Researchers testing whether blue-white light could counter dementia

What makes the blue light special?

Cleveland-area researchers are preparing a study at two long-term care facilities to determine whether new fluorescent lighting developed by GE can regulate circadian rhythms, according to a Case Western Reserve University press release.

The blue-white light prototypes better mimic daylight compared to yellow fluorescents, so the project will expose residents to blue-white light during the day and yellow light at night.

The thought is that periods of blue light can better regulate the sleep-wake pattern and, as a result, the hormone melatonin. There’s also hope that it could help seniors with dementia.

Researchers from Case Western Reserve University’s Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing and the School of Medicine; the Cleveland VA Medical Center; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Lighting Research Center; and GE Consumer & Industrial are participating in the project. An earlier small pilot study showed promise that the lighting changes increased activity during the day and improved sleep at night, Patricia Higgins, associate professor at the Bolton School of Nursing, stated in the press release.

If correct, researchers would seek to change lighting in hospitals and push for new government lighting standards for health-care facilities.