Ready To Fight Those Winter Blues?
Dec 22nd, 2008 | By buddy1 | Category: Depression, Featured Articles, Therapeutic Devices
Light Therapy Could Be Your Secret Weapon in the War Against Seasonal Depression…
Unless you are living on a tropical island, you have at one time or another felt the drudgery and nuisance of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Commonly known as “The Winter Blues”, it is quite common to feel sluggish, empty, and depressed during the dark and cold season. This handy introduction will help you understand why you feel down during the winter months, and how light therapy can help you combat SAD.
Why Winter?
The lack of daylight during the winter is the primary cause of seasonal depression. Winter depression is especially common in Scandinavian countries and regions far north. Winter Blues can cause distress, harsh mood swings, lethargy, and severely limit one’s day-to-day capacities. Find out how light can help the winter blues. When we suffer from SAD or winter blues, we are missing the exposure to the natural lighting that we enjoy with the longer days of summer time.
Most mood disorders that register during seasonal changes are usually categorized as Seasonal Affective Disorders. It is believed that a significant lack of natural daylight also significantly reduces the production of Serotonin, a key neurotransmitter responsible for happiness, mood balancing, energy, social functionality. Simply put…light is essential to our health and wellbeing. We were not meant to be vampires. Our bodies naturally operate in accordance with nature’s circadian rhythms, rising with the sun and winding down at sunset.
If it’s winter and you are off-balance, sluggish, depressed, or just plain feeling down, then light therapy gives you a opportunity to recapture your happier self and get back to that quality of life that you had during the long, bright days of summer.
What is light therapy and what is it used for?
Phototherapy, also known as light therapy and light box therapy, is the use of light to treat SAD, seasonal fatigue, and general sleep disorders. Light therapy provides exposure to daylight, or to specific wavelengths of light using lasers, LEDs, fluorescent lamps, dichroic lamps, or very bright, full-spectrum light, for a prescribed amount of time and, in some cases, at a specific time of day.
Light therapy has been shown worldwide, through over 40 years of independent research, to deliver powerful therapeutic benefits to living tissues and organisms. Remember, plants shrivel up when they don’t get light. Like plants, humans also shrivel up, but we shrivel up on the inside.
Light therapy can literally help someone “re-set” their inner clock when it is off. A study in Wetaskiwin, Alberta, Canada clearly showed that students in classrooms with full-spectrum light had less absenteeism and faired better in overall functionality and punctuality. It is reported that light therapy may also activate the production of reproductive hormones, such as testosterone, luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), and estradiol (E2). Today light therapy is also recognized as an effective treatment for sleep disorders and is used to combat the effects of jetlag.
Another use for light therapy is in the fight against acne. However, the use of light therapy in this case isn’t the same as going out into the sun; it is supervised and timed.
Besides being an effective treatment, the use of light therapy throughout the globe has also grown because it is a natural, non-pharmacological, inexpensive, and more importantly… non-invasive method.
How Does the Treatment Work?
Treatment is often accompanied with application of red light which has been shown to activate ATP in human skin cells (essentially a photobiomodulation effect), and seems to improve response rates. Treatment consists simply of sitting close to a light box, with lights on and eyes open. Treatment options for SAD include light therapy, cognitive behavior therapy, and pharmacotherapy. Treatments are usually performed every 3 to 4 weeks. Treatment can last between 15 minutes to three hours.
Home-Based Treatment
Many people are now able to perform light therapy in the comfort of their own home. There are many quality lamps and lightboxes available to the general public at very affordable prices. Top retailers such as Light Therapy Products provide a full range of light therapy products for every need.
Lamps for SAD/Winter Blues treatment are readily available, as are specially designed lamps for acne and skin beautification. Each product line is specifically manufactured for its respective treatment.
If you feel the need for a boost during the winter season, try light therapy for a few weeks. You should see a return to normal sleep patterns and/or a better and lighter sense of well-being. But be sure NOT to use ultraviolet light, full-spectrum light, heat lamps, or tanning lamps for light therapy. Light therapy lamps are specifically designed to be easy on the eyes and will not harm your skin the way unprotected sun exposure can. Be sure to use ONLY lamps specially manufactured for light therapy such as the high quality devices at Light Therapy Products.
Light therapy has recently been shown effective in non-seasonal depression. Indeed, this is a very welcome remedy that is simple and noninvasive, non-addicting and inexpensive. Light therapy lamps can alleviate this type of depression with just a half hour use a day.
Beyond Acne, Depression, and Insomnia
Treatment through light therapy has long been proven to be effective in treating Acne vulgaris, seasonal affective disorder. Today, light therapy is also standard part of the treatment regimen for delayed sleep phase syndrome. Recent studies now show there may be more light therapy benefits on the way.
Researchers have recently noticed demonstrable benefits for skin conditions such as psoriasis. Studies have also shown that red light may help smooth facial wrinkles and rejuvenate the look of the skin.
Through limited clinical studies, it has been shown that monochromatic infrared light helps restore sensation and reduce pain in patients with neuropathy, and improve circulation of non-healing ulcers, thus increasing their healing rate.
Light IS Energy
You don’t have to suffer from seasonal affective disorder, sleep disorder, groggy mornings or low energy spells. Treatment today is easy, affordable, and available without leaving the house. You can order your Lamp from Light Therapy Products and begin your journey towards a happier wintery you in a week.
