Photo: DANIEL MIHAILESCU / AFP / Getty Images
By: The Opinion Updated 19 Dec 2022, 12: 54 pm EST
We regularly treat the pain with pain medication, but recent research found that can be easily and safely relieved by green lighte.
An animal study conducted by scientists at Fudan University in Shanghai, China, suggests that simple exposure to green light could represent a simple, safe way and cheap to relieve pain
Researchers revealed what they are the eye cells and brain pathways that support the relief of pain sometimes felt after exposure to low-intensity green light.
In a series of experiments with mice, specialists discovered that cones and rods (the eye cells that perceive light) contributed to the analgesic effects of green light in healthy rodents and others with inflamed joints.
“Exposure to full-field green light at an intensity of 10 lux produced effects analgesics in healthy mice and in an osteoarthritis model”, reads the research published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
When bathed in green light, the rods and cones stimulated a group of cells brain cells in the ventrolateral geniculate nucleus, which had previously been linked to the analgesic effects of bright light in general.
Despite the fact that pain relief in rodents is far from that of humans , this study manages to pinpoint pain circuits in the mammalian brain that respond to visual inputs.
“Although not it is unclear if color perception is comparable between humans and rodents, exposure to green light in both humans and rodents reduces pain sensitivity ”, was added in the study.
Already tested on humans
In recent clinical trials it has been observed that some hours per day of green light therapy reduce pain intensity in a small group of human fibromyalgia patients and the number of days of headache in migraineurs.
It is believed that with the results mentioned, the green light could benefit patients after a surgical intervention, reducing their dependence on analgesics.
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