In this new study (April 2022) it is shown that red light therapy(RLT), 1, increases melatonin levels and 2, that it improves memory and 3, that RLT has a higher effect at night.
>>> ' Taken together, the results suggest that red-light therapy can reduce the complications of memory impairment in rats. This study has found that red-light therapy demonstrates higher effect during the period of dark phase compared to light phase. ' <<<
Interestingly melatonin is suggested to have a similar effect on memory in mice .
>>> ' Melatonin and its metabolites promote long-term memory and protect against cognitive decline in mice. ' <<<
It makes me wonder if one of the main effects of RLT is its ability to increase melatonin levels and this would also tend to offer one potential reason why RLT had a higher effect at night, when the pineal gland is also secreting melatonin in the brain?
Art
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chartist
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Very interesting thanks Art for posting. Recently since upgrading his RLT to coronet my husband is definitely sleeping better, his words, and hallucinations which he had occasionally have ceased! Wonder if Melatonin has increased? He has a good memory - much better than mine. Maybe I ll give it a go!
Thanks Art, I do remember those posts and the supplements you tried and how your friend improved. Lithium Orotate or Melatonin is not a supplement readily available in the U.K. and has to be imported.
I agree with Zella! I have been using the coronet for 1 month and I definitely sleep better! I have to believe it increases melatonin because it calms my physical body/tremor and -in the evening- I just about fall asleep while using it before bed I am a believer!
Hi healthabc, do you use it right before bed? I did last night, and did really well for a few hours, which was nice. But then I was awake. I wondered if the bedtime timing matters. Thanks!
After a month of consistent use I am finding that I sleep for a good couple of hours solid- which is a vast improvement for me. Before the coronet, I was in dire need of good sleep. I had said at the time, that if the coronet just so much as helped me sleep, it would be worth it. Now, I sleep for a good couple of hours, which is much better than before. I am feeling generally better, I am not sure exactly why, but I will keep using the coronet!
I think this is at least the second study that I have seen suggesting RLT raises melatonin levels and of course the RLT head coverings are directed at the brain. Infrared light from the sun is also thought to penetrate the skull, but in that case it also penetrates to the cerebrospinal fluid. It is worth noting that the cerebrospinal fluid in PwP has elevated levels of the inflammatory cytokine IL-8 and has access to the brain and melatonin is known to inhibit IL-8 while also crossing the blood brain barrier and other body tissues and organs.
Hi Art- do you use the coronet? I believe they are out of stock currently- and not sure my husband with PD would use it - but it seems promising. Sleep is truly one of the things he struggles with. Thank you for this information!
I don't have PD and don't use the coronet. I am interested in the effects of RLT though. There are other ways to get melatonin if your husband won't wear the coronet. I wrote about two ways here and if you read the replies, you will find that I have added three or four more ways to get melatonin with out supplementing with it and without the side effects that some people get from taking melatonin.
Adding to the conversation, neurobiologist Andrew Huberman's podcast features light as the topic this week: "Using Light (Sunlight, Blue Light and Red Light) to Optimize Health." He cites studies to back up his presentation.
Everyone complains when a rat study doesn't agree with their viewpoint. The OP mentions the strongest red light effect occurred at night. So I should use a red light bucket at bedtime? But maybe the effect was stronger at night because rats are nocturnal? I've been thinking about red light since the subject came up months ago. I still get emails from a red light company. I keep putting it off because I don't want to face another potential failure. Same as the 30 or more failures I've experienced in the past three years.
This blue light study shows that blue light suppresses melatonin secretion. We get blue light from the sun, LED lights, televisions, computers, artificial light at night and mobile phones. These all may be reasons to use red light therapy at night before bed to try and offset the artificial blue light at night with RLT which has shown to increase melatonin levels. This may add further confirmation to why RLT is more effective at night. Delivery of RLT right before sleep may add back enough melatonin to improve sleep also.
>>> ' Seventeen healthy young participants (eight females) participated in a counterbalanced within-subject design during which they were exposed for 2 hr before habitual sleep time to a blue-enriched light (1500 lx) or to a lower intensity red-light (150 lx) control condition, using a new-generation light emitting diode (LED) head-mounted device. Compared to the red light control condition, blue-enriched light significantly reduced melatonin secretion and reaction times during a psychomotor vigilance task while no significant differences were detected in discomfort and cortisol levels. These results suggest that, compared to a control condition, blue-enriched light, delivered by a new-generation head-mounted device, elicits typical non-visual responses to light without detectable discomfort and physiological stress. ' <<<
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I am a believer!
