
Light therapy effective for treating depression, not just winter blues - ca98am79
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2015/11/18/light-therapy-effective-for-treating-depression-not-just-winter-blues/
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superuser2
In the rush to replace all incandescents with CFLs, no one seemed to care
about the poor quality of light we now live and work under. Fluorescent
lighting ruins my once-beautiful university campus at night, makes my parents
house dreary and grim, etc. I hope some day we'll realize that the energy cost
savings weren't free and pay some attention to the effect lighting has on our
spaces and, correspondingly, our moods when we inhabit them.

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Klinky
I have soft white CFLs that look identical to incandescent bulbs. I also
recently bought some full spectrum 5500K CFLs for my bathroom vanity, in an
effort to see if full spectrum light in the morning will help my mood. A lot
of the "daylight" CFLs are not full spectrum, and are a harsh blue. Things
look rather natural under full spectrum once they warm up and your eyes
adjust. When I turn off the full spectrum light, it is interesting to see just
how yellow "soft white" light is.

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jacobolus
No CFLs are “full spectrum”. The fundamental nature of the technology is to
create a number of sharp “spikes” in the spectrum. This inevitably causes
distorted color relationships relative to daylight or incandescent lighting.

The bulbs also cost much more to produce than incandescents and are full of
toxic mercury, and wear out much more quickly than advertised when turned on
and off frequently (as is typical in residential uses).

This page mirrors my thoughts reasonably well ([http://www.richsoil.com/CFL-
fluorescent-light-bulbs.jsp](http://www.richsoil.com/CFL-fluorescent-light-
bulbs.jsp)). On the whole, CFLs are a handout to a small handful of rich
lighting companies, sold to the public under false pretenses.

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Klinky
I am aware it's not truly "full spectrum", but it is more tolerable than the
harsher bluer "daylight" CFLs. These CFLs were designed to provide truer
whites for photography. They were also cheaper than buying a lightbox.

Incandescent bulbs also use about 3 - 4 times the power, and burnout quite
often. There is no perfect solution.

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jrapdx3
Interesting reference, I'll read that article for sure, JAMA Psychiatry is a
top-tier journal. However not a new idea, there have been prior studies
showing benefit of light treatment for non-seasonal depression, particularly
in "elderly" individuals (e.g., people over 60).

How it works in practice, well, the usual caveat about varying mileage
definitely applies in this domain. I've recommended adjunctive light treatment
over many years. Though it can help reduce symptoms, in most cases other
therapies are still necessary to achieve remission of depression.

Several comments were made about the lamps used for light treatment. The
optimum emission spectrum for light therapy is really an unsettled question.
Early on (in 1980's) the quantity of light was emphasized, 10000 lux is
considered standard since that is equivalent to minimal "normal" daylight,
e.g., heavily overcast midday sky in late fall. Some work suggests as little
as 4-5K lux may be sufficient for response.

Some studies have shown blue light (say ~460nm) to be most effective, others
found peak response to green (~500-550). And some researchers in the field
have the opinion the spectral quality is less important the light intensity.

Since usually light treatment for depression is administered in early morning,
consistent with normal circadian influence, the blueness of light as
encouraging wakefulness is not a problem. As some comments noted, some
research suggests blue light exposure in evening hours can trigger
wakefulness, though not yet enough evidence to say that's been proven.

Notably device displays have been getting brighter, and more blue, thanks to
"white" LED illumination which has prominent emission ~450nm. Of course LED
output spectrum varies across diodes, but kind of a parallel to fluorescent
lamps which tend to have prominent green emission regardless of apparent
"warm" or "cool" effect.

The advice to avoid computer or phone use in evening is based on both
brightness and spectrum, to say nothing of the mentally stimulating effects
interfering with sleep onset.

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vlehto
First thing that came to mind about the study was that if participants have to
wake up at certain time every day, and they have to be still for 30 minutes,
they are likely to use that eating breakfast.

For me having fixed sleep rhythm and eating breakfast are two things that help
with moody periods. So it could be that the side effects are more important
than the light itself.

If it's true that this helps, but doesn't really cure. Then it might be best
used on healthy people. So they don't ever get depressed.

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outlace
I want lights with adjustable spectrums. I.e. more blue wavelengths during the
day and more yellow/red at nights.

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nitrogen
Hue Lux bulbs can do that.

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andy_ppp
Not sure if this is relevant (the panels may or may not produce vitamin d in
people's skin) but since taking a high quality vitamin d in winter I feel
considerably clearer and more solid in my mentality.

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DiabloD3
Production of Vitamin D3 is produced by UVB hitting 7-Dehydrocholesterol.

If that light is producing UVB, then people should be wearing UV goggles while
using it. I highly doubt they are using "naked" CCFLs producing UVB.

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nakedrobot2
What is some good hardware I can buy for this "light therapy" ?

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ca98am79
I have heard that this one is used in many of the studies:
[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PCN4UVU/ref=s9_wish_gw_g...](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PCN4UVU/ref=s9_wish_gw_g121_i2_r)

