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September 19, 2022
Marae korero slows mate wareware symptoms
Peter Verschaffelt
Posted On September 19, 2022
University of Auckland researchers has found kaumatua with dementia can benefit from being around te reo Māori and the marae environment.
Dr Makarena Dudley, the director of the university’s Centre for Brain Research, says a study including more than 300 kaumatua and found when they were on the marae their mate wareware was not so pronounced.
‘Hearing the reo, being in that environment sort of creates and environment where they feel safe and they feel familiar and we know people who suffer from mate wareware very quickly become disoriented and confused in environments that are unfamiliar to them,” she says.
Dr Dudley says other studies of indigenous communities has found later onset of dementia and slower progression among people who are bilingual.
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