Light Hat – Red lights on the brain

More Cossack photos

Here are photos from a new Cossack and detachable top made by Michael Richards.

Michael’s only fault is that he makes things extraordinarily neatly. You don’t need to match his perfectionism. I certainly can’t!

The Brain Orchestra

I’ve been reading a journal article by Professors John Mitrofanis and Luke Henderson of the University of Sydney.

The title says it all: How and why does photobiomodulation change brain activity?

Couldn’t be bothered

For over three years now, I’ve been observing the effect of daily use of red/near infrared light hat devices on people with Parkinson’s disease.

I continue to be astonished at the way red/near infrared lights can improve the non-motor or non-movement symptoms – especially apathy. I think apathy is probably one of the most cruel of the many Parkinson’s symptoms.

DIY Cossack – the movie…. coming soon to this blog

Michael, the Cossack designer has made a video of the steps involved in making a basic Cossack light hat.

It will premiere very soon. (We are busy making the red carpet.)

More about Michael.

More about the Cossack.

Eliza triumphs again

Today I caught up with a lovely man who had started wearing an Eliza bucket light hat nearly a month ago. His Eliza has 670nm and 810nm and he uses each wavelength for 10-15 minutes, one straight after another.

Eliza isn’t pulsed. She just puts out continuous light.

He reported feeling a lot better in himself. He said he had more energy and more interest in doing things. He had been out in the garden much more than previously and was enjoying life a lot more.

Friends had been commenting on how well he was looking. As did his general practitioner who apparently doesn’t yet know that he is using an Eliza light hat on an daily basis!

Another significant thing is that he can now hold a cup of coffee without spilling it. He is convinced that his tremor has reduced.

For all those DIY light hatters out there, this story shows that continuous light works. Don’t fret about pulsing, just get that red glow on your head every day.

DIY – practicality beats perfection

I’ve had lots of emails from people making a DIY light hat from the blog instructions. The tricky part is finding the best red LED strip.

670nm is hard to come by, as is 660nm.

The tendency is to stop work on the light hat, on the basis that it can only be made with the best possible LED strip.

Wrong approach!

The best thing is to get any old red LED strip and make a light hat as soon as you can and get it on the suffering head every morning – as soon as you can.

Then, and only then, start hunting for the elusive 670nm LED strip. And when you find it, make another light hat with the new LEDs. And give away your first one – there is always someone who can put it to good use.

It is far more effective to have red lights on brain than it is to have no red lights. Every day counts.

And remember – the Cossack is a far better design than the bucket Eliza.