Alternative Therapies and Alzheimers

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Misty L. Trepke

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Alternative Therapies and Alzheimers

 

 

Light, aromatherapy may help dementia patients

 

 

CHICAGO, Illinois (Reuters) --Light and aromatherapy can ease the

sleeplessness and agitation common among patients with Alzheimer's

disease and other forms of dementia, British researchers reported.

 

" [Alzheimer's] patients who sat in front of a bright light box for

two hours each morning for two weeks slept longer and more deeply

than people who sat in front of a dim light for the same period of

time, " Harry Allen of the Manchester Royal Infirmary in England told

a medical conference on the elderly this week.

 

Light therapy improved patients' sleep quality most during the winter

months, when there was less daylight, Allen said at the Congress of

the International Psychogeriatric Association.

 

The patients' tossing and turning was measured with a wristwatch-

like device called an " actigraph. "

 

An alternative to buying a " light box, " which costs around $150, was

to plan patient activities during the brightest parts of the day and

position them facing a bright window when indoors, Allen said.

 

" Most of us have had the experience of feeling our mood improve when

we are exposed to bright sunlight, " Allen said. " Too often we shut

people with dementia up in dark rooms with little opportunity to see

the sun or other bright light, which can make their symptoms worse. "

 

In a four-week study of how aromatherapy can affect elderly dementia

patients, roughly one-third suffered fewer bouts of agitation when

they were rubbed with a lemon balm compared to one in 10 who showed

improvement when rubbed with an odorless sunflower oil.

 

" Patients exposed to lemon balm also showed significant improvements

in the quality of life, including a decrease in social withdrawal

and an increase in constructive activities, " study leader Clive

Ballard of the University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne told the

conference.

 

 

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