Tag: Cossack

A DIY light hat with a frame of plastic-covered wire mesh, designed by Michael, one of the founders of Light Ahead Inc.

Protect and nurture your brain

A few days ago I wrote a blog post on the Well Red website about people with Parkinson’s disease using the Duo Coronet on a daily basis for five years now, and sharing my delight at how well they are doing. Not long after the post was published, I had an email from a Coronet-owner who confessed to no longer using his lights, because it didn’t give instant results and because it was difficult to sustain motivation.

I thought I would share my response, because it is relevant to anyone wearing any kind of transcranial light device, be it a home-made Cossack or a Duo Coronet.

Think about why you clean your teeth every day.

You clean your teeth every day, not because you expect your smile to be suddenly transformed into full film star glory, but because you want to keep your teeth chomping on apples and chewing your favourite meal until the day you depart this world. You want your teeth to be healthy and in good working order – forever.

It’s the same with your brain. You want that part of your body to maintain the best function possible – forever.

Having red and near infrared lights shining on your head every day keeps your brain in good working order, as the Well Red blog post demonstrates. Daily light use doesn’t turn your brain into a second Einstein, nor does it instantly cure everything, but it protects your brain and slows down any degenerative process that might be lurking in the neuronal undergrowth.

Think about using your transcranial light device with or straight after breakfast, and then with or straight after your evening meal. Linking the device use with an event that is essentially concreted into your daily routine makes it easier to keep it going.

There’s another very good reason to link your light use with meals, as this increases the ability of the mitochondria to respond effectively. Check out this earlier blog post for more about the relationship between lights and food.

So if you have a light device and you’ve stopped using it for whatever reason, then go find it, dust it down, plug it in and bung it on your head right now. And keep doing that every day, preferably twice daily.

Thanks to Alex Padurariu on Unsplash for the wonderful photo of the toothbrush and to Mikael Kristenson for the arresting image of equine dentition.

Parkinson’s politics

There has been much work in Australia trying to get politicians to agree to a national plan for Parkinson’s disease.

On Australian radio this morning, there was an interview with a retired federal politician with Parkinson’s disease, John “Wacka” Williams and a neurologist.

Wacka was diagnosed in 2016 and I made him a bucket light hat not long after he went public about his diagnosis. Wacka has also met with the expert behind the research into Parkinson’s disease, Prof John Mitrofanis, and he is a beneficiary of Prof Mitrofanis’s superb work.

Wacka continues to use his light device every day and as he says during this interview that his disease progression is very slow and that he lives a full and busy life, and he is still on the farm.

Here’s a link to the interview. It lasts 12 minutes.

The Duo Coronet is based on Prof Mitrofanis’s research and I’ve had consistent reports from Coronet wearers that improvements are made in movement and non-movement symptoms and many tell me that their disease progression has slowed down.

And don’t forget that you can make your own light device, the same type as I made for Wacka eight years ago. Check out the DIY menu for further information.

DIY Cossack – a new video

When Rajeev Chaurasia’s father was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, Rajeev put his creativity and DIY skills to use in making a Cossack light hat for him.

Rajeev has devised new ways to style it and make it easier to construct.

This marvellous video – the work of Rajeev, his daughter Renee and his friend Karl Mascarenhas – shows some very clever ideas for making a Cossack light hat at home. Rajeev, Renee and Karl have kindly given permission to the blog to host their video.

Watch this video to see a new Cossack style being made.

The Hand Test

Some say that a red light source must be able to shine from one side of your hand to the other otherwise it won’t have the grunt to penetrate through the skull and into the brain tissue.

For amusement, we put that to the test. We took one of the individual 670nm LEDs used in the Well Red Coronet* and tested it out.

For the detailed results, click here. Spoiler alert: It worked magnificently.

So what about the red lights in LED strips that we use in Cossacks?

Cossack light hat. Click on the DIY menu item for instructions.

I’ve been testing out a strip of 670nm LED strip. I masked the lights on the LED strip and only left 4 little LED lights shining. In the dark, they looked pretty bright, but when I put my hand over them, I couldn’t see any red light coming through. So I can say categorically that 4 little LEDs on a red LED strip don’t pass the Hand Test.

However, in the Cossack we use a full 5 metre LED strip just around the outside of the frame, so that’s an awful lot of individual LEDs shining onto your head. It is very possible that the light from a clump of LEDs from LED strips will penetrate through the hand.

I’d suggest, though, that you don’t worry about this concept, and just get cracking on making your Cossack. It may be home-made, but I’ve had consistent positive feedback from Cossack-wearers all over the world.

Cossacks can and do help. As long as they are worn, of course!

* For interest, there are 40 of these LEDs in the Coronet.

Before or after food?

When is the best time to use your Duo Coronet or Cossack?

I’ve been lucky enough to read an article that will soon be published in the journal Neural Regenerative Research.

The article is called Does Photobiomodulation require glucose to work effectively?

Good question. Would it make a difference using red and near infrared lights before, with or after a meal?

The article is by Jaimie Hoh Kam and Prof John Mitrofanis. Prof John, one of the leading international researchers into photobiomodulation, has been mentioned a lot in this blog as he has led significant original work on photobiomodulation and especially its relationship to Parkinson’s disease. Here’s a link to blog posts covering his work.

Glucose is the product that the body uses to fuel the activities of all the cells in the body. Glucose comes from our diet – our body breaks down what we eat into its molecular components, a key one being glucose. Glucose is also available from glycogen, which is stored in the body and is able to release of glucose directly into the bloodstream. Our cells need a constant supply of glucose, so the system to maintain it in the bloodstream is pretty complicated.

Glucose enters the cells, and interacts with oxygen, stimulating the mitochondria to produce the perfect cell fuel, ATP.

Glucose + Oxygen + a mitochondrial enzyme make cell fuel.

If a cell has ATP at the ready, it can do whatever it is meant to do with gusto and enthusiasm. If there is little ATP, then the mitochondria – and thus the cell – aren’t at all happy.

When there is a problem with the mitochondria in our cells, they have difficulty taking up and using glucose, so the cell is unable to function as it should. To add to the woes, the miserable mitochondria start churning out chemicals that are harmful, including a range of pro-oxidants like superoxide and hydrogen peroxide. These then lead to other nasty chemical reactions that further damage cells. As this keeps going, the damage to that part of the body spreads and its function deteriorates.

Photobiomodulation, the therapeutic use of red and near infrared light, has been shown to boost the function of the mitochondria and drive the release of more ATP to fuel cell activities. Photobiomodulation also drives glucose from the bloodstream and into cells. This is obviously very useful, especially if you have diabetes.

A fascinating study on drosophila flies shows that photobiomodulation increases metabolism and also survival rate. But in fasting flies – flies with low glucose levels – photobiomodulation has little or no effect.

All this strongly indicates that photobiomodulation is best done when there is food in the stomach and plenty of glucose is pumping around in the bloodstream.

The practical advice from this paper is simple. To achieve the best effect, use your Cossack or Coronet during or straight after a meal.

Use your light device – your Duo Coronet, Cossack, TheraPad – during or just after a meal.

Thanks to Nick Fewings on Unsplash for the fabulous photo of fruit.