Hi. I’ve noticed for the longest time that my depression and anxiety resurfaces and my mood drops considerably during the colder months. So this year I decided to get a light therapy box and I plan to use it every morning. Do you think it will help combat the depression and how effective would you say it is?
Many thanks
Kainan
Personally, I found it a little helpful, but your mileage may vary. Light therapy can actually be pretty tricky, so it would be best to get some recommendations from your doctor about it. You need a certain type, that emits a certain amount of light, and you should do it at a certain time every day based on your circadian rhythm.
I will say that I never did find it as helpful as the real sun, which is free. If you can make yourself go out for a 30 minute walk in the mornings, even in miserable weather, you’ll also see some improvements. I used to live in the snow belt, so I’m well aware of just how awful that can be, but it’s at least worth a try!
Frankly, if you have the ability, the best thing might be to just move.
I am very interested in this as I am moving from Colorado to the South. there will be more rain and I am moving to a townhome. I spend a lot of time outdoors, but I saw this light advertised in the NYTimes and am wondering about it. microsunlamps.com Also
how about the full spectrum bulbs. Are any of these good?
You need to find the “lux” rating for the bulb you purchased. My doctor recommended, for me, to use a certain lux level for a specific amount of time per day. If you have a circadian rhythm problem, or bipolar disorder, you can have really bad problems if you use a lamp that is too strong for too long. Light therapy can cause manic episodes in bipolar people if done incorrectly. It is not harmless, even if it just looks like a lamp. If the lux level isn’t high enough, then it just won’t work at all.
I am not finding anything on the Microsun website that has a specific lux rating for their bulbs, so it’s hard to say. They have a bunch of other numbers, but that is the one you need to worry about.
It does rain a lot in the south, but it’s generally in the afternoon or evening. The skies are usually sunny otherwise. I hope you enjoy the new scenery!
yeah I got the 10,000 Lux that was recommended by my doctor. I really hope it can help a little because my body just shuts down for some reason during these cold months and I would like for that not to happen so drastically this year. I live in the NE so I’ll take whatever sunlight I can get
I use light therapy every winter- from October to March in the Pacific North west it can rain and be cloudy for months!! I agree that you need some advice on how to use the lamps- they need to be 10000 lux and used in the morning for a prescribed period of time. Helps me a lot.
