The answer is “we don’t know”.
But the Quietmind Foundation is trying to find out.
They are currently looking for participants for their clinical trial looking at whether exposure to infrared light can help slow down or reduce the symptoms of degenerative brain disease.
Why might it help?
Because they are targeting the frontal lobes of the brain (behind your forehead). These areas are responsible for regulating a whack of things: attention, working memory, strategies for learning and remembering, planning, organizing, self-monitoring, inhibition, and flexible thinking. (for readers of my blog, this may sound a lot like HEG minus the effort!)
By using repeated brief (6-minute) exposures to infrared light stimulation, they hope to increase blood flow and oxygenation to these areas, remove toxic proteins and possibly even regenerate brain cells.
Although I don’t work with folks with dementia and this isn’t exactly neurofeedback, but I thought I would like to highlight their research project to help connect possible participants with the study organizers.
To find out more about who is eligible and what is required, go to this link, which will open a pdf document describing what they’re up to and who they are looking for.
They are starting out looking for participants who can get to Plymouth, Mass, but if you or your family member meet the criteria, do contact them anyway as they are considering adding additional sites based on where potential participants are located.
