Effects of bright light on cognitive and sleep–wake (circadian) rhythm disturbances in Alzheimer‐type dementia
Open Access
- 1 June 2000
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences
- Vol. 54 (3), 352-353
- https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1440-1819.2000.00711.x
Abstract
Twenty-seven patients with Alzheimer-type dementia (ATD) were treated with bright light therapy in the morning for four consecutive weeks. The cognitive state of each patient was evaluated with the Mini-Mental-State Examination (MMSE) and circadian rhythm with actigram before and after therapy for all of the patients and those of two groups divided by the severity criteria of the Clinical Dementia Rating. The therapy improved the circadian rhythm disturbances. Although the therapy caused no remarkable effects on dementia severity, it improved the MMSE scores, especially in the early stages of ATD. These results suggest that bright light therapy improved the circadian rhythm disturbances and then bettered the cognitive state in early-stage ATD.Keywords
This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit:
- Morning bright light therapy for sleep and behavior disorders in elderly patients with dementiaActa Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 1994
- Clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's diseaseNeurology, 1984
- A New Clinical Scale for the Staging of DementiaThe British Journal of Psychiatry, 1982
- “Mini-mental state”: A practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinicianJournal of Psychiatric Research, 1975