Infra-Red Device May Reverse Dementia, Maintain Experts
Medical experts believe they could have found the key to turning back the brain’s biological clock and reversing the effects of dementia and memory loss.
Pioneering research has shown that regular exposure to safe low- level infra-red light can improve learning performance and kick- start the cognitive function of the brain.
The results are a scientific breakthrough as medical treatments for dementia can currently only slow down brain deterioration, and now human trials are to start to see if the treatment could provide a cure to illnesses like Alzheimer’s disease.
Independent research carried out at Sunderland University has demonstrated that low power infra-red (1072nm) can improve the learning performance.
The low levels of infrared light used are completely safe and occur naturally in sunlight. They are being used in innovative new machines for the treatment of cold sores which have been approved for NHS prescription.
Experts claim that early stage dementia patients should see an improvement in their cognitive function within four weeks by wearing a lightweight helmet in their home for just 10 minutes a day.
Human testing of the infra-red treatment on the brain is due to start this summer and medical experts hope this will halt and even reverse the effects of dementia.
The new device was created by Dr Gordon Dougal, who came up with the idea of using a safe level of infra-red light on the human brain after it proved effective for treating cold sores.
Dr Dougal said: “The implications of this research at the university are enormous, so much so that in the future we could be able to affect and change the rate at which our bodies age.
“As we get older, cells stop repairing themselves and we age because our cells lose the desire to regenerate and repair themselves.
“This ultimately results in cell death and decline of the organ functions, for the brain resulting in memory decay and deterioration in general intellectual performance.
“But what if there was a technology that told the cells to repair themselves and that technology was something as simple as a specific wavelength of light?
“Near infra-red light penetrates human tissues relatively well, even penetrating the human skull, just as sunlight passes through frosted glass.”
Dr Dougal claims that 10 minutes of exposure to the infra-red light daily would have the desired effect on the brain.
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