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# Green Light May Help Alzheimer’s Patients
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/green_light_alzheimer_s_patients_0112120730/
- Published: 2012-01-12T08:27:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T16:15:05.000Z
- Description: Wayne State researchers gave light through visors to 20 women over 65 with Alzheimer's dementia. Caregivers reported that patients, most of them treated with green light, seemed more alert and showed better recall and coordination, while a few changed little or not at all.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Drug, Health News, Alzheimer's, #vivvo-import

By Stephen Lau and editing by stacey sexton

Thursday Jan 12, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- Nursing researchers from Wayne State University said that exposure to light is likely to help Alzheimer’s patients to improve global functioning.

The study, conducted by LuAnn Nowak Etcher, Ph.D., was published in the Western Journal of Nursing Research.

Inspired by the phenomenon known as “sundowning”, Etcher became interested in ways to regulate the rest-activity patterns of women with Alzheimer’s, who sleep during the day and wake up at night.

Etcher’s team recruited 20 women over age 65 with Alzheimer’s type of dementia and used visor and jet lag to administer the light to patients.

According to the caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients, researchers learned that patients receiving the treatment seemed more competent, awake and alert; showed improved recognition, recollection, and motor coordination; and seemed to recapture their personalities and engage with the surrounding environment.

Most of those improved patients were treated with green light. A few showed little to no effect from the treatments. Etcher also found that some recipients of red light were reported as showing improvements, like becoming calmer and less resistant to care.

"Some of the rest-activity pattern disruptions that we see associated with Alzheimer's dementia may not necessarily be circadian based," Etcher said. "They may be due to unmet needs, pain or other phenomena, and therefore would not respond to an intervention aimed at regulation of the circadian system."

Based on this surprising finding, Etcher plans to use two different nonlinear analytic methods to examine sensitivity and specificity to detect change in circadian patterns, which may help to regulate those patterns to the benefit of patients’ overall function.

"If they sleep better at night and are more awake during the day, they can eat, they can interact with other people and they can take advantage of other cueing agents in the environment," she said.

"In addition to light during daytime and darkness during the nighttime, smells at mealtimes, food intake, interactions — all these things in conjunction help regulate our day."

An estimated 5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease. This number has doubled since 1980, and is expected to be as high as 16 million by 2050.

Alzheimer's disease has no cure. The disease will eventually lead to a complete inability to live an independent life.

It remains unknown what causes Alzheimer's disease, which is the most common type of dementia. But studies have shown some lifestyle choices may increase or decrease the risk of its development.

Drinking green tea, antioxidants like vitamin C or ascorbic acid, cinnamon extract, eating fish or omega-3 fatty acids, a Mediterranean diet, vitamin D, drinking coffee, vitamin E, polyphenols, caloric restriction, curry, apple juice, B vitamins, a plant-based diet, and high intake of amino acid methionine may help prevent dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.

High intake of iron, smoking, depression, physical inactivity, vitamin D deficiency, and sugary beverages, among other things, may boost the risk of dementia or Alzheimer’s.