When the Parkinson’s ACT support group introduced a singalong at the start of their monthly meetings earlier this year, 67-year-old Dennis Smith admits he was a non-believer.
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‘‘I was a bit tongue-in-cheek about it when it first started,’’ Mr Smith said.
Now he’s one of the 40 to 50 people each month who joins in the boisterous chorus of songs from years long gone – think Que Sera Sera, Oh What a Beautiful Morning and South of the Border among many others – and agrees it has made a difference.
‘‘I think it lifts your spirits, improves your mood – I would say generally for most people [the lift] would last the day,’’ he said.
The 15-minute ‘‘Parkinsong’’ singalong – led on Thursday morning by the visiting president of Sing Australia – was initiated by Parkinson’s ACT president Michael Dwyer to encourage socialising and an active mind.
‘‘We are trying to involve members to have a lively singalong, then they’re in the mood for the guest speaker and to ask questions – I think the meetings are happier and chirpier,’’ Mr Dwyer said. ‘‘A generation ago Parkinson’s people stayed at home.’’
Leading Australian neurologist Simon Lewis said singing had not been proven to slow the progression of Parkinson’s symptoms, but he encouraged it as another form of exercise.
‘‘It won’t cause harm, and it would likely do good,’’ Dr Lewis said. ‘‘The evidence isn’t there that singing itself leads to improved outcomes, [but] we have every expectation it would help.’’
Dr Lewis – director of the Parkinson’s Disease Research Clinic at the Brain & Mind Research Institute – said speech therapy and voice training programs had been popular internationally.
He pointed to the US-founded Lee Silverman voice treatment, used by St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney for more than a decade to regulate breathing and raise the speaking volume of those living with Parkinson’s disease, which, he said, can lead to additional benefits such as improved swallowing.
Parkinson’s ACT received a $1200 ACT government grant for its Parkinsong program, which Mr Dwyer said had been used for a CD player and sound system and to prepare song books.
There were 64,000 Australians living with Parkinson’s disease in 2011 – including an estimated 1000 in the Canberra region – making it the nation’s most common neurological disease after Alzheimer’s.
Mr Smith, diagnosed in 1999, said the singing, social and information aspects of the support group were valuable. It’s a Long Way to Tipperary and How Much Is that Doggie in the Window? gets everyone going, he said.
‘‘[Parkinson’s] is definitely not the end of the world, that’s for sure.’’
