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Reasons to consider bright light:

Most people with winter blues are likely to respond well to light.  If your symptoms are severe, you may suffer from SAD.  Light therapy may work well for you, but you should consult with your clinician before choosing any therapy.  Bright light can be used along with other treatments- e.g., antidepressants for SAD.  Likewise, most people will respond to light for circadian rhythm adjustment- i.e., jet lag, shift change work, and some insomnias.

Reasons to not use light:

Generally, bright light is very safe. If you:
a) have any eye disorder (e.g., cataracts, glaucoma, retinal disease),
b) have any disease with high risk for eye problems (e.g., diabetes, lupus),
c) have any problem triggered by bright light (e.g., migraine),
d) take photosensitizing medication (e.g., certain psychiatric drugs, melatonin), you should consult your clinician prior to starting bright light sessions.

Position this SAD lamp just off on the side of your face so that you aren’t looking directly into the light.

1. Place the therapy lamp on a stable surface, preferably a table or desk, 5”-18” away from your eyes. You can read, eat or work on your computer while you use light therapy lamp. Good rule of thumb is setting the lamp next to your computer keyboard.
2. Do not stare directly at the light. The sunlight is effective even when the light reaches your eyes indirectly, from a sideways direction. Use therapy light in a well-lit room to minimize eye strain.
3. Experiment with the light intensity and session duration until you find a routine that’s comfortable and effective for you. For most people, that’s 15 to 60 minutes a day, but your needs may be different.

The best SAD lamp provides:

• high intensity;
• uv-free, full-spectrum, CRI>95 LED;
• focused light to make the best use of the available light;
• long life;
• more functions, such as wake-up with sunrise, sleep light with sunset, alarm, right music,
• rechargeable, portable
• adjustable brightness and color temperatures

The bright lights used in light therapy are extremely safe and there are no indications that light boxes cause any damage to the eye. Our SAD lamps are UV-free - so if you are worried about your skin or have been told to avoid UV, this won't be a problem.

A few people experience side effects but these are usually only mild including headaches, eyestrain, nausea and hyperactivity. This can usually be solved simply by switching off the light and, over the next few days, gradually building up the time you spend in front of it to find a usage time that works best for you.

Circadian Optics advises anyone with major eye problems to consult their doctors before starting any form of light therapy.

Light therapy used to treat skin conditions such as psoriasis is different from the type of light therapy used for the conditions listed above. Light therapy for skin disorders uses a lamp that emits ultraviolet (UV) light. This type of light should be filtered out in light therapy boxes used for SAD and other conditions because it can damage your eyes and skin.

Reported side effects from bright light are generally uncommon and mild.  They include:
a) nausea-which tends to pass quickly as light is continued
b) headache, eye strain, agitation, insomnia-which is usually controlled by decreasing the light dose or altering the time of day that the light is used.

No, 99.9% of the UV light is filtered out by our SAD lamp.

It use the full spectrum, anti-glare, eyes-care led, and protect your eyes and skins well. High CRI: general CRI (R1-R8)=97, extended CRI (R1-R14)=95.

Light is the biggest external factor that controls our body clock. It influences our mood and energy throughout the day. Human bodies are programmed to run in sync with natural light of the sun.

Our sad lamps mimic the color and brightness of the sun. They are an easy and effective way to getting exposure to bright light indoors. The light therapy is a way to treat seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and certain other conditions by exposure to artificial light. SAD is a type of depression that occurs at a certain time each year, usually in the fall or winter.

During light therapy, you sit or work near a device called a light therapy box. The box gives off bright light that mimics natural outdoor light.
Light therapy is thought to affect brain chemicals linked to mood and sleep, easing SAD symptoms. Using a light therapy box may also help with other types of depression, sleep disorders and other conditions. Light therapy is also known as bright light therapy or phototherapy.

Why it's done

You may want to try light therapy for a number of reasons:

• Your doctor recommends it for seasonal affective disorder or another condition.
• You want to try treatment that is safe and has few side effects.
• You want to increase the effectiveness of antidepressant medication or mental health counseling (psychotherapy).
• You need to avoid antidepressant medications during pregnancy or while breast-feeding.
• It may allow you to take a lower dose of antidepressant medication.

