People with Alzheimers got 1 hour of bright light in the morning, or 5 mg melatonin at night, or both. The combination was clearly superior to either treatment in terms of restoring circadian rhythms and delaying the neurological disorder.

Melatonin helped with sleep patterns, but people on melatonin only were more withdrawn and their mood was not good.  Adding light to the melatonin improved mood.  Light alone reduced depression by 19% and cognitive decline by 5%.

Benefits from the melatonin/light combination seemed to be about the same as benefits from the prescription drug Aricept, which can cost $2,000-$4,000 per year.  


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Thanks, I will pass this on to my Mother In Law who is suffering from Dementia.  

monty wrote on Jun 11^th, 2008 at 9:12am:

The combination was clearly superior to either treatment in terms of restoring circadian rhythms

Now there's the interesting part as it relates to our condition.  I've taken melatonin (9 mg) nightly during my last two cycles, and have been pleased by the results.  

May be worth adding an hour's bright light in the morning as well, just to see if it has a salient effect.  Certainly can't hurt, and at least you don't have to inhale, ingest, or inject it.

Thanks for the links.

Best,

George  

Thanks, monty. I'm pretty sure this info will come in handy for me in the next few years.  :(

Thanks for posting this Monty!  

-Dennis-