Researchers are using ‘green light’ therapy to treat migraines

Researchers are using ‘green light’ therapy to treat migraines
The study is the first to look at green light exposure as a treatment for migraines.

New research from the University of Arizona Health Sciences found that people who suffer from migraines may benefit from green light therapy, which has been shown to reduce the frequency and intensity of headaches and improve patient quality of life.

“This is the first clinical study to evaluate green light exposure as a potential preventative therapy for patients with migraines,” says Dr Mohab Ibrahim, an associate professor in the University of Arizona College of Medicine and lead author of the study.

In the small study of 29 migraine patients, green light exposure reduced the number of headache days per month by an average of about 60 per cent.

A majority of study participants – 86 per cent of episodic migraine patients and 63 per cent of chronic migraine patients – reported a more than 50 per cent reduction in headache days per month.

Episodic migraine is characterised by up to 14 headache days per month, while chronic migraine is 15 or ore headache days her month.

“In this trial, we treated green light as a drug,” says Ibrahim. “It’s not any green light. It has to be the right intensity, the right frequency, the right exposure time and the right exposure methods.”

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