Seasonal affective disorder or SAD is a mood disorder more known as winter blues or winter depression. There are other types of SAD where depression occurs in different seasons such as summer and spring, but more people are affected by the winter blues than other types of seasonal affective disorder.
Seasonal affective disorder, although a serious mood disorder that leaves a person feeling hopeless, can be remedied. Light therapy for SAD is one of the most effective treatments to combat the mood disorder. Patients who undergo light therapy for SAD must sit near a device called a lightbox, with the patient’s distance to the lightbox an approximate of one to five feet. The lightbox in light therapy for SAD is intensely bright, but the patient should neither close his or her eyes during the process nor look directly at the light source. Each session of light therapy for SAD lasts for 15 to 30 minutes a day.
The most common types of lightboxes used in light therapy for SAD are the blue and green lightboxes. The blue lightbox used in light therapy for SAD has a 480 nm wavelength at 2,500 lux, while the green lightbox has 500 nm wavelength at 350 lux. There is an ongoing debate as to which type of lightbox is more effective to use in light therapy for SAD.
The effectiveness of light therapy for SAD comes from the fact that it alters the activity in the part of our brain that affects mood to recover. The lack of light during winter affects the melatonin secretion in our brain, which causes the mood disorder, and light therapy for SAD emulates the illumination to reverse the effect. Different scientific studies over the years have proven the effectiveness of light therapy for SAD in combating the disorder.
In addition, people who have undergone light therapy for SAD exhibited significant improvements with just one week after the onset of the light therapy for SAD. If you are suffering from seasonal affective disorder, you can ask your physician if light therapy for SAD is your best treatment option.
Light therapy for SAD is also used to treat other disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorders and insomnia. People with Dementia, Parkinson’s Disease or ADHD also benefit from light therapy for SAD.
