Personalized Music Playlists Could Help People With Dementia

Experts say personalized music playlists may help people with dementia revisit happy memories, because music can trigger brain regions undamaged by the disease, reports the International Business Times . The Scotland-based Playlist for Life charity has trained more than 4,650 healthcare staff to use music as an alternative dementia treatment. The charity uses its Music Detective program to encourage families to talk to relatives to learn what kinds of music activate happy memories, with personalized playlists preferably compiled before loved ones develop dementia. Playlist for Life volunteers are not certified music therapists, but they comply with the fifth edition of Stanford University's Gerdner protocol and suggest timing sessions half an hour before subjects must perform difficult tasks like bathing. Recommended steps begin with checking the top songs from when the person was between 10 and 30 years old, then adding "Inheritance" tracks from childhood memories or songs contributed by best friends and former boyfriends or girlfriends. The third step is to add "identity" tracks, or songs that relate to heritage, nationality, and ethnicity.