Seasonal Affective Disorder lights

[markprior22]

Anyone use or familiar with the lights sometimes recommended to help with this disorder? Curious if they really help with the wintertime blues.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Would this light help?





I kid I kid....I have heard of SAD, but never heard of using special lights to combat it. I guess it makes sense, except if required to be outside, no real way to avoid that.

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

A teacher of mine in high school used one. I can't say how it worked, but he stuck with it so it must have been doing him some good.

[RedKingGold]

SAD Lights?

[Passacaglia]

Didn't someone on the best TV show set in Alaska have that? If I recall, they wore some kind of binocular-like things (or maybe more like a view-master) to combat the effects.

[Eaglesfan27]

SAD lights are basically special lights that are designed to simulate real sunlight as much as possible. There are very few good rigorous studies on their efficacy. However, I've had one patient swear by them. Personally, I think they are much more effective in places like Alaska with excessive periods of darkness. Here is a good review article on their efficacy (well actually it mostly hammers home the point that there are very few good studies done on the issue):

http://www.chronobiology.ch/chronobi...ril%202005.pdf

[Autumn]

I tried one, but gave up after a short bit - it seemed to bother my eyes, and further reading suggested it wasn't a kind that was recommended (someone had given it to me). My understanding at the time was that there were some particular types thought to help and a lot that were just BS, so I'd be careful about what you bought. That said, anything's worth a try if you're dealing with seasonal depression. I found a therapist did me the most good in the long run.

[markprior22]

I think I'm going to put this off for now. My problem isn't as bad as it used to be...got enough other bills piling up. Thanks for the thoughts everyone.

[JediKooter]

Mark, I'm not making fun of you or your situation, but, it just seems like something that is no different than the 'magic magnetic bracelets' that people try and hock. Plus, I bet those lamps don't come at a cheap price. If you can get a light that emits in the 5,000 - 6,500K (day light) range, I would think that would be cheaper. I'm guessing though.

Either way, I hope you start to feel better soon.

[markprior22]

Oh, I agree JK. That's why I asked if anyone had actual experience with these things. The only difference I see between the lights and the bracelets is that some reputable doctors recommend the light. Hopefully no doctors are advising to buy one of those bracelets or a glorified piece of rope like so many players wore in the MLB this year. My SAD isn't that bad...like I said, I'll just man up and get through the winter

[JediKooter]

Right on! Just looked it up and did notice that doctors do recommend them, so that's a good sign.

I'd say, if you have the time and the means, take a winter vacation to Florida or Hawaii or some place warm and sunny. The good news is, the Cubs pitchers and catchers report in about 3 months from now.

[Autumn]

If I had the time and means to go on a tropical vacation every winter I'd be much less depressed already, I'll tell you that.

Yeah, I don't think these are a hoax at all. I mean light levels are pretty clearly correlated to human brain chemistry and vitamin levels. No reason to think that we couldn't make a light appropriate to solve the problem.

[EagleFan]

Seasonal Affective Disorder?

WTF is that?

Is everything a freaking disorder anymore? Other animals must laugh at us...

[markprior22]

Thanks for your brilliant contribution EF. Pretty much what I would expect.

[Autumn]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

Seasonal Affective Disorder?

WTF is that?

Is everything a freaking disorder anymore? Other animals must laugh at us...

I think the Talking Out of Ass Disorder thread is somewhere else, EF, try a search.

[thesloppy]

Cuz other animals don't alter their lifestyles for the seasons or anything.

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

Seasonal Affective Disorder?
WTF is that?
Is everything a freaking disorder anymore? Other animals must laugh at us...

Its a very real issue - most commonly found in countries with a very large difference between the sunlight given during the winter and summer months I believe (Norway for instance) - but depends on the person involved as to how serious it might be.

Seasonal affective disorder - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[whomario]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

Cuz other animals don't alter their lifestyles for the seasons or anything.

I´d love to go into hibernation every once in a while Or go south for half the year

in all seriousness i have a very good friend that is battling with bouts of minor/medium depression which are strongest (although not exlusively happening there) in Winter and bad weather periods and is currently (since last year) using light therapy in combination with other means.

The thing that didn´t come across so far is that those lights require active use. You don´t just hang them and walk by but have to set up shop in front of them and look into them for 20-60 minutes for the therapy to be effective (not directly into it, but it´s a conscious thing to do). So you should definitely test them out if possible to get an idea what light-power is still comfortable for you.

second of all, from her experience and her doctor´s recomendation the "normal" daylight lamps do the trick, between 5000 and 12500 Lux was the recommendation (the higher the number, the shorter the period you should use it for) she got. So just guessing on previous bouts with "specialised equipment" i´d guess that the "real" SAD Lights will propably be a lot more expesnive while actually doing the very same thing as regular lights in that range of brightness.

Also, the recommended time of use for her is early in the mornings (before getting to work) and as far as i understand it that´s a general recomendation.

