- Researchers are reporting that light therapy might help improve sleep and psycho-behavioral symptoms in people with Alzheimer’s disease.
- They say that current pharmacological treatment can include side effects and increase the risk of falls while light therapy usually does not have side effects.
- Experts said light therapy is a promising potential treatment for Alzheimer’s and dementia.
Light therapy might improve sleep and psycho-behavioral symptoms for people with Alzheimer’s disease, according to a
For this meta-analysis, researchers identified randomized controlled studies on light therapy for Alzheimer’s and dementia.
They said they found 15 high-quality studies published between 2005 and 2022. They were performed in seven countries and included a total of 598 participants.
Their findings indicated that light therapy in people with Alzheimer’s and dementia can be beneficial in several ways:
- Improved sleep efficiency – the ratio between the time a person is actually asleep and the total time dedicated to sleep (i.e how long a person is in bed).
- Increased interdaily stability – a measure of the strength of circadian rhythms, or how consistent daily activity patterns are.
- Reduced interdaily variability – a measure of disruption of circadian rhythms, or how frequently someone transitions between rest and activity during the day.
In people with Alzheimer’s, the researchers said light therapy also reduced depressive symptoms and agitation as well as lowering caregiver burden.
“Persons living with Alzheimer’s disease very often experience behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia as well as sleeping difficulties,” said Dr. Liron Sinvani, the director of geriatric hospitalist services at Northwell Health in New York who was not involved in the research.
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