Bright light eases dementia in study
Exposing dementia patients to about nine hours of daily bright light improved their brain function as well as some Alzheimer's medicines, a study of Dutch nursing-home patients found.
Treatment slowed the pace at which patients lost their ability to carry out ordinary tasks including bathing, dressing, and eating by more than 50 percent, compared with those exposed to dim light, according to the study in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Memory difficulties were reduced 5 percent.
The study is the first controlled trial of how light affects mental functioning in dementia patients, the researchers wrote. Effects were similar to those of drugs such as
The ceiling-mounted lights, more than three times brighter than those the study used for comparison, also reduced depression 19 percent.
