Light Therapy News and Research

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Light Therapy is the treatment of disease with certain types of light. Light therapy can use lasers, LED, fluorescent lamps, and ultraviolet or infrared radiation. Also called phototherapy.

Sunlight exposure may help lose weight

Putting on extra kilos during winters has been blamed on holiday treats and less physical activity. Now a new study shows that less exposure to be the key to putting on the weight. A sunny vacation might help lose that extra weight say researchers at University of Alberta in Canada. The study appeared in the journal Scientific Reports.

11 Jan 2018

Researchers use Quest MRI to identify earliest signs of Alzheimer's disease in mice

Alzheimer's disease wreaks emotional havoc on patients, who are robbed of their memories, their dignity, and their lives. It's financially devastating as well: care for Alzheimer's patients is predicted to top $1 trillion by about the time children born today are having children of their own.

5 Jan 2018

Researchers test orange light treatment at emergency psychiatric care

Can orange light therapy help people who have serious mental disorders? Who hear voices and see things that aren't there? Or who are thinking about committing suicide?

7 Dec 2017

Researchers develop illuminated pajamas for babies being treated for jaundice

Alone, naked, and with their eyes covered for protection: this is how newborns lie in incubators when they are being treated for jaundice. Irradiation with blue light in an incubator is necessary because toxic decomposition products of the blood pigment hemoglobin are deposited in the skin in newborns with jaundice.

31 Oct 2017

Novel midday bright light therapy decreases symptoms of depression in bipolar patients

Daily exposure to bright white light at midday significantly decreased symptoms of depression and increased functioning in people with bipolar disorder, a recent Northwestern Medicine study found.

11 Oct 2017

PCORI Board awards $8.6 million for new study on psoriasis treatment

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute Board of Governors today approved $8.6 million to fund a new study comparing treatment options for people with psoriasis.

26 Sep 2017

Scientists propose new theory that ADHD may be linked to lack of regular circadian sleep

Around 75% of children and adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) also have sleep problems, but until now these have been thought to be separate issues.

4 Sep 2017

Skin transplant surgery has long-term benefit for restoring pigmentation caused by vitiligo

A Henry Ford Hospital study has shown that skin transplant surgery has long-term benefit for restoring skin pigmentation caused by the skin disease vitiligo.

27 Jul 2017

Experimental drug suppresses new defective PTEN cancer pathway, study finds

A collaboration between Saïd M. Sebti, Ph.D., chair of Moffitt Cancer Center's Drug Discovery Department, and Michele Pagano, M.D., chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at New York University's Langone Medical Center, led to the publication of an important study in the latest issue of Nature.

14 Jun 2017

Officers who work afternoon shifts more likely to be tired, study finds

Police officers on the afternoon shift are twice as likely to report being tired, according to a University at Buffalo-led study.

6 Jun 2017

Preference for evening activity in type 2 diabetes patients linked to greater depression symptoms

People with type 2 diabetes who are "night owls" and prefer the evening for activity report having more symptoms of depression than those who are early to bed and early to rise, regardless of the quality of their sleep, a new study finds.

2 Apr 2017

Novel non-pharmacological approach shows promise to manage chronic pain

Chronic pain afflicts over 100 million people across the United States. It diminishes their productivity and their quality of life and costs hundreds of billions of dollars each year to medically manage. It shatters people's emotional wellbeing, tears apart families and claims lives through suicides and accidental drug overdoses.

1 Mar 2017

Research findings reveal new powerful role of sunlight on immunity

Sunlight allows us to make vitamin D, credited with healthier living, but a surprise research finding could reveal another powerful benefit of getting some sun.

20 Dec 2016

Vanderbilt sleep specialists offer tips to manage daylight saving time transition

When daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 6, we set clocks back one hour, and essentially gain an extra hour of sleep—but that extra hour of sleep comes at the price of early evening darkness.

2 Nov 2016

Groundbreaking research on effects of NIR light could lead to effective treatment for PTSD

After years of studying the effects of near-infrared light on veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injuries, a team led by a University of Texas at Arlington bioengineer has published groundbreaking research in Nature's Scientific Reports that could result in an effective, long-term treatment for brain disorders.

7 Sep 2016

CARRS-Q study shows caffeine combined with bright light can improve driver alertness

Bright light combined with caffeine can improve driving performance and alertness of chronically sleep deprived young drivers, according to a Queensland University of Technology road safety study.

9 Aug 2016

Altered circadian somatostatin expression linked to bipolar disorder

Results of the first study of its kind to link abnormalities in circadian rhythms to changes in specific neurotransmitters in people with bipolar disorder will be published this week in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

1 Jun 2016

Studies explore possible link between pediatric cancer and light therapy for newborn jaundice

Two new studies raise enough questions about a possible link between childhood cancer and light therapy for newborn jaundice that clinicians should exercise caution in prescribing the treatment for infants whose jaundice is likely to resolve on its own, a pediatric oncologist from Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center argues in an editorial published today by the journal Pediatrics.

23 May 2016

Non-invasive optogenetic therapy can help treat chronic pain

The potential of light as a non-invasive, highly-focused alternative to pain medication was made more apparent thanks to research conducted by scientists at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital of McGill University and the McGill University Health Centre.

21 Apr 2016

Light therapy lessens depressive symptoms among cancer survivors

Light therapy decreased depressive symptoms and normalized circadian rhythms among cancer survivors, according to new research from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai presented today at the American Psychosomatic Society in Denver, CO.

11 Mar 2016