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Losing our memory is something we all fear of. Alzheimer's disease is a very difficult, and the most common form of dementia. This general term refers to the loss of memory and other intellectual skills so severe that it interferes with daily life. Alzheimer's disease accounts for 50-80% of dementia cases.
Alzheimer's is a neurological disorder believed to have genetic components. It's thought to be caused by the abnormal build-up of proteins in and around brain cells; and Alzheimer's is not just a disease of old age, as it was once widely believed to be. Up to 5% of people suffering from this disease have an early onset of Alzheimer's disease (also known as "early-onset"), which often appears when a person is between forty and fifty years old.
It is a life-altering disease and can be extremely challenging. It's not something that affects only the patient; it is a disease that alters the lives of those around you, as well.
The life expectancy after diagnosis is typically eight to ten years. Of course, this varies; a person can live up to 20 years post-diagnosis. Sometimes people don't get diagnosed for a few years, thus leading them to have less time.
When Alzheimer's disease strikes, it initially presents symptoms that may be so mild that they go unnoticed by both the patient and his family; however, as the disease progresses, these symptoms become more evident and begin to interfere with daily activities and relationships.
The main symptoms are significant memory loss, difficulties in producing and understanding language, inability to recognize people, objects, or places, decoding external stimuli, and difficulty performing simple voluntary movements, such as using objects. As the disease progresses, psychiatric symptoms often occur, such as depression, anxiety, apathy, irritability, and even aggression.
A person with Alzheimer's needs a safe place and environment. Things must be kept simple, and their life significantly changes. You can't really expect a person suffering from this disorder to be the same. Their personality and behavioral changes are entirely normal.
The list of light therapy uses and benefits goes on and on, as it is a form of treatment that can help with many health issues and disorders. However, for people with Alzheimer's, it can have a powerful effect on their experience.
Red light therapy is a form of therapy that works simply by producing light. There are many different devices, lightboxes, masks, and lamps that are used. The ultraviolet rays you receive in a light therapy session are the ones who directly target at the cellular level. Once the cells are penetrated by light, they accelerate at their reproductive level, increasing ATP production. ATP is the powerhouse of the mitochondria, essential for our system to function optimally.
A review of red light therapy is something we can all benefit from. There are no downsides to red light therapy, as it is a non-invasive and non-pharmaceutical procedure.
Light therapy focuses on the cellular level. MRI imaging uncovered a 61% reduction in whole-brain atrophy and losses of volume in areas associated with Alzheimer's from red light therapy treatments. It works by rejuvenating the cells, creating new ones at a higher rate. Our organism benefits from cellular alteration because of the production of new cells. This means they're not only fresh cells, but they're stronger than before.
Light therapy masks help suppress Beta-amyloid (Aβ) build-up, the protein that forms senile plaques in the brains of people with Alzheimer's and dementia. So it's focusing on getting rid of the root of the problem. With a reduced build-up, our brain cells return to their natural state, the protein having been successfully eradicated.
Kaiyan specializes in light therapy devices that are MDASAP-certified and FDA-approved, making our product easy and accessible, perfect for at-home treatments – even for some of the most challenging diseases and health conditions. Contact our team for more information.
Different types of clinical research are used depending on what the researchers are studying. Below are descriptions of some different kinds of clinical research.
Treatment Research generally involves an intervention such as medication, psychotherapy, new devices, or new approaches to surgery or radiation therapy.
Prevention Research looks for better ways to prevent disorders from developing or returning. Different kinds of prevention research may study medicines, vitamins, vaccines, minerals, or lifestyle changes.
Diagnostic Research refers to the practice of looking for better ways to identify a particular disorder or condition.
Screening Research aims to find the best ways to detect certain disorders or health conditions.
Quality of Life Research explores ways to improve comfort and the quality of life for individuals with a chronic illness.
Genetic studies aim to improve disorders' prediction by identifying and understanding how genes and illnesses may be related. Research in this area may explore how a person’s genes make him or her more or less likely to develop a disorder. This may lead to the development of tailor-made treatments based on a patient’s genetic make-up.
Epidemiological Studies seek to identify the patterns, causes, and control of disorders in groups of people.
An important note: some clinical research is “outpatient,” meaning that participants do not stay overnight at the hospital. Some are “impatient,” meaning that participants will need to stay for at least one night in the hospital or research center. Be sure to ask the researchers what their study requires.
Phases of Clinical Trials: When Clinical Research is Used to Evaluate Medications and Devices
Clinical trials are a kind of clinical research designed to evaluate and test new interventions such as psychotherapy or medications. Clinical trials are often conducted in four phases. The trials at each phase have a different purpose and help scientists answer different questions.
Examples of Other Kinds of Clinical Research
Many people believe that all clinical research involves testing new medications or devices. This is not true, however. Some studies do not involve testing medications, and a person’s regular medications may not need to be changed. Healthy volunteers are also needed so that researchers can compare their results to the results of people with the illness being studied. Some examples of other kinds of research include the following:
Like any other organ or part of the human body, the brain, too, is susceptible to injuries or declining functions, especially as we grow older. A healthy diet, physical exercise, and improving your blood pressure, blood sugar, or blood cholesterol levels are some of the ways through which you can maintain a healthier, younger brain.
