Lullaby
Myra Aud
Lullabies do wonders for helping tired children sleep, and soothing music is a relaxing anecdote for many stressed-out adults. So why not use music as a tool for lulling elderly people who have dementia into a restful night of slumber?
Myra Aud, assistant professor of nursing, is exploring how music affects cognitively impaired older adults’ ability to sleep.
Aud’s background as a nursing home administrator and her previous research on the quality of long-term care facilities for those with Alzheimer’s disease inform her current focus.
“I spent time working on the night shift at nursing homes,” she recalls. “Sometimes our residents couldn’t sleep, and we would sit up and talk. We both enjoyed that.”
But while Aud was able to catch up on her rest during her off hours between shifts, sleeplessness dogged many of the people she cared for.
By studying the lives and situations of those with dementia, Aud has tackled a tricky research field. Obtaining informed consent for this vulnerable population is difficult, and Aud approaches her work with care to ensure minimal risk to her subjects.
Aud uses a non-invasive data collection method. Her subjects simply wear special bracelets, used in most sleep labs, that measure movement in bed.
With approval from the MU Institutional Review Board in hand, Aud and co-investigators Rebecca Johnson, the Millsap Professor of Gerontological Nursing and Public Policy, and David Mehr, professor of family and community medicine, obtained a $29,000 grant for the pilot study from the State’s Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Research Program, which is headquartered on the MU campus.
Aud is testing two types of music: peaceful, classical selections and “New Age” music, like that often used in spas or during massage treatments.
Subjects’ sleep patterns are tracked for a week without any musical intervention to determine their baseline sleep habits. They then will listen to classical music after bedtime for a week, silence or a week and then New Age music for a week. The bracelets will track and graph movements to help identify trends.
“We’re suspecting that music will help people sleep better, and I would guess that the classical music will be best,” Aud muses, adding that the nature sounds in the New Age music may not be as soothing.
“People who have dementia may try to seek out the birds or the running water they hear in the other music,” she says.
Aud’s objective is simple: “My goal is to increase the comfort of people in nursing homes and dementia special care units. Anything we can do to that end is a good thing, and if we can help people sleep without sedating drugs, they’ll avoid the risk of side effects related to those drugs.”