New research suggests that light therapy holds the potential to treat symptoms of dementia.
In a new study, researchers have applied a type of infrared light therapy to patients with mild to moderate dementia and found that cognitive ability improved. The light therapy was administered directly through the skull (transcranial) and nasal passageways and aimed at specific parts of the brain from the prefrontal cortex to the hippocampus (the area responsible for memory).
Significant improvement was recorded in just 12 weeks – including increased cognitive function, better sleep, fewer anger outbursts, and less anxiety and wandering. What’s more, when the researchers stopped the treatment, after four weeks, they found that patients had declined once again. The test pool was only five patients, which is hardly a significant number but, based on these findings a new larger clinical trial has been launched by University of California, and is now recruiting participants.
There is a significant amount of evidence to back up the therapeutic effects of light therapy on different tissues in the body. Tests on mice have shown that it reduces the amyloid plaques and tau tangles found in an Alzheimer’s brain. Scientists don’t fully understand how the the therapeutic effect works but it’s thought that it stimulates the production of new neurons and triggers the brain’s own protective mechanisms to prevent cell death.
Why this would be a boon: it suggests that a non-invasive home therapy could help Alzheimer’s patients.
Read the full study here.
What are the results so far?
I have used the vielight alpha model on my wife who had a concussion/subdural 20 months prior to her use and with mental gaps that were not resolving plus chemo brain from chemotherapy for breast cancer. After 8 weeks of 6 times a week with the alpha neuro device fro vie light she is back to normal and can finish soduku which she could not do before treatment.
Very good news to hear. Our 88 yr. old mother has frontal lobe dementia. In the last four mths, she was hospitalized twice, She doesn’t t want to get out of bed, or eat that much. Note; back in 2009 she had bypass surgery, which saved her life, but took away most of her hearing. She had been in a nursing home since 2013, she has fallen multiple times. She was in a mental hospital for a mth in August, which is next to the nursing home. I really don t think it helped her. I just had a care conference at the nursing home. I told them about the light therapy that my sister stumbled upon and I have been reading about it also. To see your success story bring hope to people. Were you able to buy year light yourself? Our mom is on Medicaid, and every time she is hospitalized, the nursing home doesn’t t get paid , so that money goes into a PDA, at which, now she has too much money in there. She has a prepaid funeral (because of Medicaid). I was wondering if a light could be bought with her money to get her balance down, and possibly prove to people that the light therapy helps. Sorry for the rant. Thank you Karen C. Corsonk@yahoo.com