Submit Manuscript | http://medcraveonline.com Introduction Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease which interferes in the ability to carry out daily life activities due to gradual deterioration of memory, language, temporo-spatial orientation and visual spatial functions. 1 Such disease affects approximately 18.7% of people between 75 and 84 and, 47.2% in over 85 year old populations 2 Due to the fact that the world’s population life expectancy is increasing, above all in the western world, 3 it is expected that in the future the risk of showing AD or diseases related to dementia will increase. Currently, however, life expectancy raise and the improvement of social conditions which society, above all in the occidental world, has experienced have made possible the constant increase in the number of elderly people. With the intention to improve this group’s quality of life (QOL), we have taken action aiming at meeting the new challenges. The fact that a high percentage of the Spanish population is old, provides a new situation in which resources are redistributed to develop a wide range of initiatives channeled into making present and future elderly people’s life better. 4,5 In the context of social services, sanitation and education, the concept of QOL has been acquiring great importance as an investigation target. Action taken in the last decades has allowed the evolution of the QOL concept and its action feld. Currently, the QOL is a common target for service users, professionals, organizations or politicians. 6 Hence, the concern for QOL leads the World Health Organization (WHO) (1992) to defne the QOL as: “individuals’ perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value system in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations and standards and concerns.” (WHOQOL) It must be taken into account that QOL thrives when the subject has all their needs covered and that the QOL for elderly persons involves society in general and families’ collaboration. In the study conducted by Ramos-Esquivel 7 they reached the conclusion that QOL can interact with the old age by sharing concepts and meanings. There are connections between the amount of years people live and the elements socially shared, such as the lack of work or physical autonomy, which cause negative feelings towards this absence. These authors, although they admit the limitations of their study type, highlight the existent concern for the investigation into how the old age is experienced in the current social conditions. It must be taken into account that, although “old age” and “aging” are phrases from the same family, they have different implications. The “old age” is a stage in life, the same as the childhood, adolescence or adulthood, so it is about a state that has been lived at a temporary moment in which a series of changes, common of this period, take place. The term “aging” is not a state, as Agulló says, 8 it is a process that is brought to fruition along life and implies the idea of continuity and the action of getting older. Despite there are losses in many vital functions, others stay the same or even rise. According to Fernández-Ballesteros, 9 and Pérez, 10 there are three types of “aging”, frstly, “normal aging” which would cover gradual biological, psychological and social changes common for the age. These changes are unavoidable and intrinsic. Secondly, there is the “pathological aging” which would cover the changes that do not belong to “normal aging” and are produced by illnesses, bad habits or dementia. In some cases these changes can be prevented or are reversible. Finally, it is the “optimum aging” which is the process that takes place in normal conditions. This last aging type is present in those persons who care for and make possible the proper development of their physical and psychological health by doing physical exercise or taking part in programs like the one here presented, in which they work their cognitive skills, improve their self-esteem, and keep healthy habits avoiding dependence and isolation. In our opinion, a connection with dementia could be established as Prieto et al. 11 point out, stating that dementia grows exponentially with age; so in a few years this disease, which according to statistics is the main reason for elderly adults’ disability, may become a worldwide epidemic. In general terms, the prevalence of dementia is under the 2% in people between 65 and 69 years old; this value doubles every 5 years standing between 10-17% in persons between 80 and 84 years old, and reaching a 30% in persons over 90 years old. One of the most common dementias, which means a dwindling cognitive function of a person or in their mental capacity to think, MOJ Gerontol Ger. 2018;3(6):437‒444. 437 © 2018 Vernia-Carrasco. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and build upon your work non-commercially. Eurhythmy and life stories as a prevention against Alzheimer Volume 3 Issue 6 - 2018 Ana-Mercedes Vernia-Carrasco Education deparment, Jaume I University,Spain Correspondence: Ana-Mercedes Vernia-Carrasco, Education deparment, Area of Didactics of Musical Expression, Jaume I University, Spain, Tel 616200681, Email Received: July 17, 2018 | Published: November 26, 2018 Abstract In this study, an intervention programme in order to prevent against Alzheimer has been applied to elderly persons, starting from Eurhythmy and by means of the use of ‘Life Stories’. Effects of the intervention on cognitive abilities and quality of life of elderly persons have been analyzed. Participants in the study were 11 individuals aged 63 to 92. The intervention program was carried out in 14 sessions, and the cognitive abilities and the quality of life evaluated before starting the intervention and after finishing it. Results in general indicate that cognitive abilities in adults are preserved when applying said Alzheimer prevention program. Keywords: eurhythmy, life stories, alzheimer, cognitive abilities, quality of life MOJ Gerontology & Geriatrics Research Article Open Access