Have you ever noticed how being in the sunshine makes you feel happier?
Scientists wanted to see if light could also help older people who have trouble thinking clearly, a condition called dementia.
They used something called “phototherapy,” which is a special kind of light treatment.
They used some of the biggest libraries in the world that store information about health and medicine to find studies on this topic.
The Study: How It Was Done
The scientists found 12 studies with a total of 766 people who have dementia. About half of them (426 people) received the phototherapy treatment.
The rest (340 people) did not; they were the control group. They used a test called the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) to measure how well each person could think.
They also looked at other things like how the people were feeling, if they were agitated (which means feeling restless or bothered), and how well they slept.
The Results: What They Found
The good news is that the light therapy helped! The people who received phototherapy could think better than before. They scored higher on the MMSE test. That means their minds were working better.
But there’s more. The light therapy did not change how the people were feeling, whether they were agitated, or how well they slept.
This means that while phototherapy helped with thinking, it didn’t help with everything.
The Takeaway: What This Means
So, what does this all mean? It means that light therapy can help people with dementia think better.
But it doesn’t help with all problems that people with dementia can have, like feeling sad or having trouble sleeping.
The scientists will keep studying this to learn more. But for now, it’s good to know that something as simple as light can help people with dementia. It’s like a little bit of sunshine on a cloudy day!
If you care about dementia, please read studies about low choline intake linked to higher dementia risk, and how eating nuts can affect your cognitive ability.
For more information about brain health, please see recent studies that blueberry supplements may prevent cognitive decline, and results showing higher magnesium intake could help benefit brain health.
The study was published in Brain and Behavior.
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