Supplemental ambient lighting intervention to improve sleep in Parkinson's disease: A pilot trial.

Importance: Sleep disturbances in Parkinson's disease (PD) are common and often adversely affect quality of life. Light therapy has benefited sleep quality and mood outcomes in various populations but results to date with conventional light therapy boxes in PD patients have been mixed. We hypothesized that a passive lighting intervention, applied in the morning and designed to maximally affect the circadian system, would improve measures of sleep and mood in PD patients.

Tailored lighting intervention (TLI) for improving sleep-wake cycles in older adults living with dementia.

Sleep disturbance is a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, and caregiver stress caused by patients' nighttime wandering, injuries, and agitation are frequently at the root of decisions to move them to assisted living facilities, where typically dim institutional lighting can further exacerbate their sleep problems. This study explored the effects of a circadian-effective lighting intervention on actigraphic sleep measures and subjective assessments of sleep disturbance, depression, and sleep-disturbed behaviors. Fourteen older adult (≥60 years) participants (11 females, mean age = 84.

Cardiovascular disease and lifestyle choices: Spotlight on circadian rhythms and sleep.

The advent of electric lighting in the built environment has radically transformed the human experience of light and darkness, which is often insufficient to stimulate and synchronize the circadian system to the day-night cycle. The lack of circadian system entrainment leads to poor sleep and could be an important biophysical mechanism underlying increased incidence of certain types of diseases, including cardiovascular (CV) disease (CVD). This contribution proposes to carve out a niche for including daily exposures to light and darkness among lifestyle factors for reducing the risk and progression of CVD.

Red light: A novel, non-pharmacological intervention to promote alertness in shift workers.

Introduction: Night work requires inversion of the natural, diurnal human activity-rest cycle and is associated with decreased alertness and some measures of performance, reduced safety, adverse health effects, and chronic disruption of the melatonin cycle that has been associated with increased risk for several major diseases. Previous studies show that red light exposures at night can promote alertness and improve performance while not negatively affecting melatonin secretion.

Method: This ongoing crossover, mixed (within- and between-subjects) design field study is testing the efficacy and acceptance of red light delivered to day-shift and night-shift workers using personal light glasses while they are at work.