Don't Underestimate Light Therapy: It Could Be The Next Big Brain Treatment

It's always wise to keep an eye out for treatments that seem too good to be true. Practices or therapies framed as cure-alls or magic bullets are all too common these days. And then there are the therapies that seem ridiculously simple but actually pack a powerful punch in terms of health benefits.

Conducted by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University, this study investigated optogenetics, the use of light to stimulate or inhibit neurons (the main type of brain cell).

While light therapy has been studied many times before—in fact, optogenetics was first developed more than 20 years ago—this study tested a technique that aims to cause long-term changes in neuron activity by altering something called neuronal membrane capacitance, which refers to how quickly a brain cell can respond when it receives an input.

The study found that this technique can indeed lead to long-term changes in neuron behavior that don't require any other interventions.

Actions as simple as getting morning sun exposure may also benefit your sleep and daytime energy levels, as melatonin (the main "sleep hormone") is inhibited by light and produced when you're in a dark environment.

Since we're a long way off from using light therapy to change the brain in more significant ways, it's worth asking: What proven alternative methods can we start using today to benefit brain health and response time?

One easy place to start is with supplements called nootropics, which optimize brain health and promote memory, mood balance, and cognitive function. Here are a few highly-rated nootropics to look into.

Another great practice for promoting brain health is meditation. Meditation has been shown to keep your hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for learning and emotional regulation, healthier, and some studies have found it can help decrease brain cell volume in the amygdala, which is the part of the brain responsible for fear, anxiety, and stress.

Science says that light therapy is a promising treatment for brain health and can cause lasting changes in the way brain cells behave. That said, we're still a ways off from that reality, so for now we can focus on other ways to support brain health daily.