Alzheimer's Disease and Music

Alzheimer's Disease and Music

Alzheimer's is a type of dementia that causes memory loss, thought patterns, behavior and the loss of other cognitive abilities.(Mebane-Sims, 2009)   This disease is becoming more common in our older population.  Furthermore, the disease is beginning to start to claim the livelihood at earlier stages of life in our senior citizens each year. Alzheimer's disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States and the fifth leading cause of death in American age 65 or older.(Mebane-Sims, 2009) While other diseases have been decreasing over the years due to advances in medicine, Alzheimer's disease cases continue to rise dramatically each year. It is this statistical information that it is important to determine methods that will possibly help counteract the effects Alzheimer's disease has on this population.

With the overall number of Alzheimer's cases increasing in the United States it is important to understand the disease and possible approaches the medical community can utilize to slow the progression of the disease or to lessen the adverse affects on elderly persons until a cure can be found for the disease.  A typical affect produced by Alzheimer's is the person will have a progressive decline in their stress threshold.(Cohen-Mansfield J, 2011)

References

Cohen-Mansfield J, Marx MS, Thein K, Dakheel-Ali M. (2011). The effect of background stimulative music on behavior in Alzheimer’s patients.  ((PMID:17997624)). Retrieved from http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/21527124

Mebane-Sims, PhD, I. (2009). 2009 Alzheimer’s disease facts and figures  (Alzheimer’s & Dementia 5 (2009) 234-270). Retrieved from http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2009-07211-009