The brain can suffer from numerous disorders that can be divided into:
Mentally stimulating activities are vital to keeping the brain young. Different brain activities, such as solving puzzles, math problems, or anything that may require at least some cognitive effort, contributes to the maintenance of the brain’s neural plasticity.
Neural plasticity is the ability of the central nervous system (CNS) to adapt to changes in the environment, aging, trauma, or injuries. It’s an important brain process in which neural networks work together to build a more resilient nervous system and maintain its proper functioning.
The first placebo-controlled study to demonstrate some of the benefits of Light Therapy treatments on the human brain was performed in 2013. Multiple improvements were observed among participants who received Light Therapy compared to the placebo group. Light therapy participants experienced:
In a more recent study effort, researchers treated older adults who were at risk of cognitive decline with Light Therapy. A positive neurocognitive effect was observed among the participants in this study, all of whom aged between 49 and 90. Some of the participants also struggled with cognitive decline due to vascular disease, however, Light Therapy was effective regardless of the nature of their cognitive decline.
As Light Therapy helped the elderly participants boost cognitive scores, researchers on the team were also able to observe their increased brain waves power (alpha, beta, and gamma brain waves in their resting state).
Combating age-related cognitive decline with Light Therapy has been in the focus of another recent study, published in February 2019. This study examined the frontal brain functions among elderly men. Frontal brain functions are key to directing behavior. The participants were divided into two groups, treatment, and placebo. Those who received treatment indeed showed improved cognitive performance following the treatment. These results demonstrate that Light Therapy can really work in a safe manner to treat age-related cognitive decline.
As of 2017, we also know that Light Therapy can improve the brain’s executive function. This is your ability to manage time, pay attention, change focus, plan, organize, multitask, remember details, or avoid saying the wrong thing at the wrong time3. In other words, the ability to create and meet goals.
As research further suggests, Light Therapy helped study participants to better perform in the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST)4. This is a neurophysiological test where the task-takers are asked to match a set of cards presented to them, in an attempt to assess their ability to demonstrate cognitive flexibility–a key process in cognitive ability. They are not told how to match the cards, but only if their particular match is correct or not. The WCST is a clinical way to measure the brain’s executive function. Those participants who received Light Therapy made fewer errors on the task and demonstrated improved set-shifting ability compared to the control group.
Such results suggest that Light Therapy improves the brain’s executive function and may have intriguing potentials for treating or preventing deficits resulting both from aging or neuropsychological disorders which include conditions such as epilepsy, stroke, migraines, brain tumors, dementia, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s among others.
In 2017, scientists tested 118 people to see if Light Therapy can have a meaningful impact on their learning abilities. In a similar fashion to previous research, the participants were divided into treatment and placebo groups. Light Therapy showed that the treatment group improved their learning capabilities.
During the trial, the Light Therapy device was directed at the lateral prefrontal cortex of participants, and following treatments, they experienced faster and better rule-based learning5. So, imagine having all participants been bartenders demanded to know the exact ingredients of Mojito, Bloody Mary, Margarita, and other essential cocktails. This Light Therapy treatment would have aided their ability to remember all the ingredients needed for fashioning each drink, adding each ingredient in the desired sequence, or remember who on the table ordered a stronger Bloody Mary. We demonstrate this type of ability through our brain’s rule-based learning capacity.
Different life events may inhibit our brain’s ability to learn. Aging certainly is one of them. Other reasons may include extended exposures to pesticides or neurotoxins, which impair the mitochondria in brain cells. Since Light Therapy kind of “exercises” the mitochondria and prompts the brain to forge new neural networks, the process itself acts as a cognitive rehabilitation6. Which also leads us to the next section.
Cognitive decline may occur due to traumatic brain injuries, too. A person who suffers from one may face memory or concentration problems, mood swings, depression, anxiety, or speech problems among other TBI manifestations. What gives hope is another batch of studies that attests to the positive cognitive benefits among TBI patients from receiving Light Therapy.
Light Therapy has been shown to stimulate the growth of new nerve tissue and synapses in damaged brain cells, thus improving the cognitive brain functions of those patients who not only suffer from TBI but also from Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The latter is a degenerative brain disease prevalent among athletes and military veterans or anyone who presents with a history of repetitive brain trauma.
https://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/executive-function#1
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150402161648.htm
https://www.cambridgecognition.com/cantab/cognitive-tests/memory/delayed-matching-to-sample-dms/
https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/12-ways-to-keep-your-brain-young
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychomotor_vigilance_task
https://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?pg=carotid-intima
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/traumatic-brain-injury/symptoms-causes/syc-20378557
https://brainworksneurotherapy.com/what-are-brainwaves
https://concussionfoundation.org/CTE-resources/what-is-CT
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsin_Card_Sorting_Test.
