A Hull healthtech business is piloting a playlist of relaxing Christmas songs for people living with dementia.
MediMusic, a company developing technology that aims to prescribe music as medicine to ease pain and reduce anxiety, has teamed up with a care home for the first time to help 29 residents. It follows trials with the NHS that found it reduced the heart rate in anxious dementia patients by 25 per cent. The tracks are also being made available through Spotify to all families and care facilities to use.
With an estimated 940,000 people living with dementia and around 540,000 carers in the UK, the onset of shorter winter days exacerbates ‘sundowning’ - a collection of symptoms such as anger, aggression and irritation, which tend to occur as daylight fades.
