How The Sleep Kit Uses Music as a Caring Approach to Sleep

by Eve Baird

In 2018, I received funding from the Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation and the New Brunswick Health Research Foundation to pilot and research The Sleep Kit in long-term care and community settings across New Brunswick. The Sleep Kit is a small box of alternative sleep therapies that I developed aimed at the benefits of one-on-one social interaction for folks living with dementia and their care partners. I worked in long-term care for a number of years and saw the need for an alternative to sleep medications which can often exacerbate the symptoms that people living with dementia experience.

The Sleep Kit contains 13 different items that care-partners can use together. It is meant to be a reciprocal experience, and an opportunity for both the person living with dementia and their care-partner to relax before bedtime. The Sleep Kit creates a comforting atmosphere and brings care-partnership back to the basics of human connection.

In the research study, we used CDs by the Canadian Company Room 217. These worked really well and were very calming. However, when I further developed The Sleep Kit to be available for purchase, I wanted to incorporate local artists in my area. My friend and intern for The Sleep Kit, Emma Johnson, was elated when I asked her if she could lead the development of a CD made specifically for The Sleep Kit. Emma and her family had performed for the residents at the nursing home that I worked at, and I was always impressed with their ability to captivate an audience. The residents would respond by singing along, tapping their feet, or smiling.

For folks who are living with dementia, musical memories are often preserved in the brain. Music can be a source of reminiscence, connection, and a way for folks to express their emotions. Emma came up with the song list for The Sleep Kit CD, and she tried to choose songs that were uplifting and relatable. Emma even changed the lyrics for “You Are My Sunshine” from “… But when I awoke dear, I was mistaken. So I hung my head and I cried” to “… when I awoke, there you were near”. She got many local musicians from Fredericton involved, including her family: Tom, Ali and Ginny Johnson; Elizabeth Walker; Oscar Tecu and Zach Greer.

“Elizabeth and I did a Christmas Concert for Hospice Fredericton. I was teaching piano privately at the time, and to my delight my student started the program off for us with a Christmas song and a classical piece. For our performance, I played piano while Elizabeth sang. The residents got up and were dancing, which was so beautiful to see. If we ever made mistakes we would just laugh and improvise some new lyrics, and all the residents loved it. It was a mixture of music and comedy, and it brought a smile to everyone’s face.

Emma Johnson, Musician, St. Thomas University Intern at The Sleep Kit

When Emma began working with me as an intern for The Sleep Kit, we traveled around locally and did demonstrations of The Sleep Kit. I would explain the benefits of The Sleep Kit and explain each item, and pass them around for folks to see and ask questions. Following my presentation, Emma would play a song from the CD on her cello, or play alongside the CD. The Sleep Kit project was an amazing experience and having the opportunity to develop this CD created by local musicians for an important cause was rewarding for everyone who was involved.

This post was written by Eve Baird, founder of The Sleep Kit. The Kit can be purchased from www.thesleepkit.org and free shipping is available in Canada!