Monday, 16 June 2014

Calming music in dementia

Over the years I have always loved music, but my choice of music has changed quite a lot since my youth.

Back in my teenage years I loved things like the Beatles, Cliff Richards and the Shadows, but also liked Classical music, something my father thought was odd at the time, because as he loved dancing he thought dance music was the best. I don't think he really understood why I liked classical music, and perhaps at that time thought I was a bit odd, however  a few years later he himself started to listen to the same music as he found it relaxing

However a lot of music we listen to during the day, is no good at night when you have any form of neurological illness like dementia.

This is because the rhythm could cause many problems if its too fast or noisy

I find this distressing to think I really enjoy a piece of music during the day, but if I wake up from some distressing graphic dream or nightmare, the same piece of music can actually make things much worse

There are lots of CDs on the market which claim to be relaxing, but many could add to the  problems we already have, either because of the rhythm or other items on the music

The reason I say this is because you can sometimes drift back off to sleep listening to music, but the wrong piece could cause nasty accidents if you are  not careful

I heard one such CD during the day once and realised that it would not work at night, for the following reasons

It had the sounds of the rivers which can be calming and relaxing along with the waves of the sea, something I enjoy during the day.

But at night this could cause problems with a persons waterworks leaving them very embarrassed and upset. I have heard this from others so I am not going to put this one to the test.

But sometimes fast music like violins can cause the brain to go hyper, if you are struggling from the horrors of the night as we call them, so music like this should be left to one side.

These days I like to listen to relaxing classical or Cathedral choir music, as long as its not too heavy, along people like Andy Williams, Perry Como or Phil Coulter, which are  all relaxing in their own way.

The fact that I once met Andy Williams makes this extra special to me.  But these are all set and a relaxing speed and rhythm

I hope that one of these days someone will produce a cd of music for this purpose, because its something that is needed, and could be used in all environments.


Horrors of the night return again
