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Treatment Guide

Phototherapy (see Mishima K. et al., 1994)

One of the oft-described symptoms in Alzheimer's patients is a disturbance in the sleep-wake cycle. Also, Alzheimer patients can get agitated at night in a phenomenon known as sundowning. Instead of using medications to sedate Alzheimer's patients, one alternative is to expose the patient to very bright light at morning time to reset their circadian clock. Although the literature on this procedure is not exceptionally strong, it does indicate that phototherapy can be a productive therapeutic adjunct when insomnia and sundowning are a problem.