Music therapy's transformative power in dementia care
Marta Cinta González Saldaa, a former exquisite ballerina, finds peace in the melodies of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake during the calm moments of her day. Despite the grasp of dementia, her hands follow the rhythm, and her spirit rises with the music for a brief moment. This touching moment, filmed in Read More...
New study: music helps reconnect dementia patients with their memories
Music is woven into the very fabric of human evolution — some experts even surmise that it's likely humans sang before we spoke. Music plays an essential communicative role even today. It connects us with others, with our own emotions, and ultimately it lays the groundwork for our highly Read More...
Five health benefits of green tea
We’re already feeling the heat from summer, but that doesn’t mean we still can’t enjoy a contemplative cup of warm tea. The process of making a traditional cup of green tea is involved and can begin the day with a comforting structure. Even if you don’t want a warm cup, you can put it on Read More...
Eating just one daily cup of cranberries could prevent dementia
Currently, there is no cure for dementia, a neurological disease that is predicted to impact around 152 million people by 2050. Research teams around the world are constantly working on ways to ward off the disease and find ways to treat it. The Optimist Daily has reported on many of these efforts, Read More...
Adding blueberries to your diet could help stave off dementia
From slowing cognitive decline to accelerating chronic wound healing, blueberries can have many surprising health benefits. Now, scientists at the University of Cincinnati have uncovered that adding blueberries to your daily diet in middle age could reduce your risk of dementia later in life. The Read More...
Spending time in greenery reduces the risk of dementia
Here at The Optimist Daily, we’ve always emphasized how important nature and greenery are for your health. With luscious vegetation comes a whole range of mental benefits such as improved cognition in children and boosted happiness. A recent study from Boston University confirms just this. The Read More...
Living in green space could greatly help your brain health
Your life is one long equation adding up to different results over your life. The factors in the equation could be your time spent with loved ones over time spent at work used to calculate the result of your overall happiness. Researchers from Boston University’s School of Public Health have Read More...
Four foods that can reduce risk of neurodegeneration
Medical researchers are still searching for the cause, and a cure, for Alzheimer's and other causes of dementia. There is no certain way to avoid it, however, scientists have found correlations between certain diets and decreased likelihood of neurocognitive decline. Two particular diets — the Read More...
Remote Bolivian tribe has lowest dementia rates worldwide
A remote and unique indigenous population in the Bolivian Amazon called the Tsimane (pronounced chee-MAH-nay) sparked the interest of scientists when they were found to show almost no cases of age-related heart disease. Since then, scientists have carried out various studies into the Tsimane Read More...
Researchers find companionship may reduce risk of Alzheimer's
Here at The Optimist Daily, we’ve written a great deal about the contributing factors to Alzheimer's disease and what you can do to help avoid it yourself. Exercise, proper diet, even knitting, and nifty nasal sprays can improve your chances, but recent findings suggest that just keeping in Read More...