of your hair.
In this blog post, I'm going to tell you about the ONE activity for dementia that works with most everybody at just about every stage of the disease, 2 reasons why this is the one activity works so well with so many kind of people.
By the end of this post, you will know how to set up this activity up in 5 minutes or less. When you do get that win, comment it down below so we can celebrate you.
And the Activity is…
Drum roll for the one activity to rule them all: MUSIC! We all like music for the most part, but what makes it so special for dementia folks particularly?
Reason 1: Music Helps Bring Up Long Term Memories.
If you are looking to spend time with your loved one and have a chance at a semi-normal conversation, try playing music they liked when they were in their 20s or teen years.
The reason why this works is dementia takes away short term memory first and hold onto longer term memories for longer (ie memories from their teens and 20s).
For example, if I play a song that you know, usually you can tell me when you heard the song, the events that happened and who you were with without much effort because music a tool that our brain unconsciously uses to keep track of our own memories.
This fact about music makes it a perfect tool to help your loved one to remember details of their life and open up more normal conversations.
Reason 2: Music Uses All of the Brain
I've had many people in my career as a board certified music therapist tell me how their loved one could sing when they could barely speak or remember words to songs when they couldn't remember family member's names.
The reason for this is that music is something that uses all part of the brain to understand.
A way to visualize how this works in a person with dementia is to imagine a road blocks in the brain. Let's say in the part of the brain that controls language is blocked due to the disease.
However, because understanding lyrics to a song also requires the parts of the brain that control moment to understand rhythm and the parts of the brain that manage emotions to understand melody in addition to language, music is able to travel through the part of the brain that aren't damaged in order to make singing lyrics happen.
This is why even in late stages of dementia your loved one is still able to enjoy and participate in music
How to Set Up a Music Activity in less than 5 minutes
Now that we understand why music is the one activity that generally works with everyone, let’s learn how we can use music with your loved one or client in less than 5 minutes.
A way to set it up in less than 5 minutes is to create a personalized playlist. Go on spotify, choose music your loved one listened to as a child, teenager and young adult and listen to the songs together.
Ask them simple questions about what they remember about the songs like:
1) Where were you when you heard this song?
2) How old were you?
3) What do you think about this song?
Conclusion
With this one activity idea, you will be able to not only calm and distract your loved one, but also have an opportunity to have more normal conversations depending on where your loved one is at.
The reason music works so well in bringing our loved ones back to us is that music helps us keep track of long term memories and it uses our entire brain to understand, making it more resilient towards damage dementia causes the brain.
I hope this one activity helps you and your loved one or client and you find peace on your path as a caregiver.
If you do, make sure to comment that win down below and while your at it, join my facebook group and share it with our community as well by clicking the link below.
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