Music “Awakens” Man With Dementia; Inspiring Video Goes Viral

It’s swept the Internet. It’s all over social media. Have you seen it—the video in which music seems to “awaken” a man named Henry, who has dementia?

The video is an excerpt from a documentary called Alive Inside, which explores “the power of music to help those in nursing homes,” ABC News reports. It promotes a nonprofit called Music & Memory, which gives iPods with personalized music to people in nursing homes who have dementia. From ABC News:

Geri Hall, a clinical nurse specialist at the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute in Phoenix, said music activates a part of the brain that stays active despite dementia.

“There’s something about music that cuts through right up until the very end of the disease,” she said, adding that familiar music from the past can help people with dementia feel at home. “It calms them, it increases socialization, and it decreases the need for mood controlling medications.”

We’ve posted the video from the original source, which has fewer than 600,000 views as of this writing. But on one YouTube page that reposted it on April 7, it already has millions of views.

What’s been your experience with music and your elderly relatives?