Stimulation Of Brain Waves For People With Alzheimer’s
Do you know what gamma waves are? Are you aware of the benefits of stimulating brain waves as a treatment for Alzheimer’s? Advances in, and the relationship between, science and technology have made it possible to develop new forms of treatment that are absolutely fantastic for these patients.
Alzheimer’s disease is and will remain a mystery. It is a disease that doctors can only diagnose post mortem. The origin is still unclear.
No therapy, medication or other treatment has yet been found to curb or cure this disease. Therefore, any small progress that slows its development or even improves cognition is a huge achievement.
What are gamma waves?
These are neural oscillations whose frequency is between 20 and 100 Hz. Typically, they manifest around 40 Hz.
These waves reflect high brain activity. Higher than that which is reflected by beta waves, which are those that are present when a person thinks. These waves indicate that the brain is operating “at full speed”, with several regions of the brain activated.
In addition, some believe that these waves are those that are set in motion by complex executive functions or higher mental activity.
These are complex activities such as orientation, attention, consciousness and reasoning and require coordinated activation of neurons in different brain regions. Everything for integrating different types of information with which one can understand reality.
However, it seems that these waves not only reflect this kind of activity, but also that they have nothing to do with concentration. They also seem to be associated with explosive behavior, anxiety and fear.
What does brain wave stimulation do for Alzheimer’s?
As we mentioned at the beginning, the origin of Alzheimer’s is still unknown. Researchers are aware of certain pathophysiological changes that are characteristic of this disease.
For example, deposits of amolyid beta protein, which end up forming a layer around the neurons and rendering them unusable. Also the formation of intracellular neurofibrillary tangles and the presence of phosphorylated tau protein.
How to increase gamma activity in the brain, as well as the health benefits of it
The experiments were led by Li-Huei Tsai, head of the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT. They involved stimulating the activity of gamma waves in the mice with Alzheimer’s using a 40 Hz light.
The results revealed that the number of encapsulation of beta-amyloid and f
In the first experiment, they limited themselves to stimulating the gamma activity in the visual cortex. But they would go even further. Therefore, they tried to introduce gamma waves by exposure to 40 Hz tones.
In addition to reducing the amount of beta-amyloid in the auditory cortex, it also reduced the amount in the hippocampus. You may not know it, but this area is essential for memory formation.
When they were not satisfied with the result, the researchers decided to see what effect it would have on combining both types of visual and auditory stimulation. The result was that not only were the results positive, but they were twice as beneficial as each of the stimulation methods alone. Even the response from microglia was much stronger.
Further research on stimulation of brain waves
Tsai and his colleagues discovered that the beneficial effect of gamma stimulation disappeared in the rodents who received the stimulation and then rested for a week. This may indicate that this type of treatment needs to be intensive to be effective.
This technique has only been tested on mice with Alzheimer’s, although experiments have been started with healthy people. Recently, testing has begun on patients with early-stage Alzheimer’s.
What do you think it would mean if one found out that this kind of stimulation actually slowed down or even stopped the symptoms of Alzheimer’s? Some think it would be quite revolutionary. This is because there is as yet no effective treatment for the most common form of dementia in the world.
