Exposing patients to flashing lights could help to halt dementia trends now
Exposing patients to flickering lights and sounds may offer a new drug-free way to treat dementia.
The combination is thought to work by flushing out proteins in the brain believed to be implicated in Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia. This, it is hoped, will slow the progression of the disease and may even improve symptoms, according to a new study.
One theory is that in people with Alzheimer's, these toxic proteins are not cleared away as effectively as normal.
In research involving mice, exposure to the lights — which flicker 40 times a second — and low-pitched sound for one hour a day for ten days resulted in an increase in the amount of the proteins removed through the brain's drainage system, known as the glymphatic system, and improvements to memory.
The researchers, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, say the discovery, reported in the journal Nature, could lead to new treatments for those with early Alzheimer's.
Exposing patients to flickering lights and sounds may offer a new drug-free way to treat dementia (Stock Photo)
In research involving mice, exposure to the lights and low-pitched sound for one hour a day for ten days resulted in an increase in the amount of the proteins removed through the brain's drainage system and improvements to memory (Stock Photo)
Now 100 people with mild Alzheimer's are taking part in the first human trials of the treatment.
Around one million in the UK have dementia, and about 70 per cent of these have Alzheimer's.
The cause is not fully understood but one idea is that it is linked to an abnormal build-up of toxic proteins called amyloid and tau in and around brain cells. These proteins clump together,
