It has long been known that being in familiar surroundings can help a dementia sufferer stave off or slow the progression of the disease.
Being whisked off to hospital for medical treatment has often coincided with a dramatic worsening of dementia symptoms, frequently causing great distress and upset to the patient and those trying to deal with them, while a return to their own home or Eastleigh care homes in Somerset can see a return to something approaching ‘normal’.
Some care homes have embraced this, setting up miniature ‘villages’ where residents can get into a daily routine – going to ‘the shops’, enjoying a coffee at a little café and generally living as though they were fully independent, albeit under the careful eyes of residential home staff and nurses.
Virtual reality is another way that dementia patients can enjoy the experience of being out and about, without any of the negatives associated with travelling outside the care home. Let’s have a look at how virtual reality and memory enhancement are being innovated in the field of dementia care.
Relive Memories
Virtual reality began as a gaming experience, but was quickly then seen as being an ideal tool for simulation training and even for use in medicine, especially with conditions like PTSD. PTSD is a condition caused by exposure to excessive psychological trauma – such as that experienced on the battlefield – which causes, essentially, a memory glitch which recalls and replays the traumatic memory over and over again.
With virtual reality, the patient can return to the scene of the trauma, but now safely, feeling in control, and walk through the experience in a new way. This allows the memory centre to close the file on that moment, so it can be filed in long-term memory, rather than being kept in the brain’s in-box, so to speak, like an open case niggling away at the psyche.
In much the same way, virtual reality allows dementia sufferers to return to their memories, filling in gaps that have been lost to the advance of the disease. This can help patients to recognise their family members and friends, as well as recalling happy moments from their past that they may otherwise have lost.
Offers Richer Quality of Life
Virtual reality also allows older people to explore the world easily. They can revisit old homes and favourite holiday destinations, or explore new countries that they weren’t able to visit during their working lives. They can also enjoy hair-raising adventures like white-water rafting, bungie jumping and sky-diving – all from the safety of their comfy chair or bed!
Virtual reality technology now uses haptic clothing, especially gloves, which offer feedback through vibrations and tremors, to heighten the reality of the virtual world – reaching out a hand to touch a rock will cause the glove to respond in such a way that the brain is fooled into thinking that there is something there and that the person has touched it. This verisimilitude stimulates the patient’s cognitive faculties and adds to their quality of life.
Improves (Temporarily) the Symptoms of Dementia
Following sessions with virtual reality, studies have shown that the patient shows signs of greater alertness and awareness for some time. Of course, the technology is quite new and studies are in their early days – because of the need to work with patients with existing dementia, researchers have to be exceedingly careful and mindful of their ‘test subjects’ needs – but the signs are promising.
Luciana joined our team as a mum blogger in 2020. A dedicated mum to a lively daughter and a dog, Luna, Luciana brings authenticity and passion to every post. Her expertise in parenting and lifestyle topics offers practical, relatable advice for real-life situations.