Another thing : You might want to look into St Johns Wort which won´t do much against major (year round) depression, but more and more doctors and studies reluctantly (not much money in it for them ...) state that it´s well worth a try for SDA. Very easy to get, use and handle, but shouldn´t be combined to light-heartedly with "regular" medication for depression, it supposedly lightens the effect of some of those.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by whomario

I´d love to go into hibernation every once in a while Or go south for half the year

in all seriousness i have a very good friend that is battling with bouts of minor/medium depression which are strongest (although not exlusively happening there) in Winter and bad weather periods and is currently (since last year) using light therapy in combination with other means.

The thing that didn´t come across so far is that those lights require active use. You don´t just hang them and walk by but have to set up shop in front of them and look into them for 20-60 minutes for the therapy to be effective (not directly into it, but it´s a conscious thing to do). So you should definitely test them out if possible to get an idea what light-power is still comfortable for you.

second of all, from her experience and her doctor´s recomendation the "normal" daylight lamps do the trick, between 5000 and 12500 Lux was the recommendation (the higher the number, the shorter the period you should use it for) she got. So just guessing on previous bouts with "specialised equipment" i´d guess that the "real" SAD Lights will propably be a lot more expesnive while actually doing the very same thing as regular lights in that range of brightness.

Also, the recommended time of use for her is early in the mornings (before getting to work) and as far as i understand it that´s a general recomendation.

Another thing : You might want to look into St Johns Wort which won´t do much against major (year round) depression, but more and more doctors and studies reluctantly (not much money in it for them ...) state that it´s well worth a try for SDA. Very easy to get, use and handle, but shouldn´t be combined to light-heartedly with "regular" medication for depression, it supposedly lightens the effect of some of those.

St. Johns' Wort doesn't lessen the effect of some anti-depressants, in combination with an anti-depressant, it can cause a dangerous reaction called Serotonin Syndrome that can very rarely be fatal. Also, the biggest issue with St. Johns Wort (as with many OTC herbal supplements) is that the manufacturing isn't as strictly regulated and dosing can be tricky at best. Furthermore, studies with St. John's Wort have shown less efficacy than classical anti-depressants.

[Autumn]

Pretty amusing viewing the contrast between EagleFan's and EagleFan27's contributions to this thread.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

Seasonal Affective Disorder?

WTF is that?

Is everything a freaking disorder anymore? Other animals must laugh at us...

No, they just laugh at you.









Not with you, at you.

[whomario]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

St. Johns' Wort doesn't lessen the effect of some anti-depressants, in combination with an anti-depressant, it can cause a dangerous reaction called Serotonin Syndrome that can very rarely be fatal. Also, the biggest issue with St. Johns Wort (as with many OTC herbal supplements) is that the manufacturing isn't as strictly regulated and dosing can be tricky at best. Furthermore, studies with St. John's Wort have shown less efficacy than classical anti-depressants.

all true, but if it´s purely SDA or a mild depression here in Germany St Johns Wort has become the "weapon of choice" and thus isn´t combined with other anti-depressants. And the manufacturing actually is very much strictly regulated (of course, i can´t speak for how it´s doen elsewhere !).
The reason it´s used for SDA and mild cases is that it has much less/severe possible side-effects than most classical medication.

Remember, Mark Prior 22 isn´t asking for heavy medication but just some balancing for the winter months

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by whomario

all true, but if it´s purely SDA or a mild depression here in Germany St Johns Wort has become the "weapon of choice" and thus isn´t combined with other anti-depressants. And the manufacturing actually is very much strictly regulated (of course, i can´t speak for how it´s doen elsewhere !).
The reason it´s used for SDA and mild cases is that it has much less/severe possible side-effects than most classical medication.

Remember, Mark Prior 22 isn´t asking for heavy medication but just some balancing for the winter months

I was just talking in general, not about Mark's case. And here in the USA, St. Johns Wort manufacturing isn't regulated like it is in Germany.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Strictly anecdotal, but I've personally known a couple of people who pretty much swore by these lights & did indeed seem to suffer from SAD. That said, whether the improvement was really the lights or there was a placebo effect {shrug}, no idea.

[miked]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

Seasonal Affective Disorder?

WTF is that?

Is everything a freaking disorder anymore? Other animals must laugh at us...

As Cartman said, they may be laughing at you.

The idea that day/night cycles regulate things is hardly novel. In fact, there is more than a dearth of literature showing that circadian rhythms regulate everything from hunger, to growth, to nearly everything in your body. There are specific proteins that respond to these rhythms, and the notion that they may regulate neurotransmitters involved in emotions is fairly low hanging fruit. I don't know about a specific disorder, but clearly we know less than we think we do about these things.

Now, from re-reading some of your older posts I realize that a lot of what I said may go over your head, so I'll try and restate.

Light and dark affect lots, especially in body. Emotions regulated by molecules. Everyone affected differently.