Singing Show Tunes Helps Fend off Dementia, Alzheimer's Disease

Looks like there is hope for us elder-gay folks.  Maybe. But will this also make me gay?  Oh, never mind. Now, where did I park the car?  And, where are my keys?

From the Guardian: 

Belting out classic numbers from hit musicals can boost the brain function of people with Alzheimer's disease, according to researchers who worked with elderly residents at a US care home.
Over a four-month study, the mental performance of patients who took part in regular group singing sessions improved compared with others who just listened. 

In the sessions, patients were led through familiar songs from The Sound of Music, Oklahoma, The Wizard of Oz and Pinocchio.  The sessions appeared to have the most striking effect on people with moderate to severe dementia, with patients scoring higher on cognitive and drawing tests, and also on a satisfaction-with-life questionnaire at the end of the study. 

Jane Flinn, a neuroscientist at George Mason University in Virginia, said care homes that did not hold group singing sessions should consider them, because they were cheap, entertaining and beneficial for patients with Alzheimer's. 

"Even when people are in the fairly advanced stages of dementia, when it is so advanced they are in a secure ward, singing sessions were still helpful. The message is: don't give up on these people. You need to be doing things that engage them, and singing is cheap, easy and engaging," she said.Flinn's colleague Linda Maguire worked with the residents of a care home on the US east coast. Some
of the residents with moderate dementia were assigned to an assisted living group. Others, who had more severe 

Alzheimer's and were kept on a secure ward at the home, formed a second group. Both groups took part in three 50-minute group sessions a week for four months, but only half in each group joined in with the singing. The rest turned up, but only to listen. 

Maguire chose most of the songs to be familiar to the patients, and included classics such as The Sound of Music, When You Wish Upon a Star and Somewhere Over the Rainbow. 

Though memory loss and a decline in brain function are hallmarks of dementia, patients often demonstrate a striking ability to remember the lyrics and melodies of songs from their past. "A lot of people have grown up singing songs and for a long time the memories are still there," said Flinn. "When they start singing it can revive those memories."

Having spent many nights over many years singing show tunes at Marie's Crisis in the Village, I probably won't succumb to either of the above.  Yep, nothing like a little Julie Andrews, Jiminy Cricket, and July Garland's mellow crooning to get the old brain functioning again.  Ah, the memories.  No pun intended. 

The rest is HERE. 

More later.

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