Advances for Alzheimer's, Outside the Lab

Activities Directors, other healthcare professionals, and caregivers. Here is further validation for something we already know about music and dementia
Time Magazine
They sit demurely in rows of plastic chairs, hands in their laps, awaiting instructions. They have been dressed carefully by their spouses and relatives in ankle-long frocks or neat cardigans, with crisply knotted ties — the overly formal style of the aged

Organizing this unlikely choir is Chreanne Montgomery-Smith, who runs support groups for the Newbury branch of Britain's Alzheimer's Society. On cue, the 40 or so Alzheimer's and dementia patients join hands and begin singing in unison — a tentative rendition of Amazing Grace. They remember most of the words and their chorus fills the hall. Montgomery-Smith is certain that the music helps bring her patients' thoughts — ravaged by dissonance and dislocation — into harmony

You can see how they become lucid....read the whole article

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DO LEISURE ACTIVITIES OFFER PROTECTION FROM ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE AND OTHER DEMENTIAS?

You as an Activities Director, other healthcare professional or caregiver will want to read this
Neurology Reviews.com

DO LEISURE ACTIVITIES OFFER PROTECTION FROM ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE AND OTHER DEMENTIAS?

SAN DIEGO—Participating in recreational activities in midlife appears to offer protection from neurodegeneration, according to Robert P. Friedland, MD, and colleagues. "People who were less active were more than three times more likely to have Alzheimer's disease as compared to those who were more active," said Dr. Friedland, Associate Professor of Neurology, Psychiatry, and Radiology. He and colleagues at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and University Hospitals of Cleveland studied the association between physical and mental activities in adulthood and the development of Alzheimer's disease. Dr. Friedland presented the results of the study at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology.

ACTIVITIES THE MEASURE

During the study, information about participation in leisure activities was collected from a population of patients with Alzheimer's disease (n = 193) and from controls (n = 358). Questions about participation in 26 passive, intellectual, and physical activities (see table) were included on the questionnaire. The study participants were asked which activities they had participated in and for how long each month they had participated in these activities during their 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s. Data on participation after age 60 or during the five-year period prior to disease onset (whichever was first) was not sought because......read the whole article

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Christmas tree safe for patients with Alzheimer's

You, as an activities director, other healthcare professional or caregiver will be interested in this story about decorating a Christmas tree that is safe for most with Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia
Calgary Herald
Canwest News Service
Alice Jones's home is decorated with a special Christmas tree that glitters with everything edible.

Tinsel has been replaced with popcorn strings and Cheerios chains. Gingerbread men and sugary santas have taken the places of wooden soldiers.

The old-fashioned tree was the idea of the staff at the McConnell Place north Alzheimer Care Centre in Edmonton.

It's a way to.....read the whole article

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