Bring Joy
We know the emotional journey will include highs and lows, but it is crucial to find moments of joy and happiness to share together.
Top Tips
The positive effects of joy
Dementia can lead to increased feelings of anxiety, frustration, and sadness. Positive emotions can counteract these negative feelings, improving mood and reducing distress. Joyful experiences can provide moments of connection and purpose, helping individuals feel valued and engaged. Empowering individuals with dementia to experience the fullness of life, creating a brighter and more joyful journey.
Balancing out the lows
Fostering positive emotions can play a vital role in supporting overall well-being for individuals with dementia. While it's true that depression can sometimes accompany dementia, we can actively cultivate joy and happiness to enhance quality of life. By focusing on positive activities and experiences, we're not just creating joyful moments, we're building emotional resilience. These positive feelings can act as a buffer, helping to alleviate the impact of low moods.
Maintaining connections
Engaging in enjoyable activities, like puzzles, walks, café meet-ups, can promote social interaction and reduce feelings of isolation, creating shared moments of joy and strengthening bonds between individuals with dementia and their loved ones. Familiar faces and voices provide a sense of security and comfort, reducing feelings of anxiety and confusion and promoting the feeling of joy!
Keep achieving
Experiencing the feeling of accomplishment through playing a games, hobbies, completing tasks, is a powerful source of joy. Achievement, no matter how small, brings joy and boosts mood. Relish puzzles and games are specifically designed for people with dementia, and offer opportunities for these positive experiences and strengthen connections.
Keep listening to music
Many studies have shown that music has a profound ability to evoke emotions and memories, making it a powerful tool for bringing joy to individuals with dementia. At Relish, we understood the power of music, so we developed the Relish Radio & Music Player to provide an enjoyable and stress-free experience - allowing people with dementia to enjoy the power of music throughout their journey.
Singing & dancing
"Singing can be a great way to express yourself and it enables you to learn something new, as you can slowly remember the lyrics." Lorraine Brown. Music and singing can be a way to unlock feelings and thoughts that might be difficult to express. When words are hard to find, the rhythm and melody of a familiar song can resonate deeply, allowing emotions to surface. Movement when you sing, like clapping or dancing, can release endorphins which are natural mood boosters.
Focus on the present
Focusing on the present moment allows individuals with dementia to engage in meaningful experiences without relying on their memory. Shifting the focus to sensory experiences and immediate interactions, opportunities for meaningful engagement are created - helping to find joy in the simple things, creating moments of connection and contentment in the present, without looking into the past or future.