Britain tests virtual reality time travel to fight dementia
LONDON: About 100 dementia sufferers in Britain will take part in governmentbacked trials using virtual reality to help recall lost memories, the firm behind the technology said.
Virtual reality (VR) headsets allow people with dementia to watch films that take them to popular seaside resorts, a 1940s sweetshop or a 1950s street party to recall thoughts and emotions and help them reengage with relatives and carers.
“If people remember more of their past and of themselves, it helps with overall mental wellbeing,” Arfa Rehman, cofounder of Virtue, which created the software, said on Tuesday.
Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) was testing the new form of reminiscence therapy – where films are played on a smartphone in an inexpensive VR headset – in several hospitals and care homes across the country, Rehman said.
Dementia is caused when the brain is damaged by strokes or diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
People with dementia can suffer from memory loss and difficulties with thinking, problemsolving or language.
There are 850,000 people with dementia in Britain, with that number estimated to rise to one million by 2025, according to the Alzheimer’s Society.
Researchers have found that reminiscence therapy improves cognitive functions and reduces depressive symptoms in people with dementia, and that it is more effective with those in care homes than those living independently.
Looking at, listening to and discussing objects, images and music from the past triggers memories, which participants enjoy.
Trials over the next six months aim to find out the potential benefits of more regular use of the technology, said Rehman of Virtue, a social impactfocused business, which has won numerous awards since it was set up last year. — Reuters