UCL researching light therapy as a potential treatment for epilepsy

A new clinical trial at UCL is investigating whether light therapy could benefit people with epilepsy who continue to have seizures after trying several types of medication. The research, which is being carried out at the UCL Institute of Neurology and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, is being funded by children's health charity Action Medical Research. Epilepsy is a disorder of the nervous system in which people have a tendency to have recurrent seizures (sometimes called fits). A seizure is caused by a sudden burst of excess electrical activity in the brain, causing a temporary disruption in the normal message passing between brain cells. This disruption results in the brain's messages being halted or mixed up. In this trial, the UCL researchers aim to find out whether light therapy reduces the number of seizures people experience. Dr Sallie Baxendale, lead researcher from the Department of Clinical and Experimental Epilepsy at UCL's Institute of Neurology, said: 'There is evidence that light therapy may help people with seizures, as a pilot study suggested that people suffer fewer seizures on sunny compared to dull days.