Light Therapy May Improve Sleep, Cognition After Brain Injury
Best known as a treatment for seasonal affective disorder, bright light therapy may improve sleep, cognition, emotion and brain function following mild traumatic brain injury (TBI), according to a new study.
The study found that six weeks of morning bright light therapy resulted in a marked decrease in daytime sleepiness.
This improvement was associated with improvements in the propensity to fall asleep and night-time sleep quality, according to the study.
The bright light therapy also affected depressive symptoms, researchers said.
“Our preliminary data suggests that morning bright light therapy might be helpful to reduce subjective daytime sleepiness and to improve night-time sleep,” said Mareen Weber, Ph.D., an instructor in psychiatry at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School.
“Importantly, […]