It’s well-known that the immediate environment can affect the state of mind of a person living with dementia – witness how one Victorian dementia ward repainted its keypad-locked entry and exit doors with natural landscapes to ease the distress of residents.
But a more radical change of environment may also be of benefit to those living with dementia if some new research is to be believed.
The paper from Edith Cowan University (ECU) suggests that tourism could be a way to combat dementia, with lead researcher Dr Jun Wen saying a holiday has a lot in common with traditional therapies.
“Medical experts can recommend dementia treatments such as music therapy, exercise, cognitive stimulation, reminiscence therapy, sensory stimulation and adaptations to a patient’s mealtimes and environment. These are all also often found when on holidays.
“This research is among the first to conceptually discuss how these tourism experiences could potentially work as dementia interventions,” he said.
According to Dr Wen, holidays can boost cognitive and sensory stimulation due to the new experiences and environments they offer and provide good exercise as well.
“Mealtimes are often different on holiday: they’re usually more social affairs with multiple people and family-style meals have been found to positively influence dementia patients’ eating behaviour.
“And then there’s the basics like fresh air and sunshine increasing vitamin D and serotonin levels. Everything that comes together to represent a holistic tourism experience, makes it easy to see how patients with dementia may benefit from tourism as an intervention,” Dr Wen said.
While more research is needed, going on a trip does boost your physical and mental wellbeing, so if you’re thinking of setting off on holiday post-COVID, now might be the time – you’ll feel all the better for it.
