Associated Press

Anxiety of dementia: Use of rocking chairs helps

A two-year study at a Rochester, N.Y., nursing home found that rocking not only brings some peace of mind to older people with dementia but also turns out to be good medicine.

The repetitive movement appears to ease anxiety and lift depression, the study found. And daily rocking can improve balance and lessen the need for pain medication, said Nancy Watson, a geriatric nursing researcher at the University of Rochester who led the study.

And the benefits seem to be cumulative. "The more they rocked, the better they felt," she said. More than half of the 1.6 million people in nursing homes in the United States suffer dementia.

The study involved 25 patients, ages 72 to 95, who had dementia. They were encouraged to rock for six weeks in platform rockers, which sit on a stable base, then were observed for an additional six weeks while wedges prevented the chairs from moving.

After rocking at least 70 minutes a day, 18 of them showed as much as a one-third reduction in signs of anxiety, tension and depression. Seven asked for less pain medication.

The reasons are unclear, but Watson speculated that prolonged rocking releases endorphins, pain-relieving chemicals in the brain. Other studies have associated endorphin release with periodic rhythmic exercise.