Summary: My mother-in-law has Alzheimer’s. The condition began about ten years ago when we thought she was simply becoming more forgetful. <br> But as her short-term memory declined, we realized she wasn’t just suffering from old age. Over the years, she has lost the ability to recognize her own children and grandchildren, and she forgets whether or not her parents are still living–even though they passed away more than thirty years ago.<br> Music and the Brain<br> On Sunday afternoons, we like to take our children to visit Grandma at the memory care center where she now lives. We keep an electronic piano in her room because she has loves playing and singing hymns. When I visit, I sit at the keys and open a hymnal. As soon as my fingers touch the keys, Grandma joins in and doesn’t miss a beat. She remembers the tunes and words of all her favorite songs. “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound…” We will sing one song and then another.<br> I’m not a brain scientist, but I have studied learning styles and child development, and memorization is often easiest when combined with music. It works for children, adults, and <a href="https://www.alzheimers.net/why-music-boosts-brain-activity-in-dementia-patients/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">apparently for my mother-in-law with Alzheimer’s too</a>. Research confirms that it is also <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2012/05/26/health/mental-health/music-brain-science/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">good practice for brain engagement</a>.<br> My Daughter’s Playlist<br> Occasionally, my daughter Katie and I will drive over together to see Grandma. Katie is a freshman in high school and she has a great playlist on her iPhone. She tags them with different titles, but one she calls “Dad’s Playlist.” It is a compilation of mostly acoustic or musical numbers.<br> On our drives over, we turn up the volume in my car and sing along. One of my favorite duets is one from the musical Greatest Showman with Zac Efron and Zendaya singing “Rewrite the Stars.”<br> What if we rewrite the stars?<br><br> Say you were made to be mine<br><br> Nothing could keep us apart<br><br> You’d be the one I was meant to find…<br> As fun as it is to connect with my family through music, I would like to ask you a question about your own playlist–not just the songs or music you enjoy, but what is on your mental-playlist?<br> Our brains are powerful organs. And just as digesting nutritious food tends toward better health, what you digest with mind shapes your view of yourself, the world around you and forms life-long habits and memories. In a world of constant access to technology, advertisements, news, and information, our brains encounter stimuli at alarming rates. <br> In <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/3051417/why-its-so-hard-to-pay-attention-explained-by-science" rel="noopener" target="_blank">an article by FastCompany.com</a>, Daneil J. Levitin, shares the following:<br> “Information scientists have quantified [that in] 2011, Americans took in five times as much information every day as they did in 1986—the equivalent of 174 newspapers. During our leisure time, not counting work, each of us processes 34 gigabytes, or 100,000 words, every day. The world’s 21,274 television stations produce 85,000 hours of original programming every day as we watch an average of five hours of television daily, the equivalent of 20 gigabytes of audio-video images. That’s not counting YouTube, which uploads 6,000 hours of video every hour. And computer gaming? It consumes more bytes than all other media put together, including DVDs, TV, books, magazines, and the Internet (<a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/3051417/why-its-so-hard-to-pay-attention-explained-by-science" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Levitin</a>).”<br> So how do you ensure that the intake for your brain is as healthy as what you digest with your body? Frankly, if you want to keep growing in your own critical thinking ...
