Light Therapy Aids Alzheimer's Sleep Disorders - Brief Article

0 Comments | Family Practice News, Sept 1, 2000 | by Mary Ann Moon

WASHINGTON -- Daily exposure to bright light may resolve circadian rhythm sleep disorders in patients with Alzheimer's disease, Glenna A. Dowling, Ph.D., said in a poster presentation at the World Alzheimer Congress.

In a 12-week trial involving 27 women and 5 men aged 60-95 years, 15 subjects received 1 hour of exposure to bright natural light each morning and 17 control subjects were exposed only to normal low-light conditions. "The amount of light in the intervention group was orders of magnitude greater than that for the controls," said Dr. Dowling, director of the Goldman Institute on Aging in San Francisco.

Although statistically significant results will require data on more subjects, there was a dear trend toward increased sleep efficiency (percentage of time in bed spent asleep), decreased nighttime wakefulness, and decreased nighttime activity in the intervention group, compared with the controls, she noted at the meeting sponsored by the Alzheimer's Association, Alzheimer's Disease International, and the Alzheimer Society of Canada.

After 64 subjects are enrolled in this National Institutes of Health-supported trial, Dr. Dowling plans to compare the effects of morning vs. afternoon light on sleep disturbance and to study whether a bedtime dose of melatonin enhances the benefits.