Brain Health: Why It Matters and How Photobiomodulation Fits In

We train our bodies, track our steps and plan our meals. The organ that runs all of it rarely gets the same attention. Yet your brain shapes every decision you make, how you handle pressure, how well you sleep and how you feel when you wake up.

Brain health is not only about avoiding disease later in life. It is about how clearly you think this week. The good news is that the brain responds to how you live, at every age.

Why brain health matters now

In September 2025 the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reported that dementia had become the leading cause of death for Australians. Dementia Australia estimates that around 433,300 people are living with it today, a number projected to pass one million within the next four decades without significant change.

There is a hopeful side to this. In 2024 the Lancet Commission on dementia prevention, intervention and care identified 14 modifiable risk factors across a lifetime. Together they account for nearly half of dementia cases worldwide. That does not mean any one person can guarantee an outcome. It does mean that daily choices carry real weight.

And the payoff is not only in your seventies. The same habits that protect the ageing brain also support focus, mood and recovery right now.

The foundations with the strongest evidence

Before any technology, these are the habits that matter most. Most come straight from the Lancet Commission's list of risk factors.

1. Move most days

Physical inactivity is one of the 14 risk factors. Regular exercise supports blood flow to the brain, blood sugar control and mood. Walking counts.

2. Know your numbers

High blood pressure in midlife, high LDL cholesterol and diabetes all raise risk. A yearly check with your GP is one of the simplest brain health habits there is.

3. Protect your hearing and your eyesight

Untreated hearing loss and vision loss are both on the list. If you find yourself asking people to repeat themselves, get your hearing tested.

4. Stay connected and keep learning

Social isolation and less education are risk factors. Conversation, new skills and challenging work all keep the brain engaged.

5. Protect your head

Traumatic brain injury raises risk. Wear a helmet when you ride and take concussion seriously in sport.

6. Go easy on alcohol, and do not smoke

Both are on the list. Cutting back helps at any age.

7. Look after your mood and your sleep

Depression is a recognised risk factor. Good sleep supports memory, mood and recovery, and poor sleep makes almost everything else on this list harder.

What photobiomodulation is

Photobiomodulation, often shortened to PBM, uses specific wavelengths of red and near-infrared light to influence how cells work. It is not the same as a tanning lamp or ultraviolet light, and at the doses used it does not heat tissue.

Inside most cells are mitochondria, the structures that turn fuel into usable energy. One of their enzymes, cytochrome c oxidase, absorbs red and near-infrared light. Researchers propose that this absorption can help mitochondria produce energy more efficiently and release nitric oxide, a molecule that helps blood vessels relax. Better energy supply and blood flow are two reasons scientists are interested in light for the brain.

Near-infrared light, around 800 to 1,100 nanometres, travels further into tissue than visible red light. That is why brain-focused devices use it, often delivered through the scalp and sometimes through the nose.

What the research shows so far

Brain photobiomodulation is a young field. The early results are encouraging, and it is worth being clear about what has and has not been shown.

In healthy adults

In a placebo-controlled study published in Neuroscience in 2013, Barrett and Gonzalez-Lima shone a 1,064 nanometre laser on the forehead of healthy young adults. Compared with placebo, the light group showed faster reaction times, better performance on a short-term memory task and improved mood ratings in the following weeks.

In people with dementia

Two small studies used Vielight headsets, the same family of devices we use at WBW. In 2017 Saltmarche and colleagues followed five people with mild to moderately severe dementia over 12 weeks of home use and reported improvements in cognitive scores. The study had no control group. In 2019 Chao ran a small randomised pilot with eight participants. The light group showed improved cognitive scores, increased blood flow to the brain and stronger connections in the default mode network, a brain network involved in memory and rest.

What we do not know yet

These studies are small. A larger, sham-controlled Vielight trial in people with dementia was registered but has not reported results, and Alzheimer's Society in the UK currently says there is not enough evidence to recommend light therapy as a treatment for dementia. We agree with that position. Photobiomodulation is promising, it appears well tolerated, and it is not a treatment for any disease.

Photobiomodulation at WBW

Our Vielight Brain Session is a quiet, seated 20 minutes in a private suite in the Perth CBD.

• The device. A Vielight headset delivers 810 nanometre near-infrared light through five scalp modules and a small nasal applicator.
• Two modes. Light pulses at 40 Hz (Gamma) on days you want focus and mental energy, or 10 Hz (Alpha) when you want to feel calm and recover. You choose when you arrive.
• What it feels like. Very little. The light is cold, so there is no heat on the scalp. You sit back, read or close your eyes.
• No downtime. You can go straight back to work.

Many members pair a Vielight session with resonance breathing, which trains the heart rhythm side of the nervous system, or make both part of The T×P Method, our 12-month program.

Vielight sessions are not recommended if you have a history of seizures or an active brain bleed. If you are pregnant, have a heart condition, a pacemaker or another implanted device, or a history of blood clots, please speak with your doctor first. Read our health and safety page before you book.

Questions people ask

Sources

1. Livingston G, et al. Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2024 report of the Lancet standing Commission. The Lancet, 2024. Link
2. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Dementia in Australia, 2025 update. Link
3. Dementia Australia. Dementia now the leading cause of death for Australians. 12 September 2025. Link
4. Salehpour F, et al. Brain photobiomodulation therapy: a narrative review. Molecular Neurobiology, 2018. Link
5. Barrett DW, Gonzalez-Lima F. Transcranial infrared laser stimulation produces beneficial cognitive and emotional effects in humans. Neuroscience, 2013. Link
6. Saltmarche AE, et al. Significant improvement in cognition in mild to moderately severe dementia cases treated with transcranial plus intranasal photobiomodulation: case series report. Photomedicine and Laser Surgery, 2017. Link
7. Chao LL. Effects of home photobiomodulation treatments on cognitive and behavioral function, cerebral perfusion, and resting-state functional connectivity in patients with dementia: a pilot trial. Photobiomodulation, Photomedicine, and Laser Surgery, 2019. Link
8. ClinicalTrials.gov. Neuro RX Gamma, pivotal phase (NCT03484143). Link
9. Alzheimer's Society. Light therapy and dementia. Link

This article is general information, not medical advice. WBW sessions are for general wellness and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.