Eyewear could be a drug-free alternative to painkillers, new study suggests

Wearing green-tinted glasses could be a new way to treat chronic pain.

New research suggests that when patients with fibromyalgia, a condition that affects around two million people in the UK and causes widespread pain and extreme tiredness, wear green-lensed glasses for four hours a day for two weeks, they need less painkillers.

Currently, antidepressants are used to relieve fibromyalgia pain, as standard pain relievers have little or no effect. But these drugs can also have side effects, including loss of libido.

The new study, conducted by Duke University in the US, involving 34 patients, suggests that the green light could be a drug-free alternative.

Patients wearing green glasses were four times more likely to have reduced anxiety than those in other groups, who saw no reduction. Although their pain scores were the same, the green glasses wearers used less pain relievers, suggesting that their symptoms were adequately controlled.

One theory is that green light, which falls in the middle of the light color spectrum, triggers the release of chemicals similar to natural painkillers in the body called enkephalins, and may also change the way the brain processes light. pain.

It might also help with pain because cells in the thalamus, the area of ​​the brain that processes information from the eye, react less to green light.

The thalamus is the processing center for a number of pain conditions and one theory is that green light may make it less active.

This is not the first time that this colored light has been suggested as a treatment for pain.

Last year, a US study of 29 migraineurs who were exposed to green LED light strips for one to two hours a day for ten weeks saw a 60 percent reduction in the number of headaches. Monthly migraine attacks dropped from an average of 22.3 to 9.4, according to the University of Arizona study, published in the journal Cephalalgia.

In a new trial at Vedanta Research in North Carolina, USA, 250 migraineurs will use a green light lamp for at least 30 minutes a day for six weeks to see if it reduces headache frequency and severity. .

Green light is also being investigated as a treatment for arthritic knee pain and post-surgical pain, among other conditions.

Forty people are taking part in a ten-week clinical trial at the Nova Scotia Health Authority in Canada looking at the effects on osteoarthritis of the knee. The assay involves daily exposure to green light-emitting LEDs.

Dr Andrew Dowson, Clinical Lead at NHS East Kent and Bromley Headache Services, has become interested in how different colored light affects migraines after conducting research on the subject over 20 years ago.

“We looked at the range of wavelengths, and both the red and blue ends of the spectrum were implicated in migraines,” he says.

‘Green light is in the middle of the spectrum and therefore likely to be more acceptable and less irritating to migraine sufferers.

“This is very exciting, but it would need more research in a much larger number of patients to make it a proven concept and used as a treatment in patients.”

Migraines could be related to rosacea, a skin condition that causes facial redness.

New research in the journal Frontiers in Medicine suggests that 65 percent of people who have migraines also have rosacea, and 54 percent of rosacea patients have migraines.

While the exact link is unclear, the two conditions share common triggers, such as stress and certain foods.

One suggestion is that a hormone called calcitonin, which is found at higher levels in both diseases, is involved.

Identifying this link could lead to new treatments for patients, the researchers said.

mood food

How food can affect your mood. This Week: Blueberries

Blueberries can improve your mood within two hours of eating them, although you have to eat a lot.

This was the finding of a 2017 University of Reading study in which volunteers were given a blueberry drink made with 30g of frozen blueberry powder (the equivalent of almost two cups of frozen blueberries) or a placebo. it had the same amount of sugar and vitamin C. .

One reason for this is that blueberries are high in a plant compound called anthocyanin that increases blood flow to the part of the brain associated with mood regulation, says Mahmoud Khodadi, a Bradford pharmacist who is interested in how food can affect the brain

Try this

The PUMA x Modibodi Sports Leggings and Shorts (from £28.50, modibodi.co.uk) can be worn during your period so you can work out without worrying about leaking. They are made of quick-drying fabric with a highly absorbent layer that holds up to two to three tampons.

sleep peacefully

The best sleeping position for your condition. This Week: Sleep on Your Side to Boost Brain Health

When we sleep, our brain eliminates the waste products generated by a day of activity, and it does so more effectively if you sleep on your side. At least, this is the case for animals, according to neuroscientists at Stony Brook University in the US, who believe this probably applies to humans as well.

Their study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience in 2015, was based on MRIs.

“The lateral sleeping position is already the most popular with humans and most animals.

“It appears that we have adapted the lateral sleeping position to clean our brains more efficiently of metabolic waste products that accumulate while we are awake,” says Dr. Maiken Nedergaard, who led the study.

Many conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, are linked to the buildup of protein and other cellular debris in the brain, so the more you remove, the better.

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