The Importance of Light in Caring for People with Alzheimer's

In December of 2016, BBC released an article that detailed another way in which light may be used to help people with Alzheimer’s. Their research revealed that flashing a strobe light into the eyes of rodents prompted the protective cells in the body to consume the harmful proteins that accumulate in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s. The build-up of these amyloid proteins are the earliest identified change seen in Alzheimer’s Disease. The clumping together of these proteins and the subsequent formation of sticky plaques is what is thought to cause memory loss and nerve cell death. Using this flashing light method in rodents significantly reduced the number of beta amyloid plaques in the span of 12 to 24 hours.