 

Conditions it's used for

Light therapy is used as a treatment for several conditions, including:

• SAD
• Types of depression that don't occur seasonally
• Jet lag
• Sleep disorders
• Adjusting to a nighttime work schedule
• Dementia

Light therapy used to treat skin conditions such as psoriasis is different from the type of light therapy used for the conditions listed above. Light therapy for skin disorders uses a lamp that emits ultraviolet (UV) light. This type of light should be filtered out in light therapy boxes used for SAD and other conditions because it can damage your eyes and skin.

In the morning. Exposure to bright light in the early part of the day stimulates receptors in your eyes and sets your body clock. Morning light is most effective in helping us be awake, alert and energetic during the day.

Our suggestion is to set up the lamp next to you at your work desk or breakfast table. Experiment with the light intensity and session duration until you find a routine that’s comfortable and effective for you. For most people, that’s 15 to 60 minutes a day, but your needs may be different.

Winter blues refers to a set of symptoms many people get in the short daylight months- typically September to March- including sadness, fatigue, decreased libido, difficulty concentrating, irritability, increased sleep and appetite, carbohydrate craving and weight gain. SAD is the severe form of winter blues, so that you become clinically depressed and the other symptoms become seriously debilitating. A key feature is that symptoms appear as daylight decreases in the fall and disappear as daylight increases in the spring.

As one might expect, winter blues and SAD are more common as you move further from the equator. Winter days are shorter and daylight decreases as you move toward the North or South Poles. Perhaps 25% of people in the northern US & Canada suffer from winter blues, with about 15-30% of these having SAD. People living in lower latitudes may also experience winter blues if they spend their days in offices that are typically much less bright than the outdoors, or if their winter weather is cloudy.

We all have an internal clock that determines our wake/sleep cycle, or circadian rhythm. This circadian rhythm normally matches our day/night cycle, but may be disrupted by jet travel across time zones, work shift changes (day shift to night shift and back again), or some insomnias where our sleep phase gets “out of sync”. When you circadian rhythm is disrupted, you suffer fatigue, decreased concentration and productivity, and increased work errors.

Light therapy is the shining of bright light into your eyes-typically for a half hour each session. Since the 1980’s, light therapy has become the first line treatment for winter blues and SAD. Bright light can also be used to shift your circadian (wake/sleep) cycle, so it is used to prevent jet lag, minimize work shift change fatigue, and help abnormal sleep phase insomnias.

Light therapy is measured in lux, which is measured of the intensity of light as perceived by our eyes. Typical room light intensity is several hundred lux. Light therapy began years ago with what we now consider to be low doses-500-2500 lux- for 1-2hours. Studies showed that treatment times can be reduced by increasing the light dose. Now, 10,000 lux for ½ hour is considered by many to be a standard dose. The Feel Bright Light brackets this “standard dose” by providing 8,000 or 12,000 lux so you can adjust to surrounding light conditions while receiving a very effective dose.

The positive effects of most light therapy studies have been done with the eyes open. The standard 10,000 lux for ½ hour session assumes your eyes are open.

Bright light at 10,000 lux is within the range of light we experience almost every day- from a dimly lit room of 100 lux to a sunny day outside of 40,000 lux. Eye exams of subjects receiving up to 20,000 lux have revealed no risks. Bright lights may cause some people to “see spots” for a short period after use. These “spots” normally disappear within a few minutes. Elderly people may take longer-up to 10 minutes-to return to normal.

Most desk-top devices provide 10,000 lux and are effective. If you can sit in one place for a half-hour each morning, a desk-top device may work well for you. However, you may find it much more convenient to do your normal daily activities while receiving your bright light sessions. A portable device may be the only way to achieve your goals and stay with a light program. Many people own both a desk-top and a portable device, and they use either under different circumstances.

• For winter blues, most people use the lights daily each winter until the symptoms abate as days lengthen-typically in March or April.
• For jet lag, the bright lights are used prior to the trip
• For shift change fatigue, the lights are used prior to changing shifts.
• For sleep phase insomnias, the problem may be long-term for the elderly, but teens tend to “grow out of it”