Winter SADness
Winter SADness
Jan. 10, 2001 -- Scientists continue to probe the mysteries of how light affects the human body and mind. One such mystery is how it causes -- and alleviates -- a type of depression.
Seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, is depression thought to be triggered by shorter hours of daylight in the late fall and winter. Not to be confused with common wintertime blahs, SAD is a serious condition that strikes about 20 million Americans a year, and many more women than men.
In an effort find a safe and comfortable treatment for seasonal depression, researchers at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn., are studying a new light therapy that is worn around the knee. Fitting around the knee like a loose Ace bandage, the Apollo Light Systems Skin Light Band delivers light of various wavelengths directly to the skin while allowing the user to remain active during treatment. The heatless therapy has no known side effects.
"If this device proves to be effective, it would mean the availability of a very convenient, portable treatment for people suffering from SAD," lead researcher Dan Oren, MD, associate professor of psychiatry at Yale, tells WebMD.
Currently, many people with SAD sit in front of a special light box to ease their symptoms -- such things as change in appetite, weight gain, low energy, fatigue, irritability, trouble sleeping, or difficulty concentrating. Although the light box is usually effective, the therapy requires the patient to remain in one position for a period of time. Most people choose to avoid treatment altogether and just stick it out until summer, when sunshine returns and symptoms subside.
Light box therapy has been approved to treat SAD since 1984. Despite much research, however, the ways in which light affects the body remain unclear. One theory, Oren says, is that light has an antidepressant effect on the system through the blood -- the blood absorbs the light.
As far as side effects go, light therapy is about the safest intervention possible, Oren says.
"Our bodies have evolved with exposure to light since the beginning of humanity," he says. "The light intensities that are used [in light therapy] are well within the normal range of light exposure ... and should have no unacceptable side effects."
Winter SADness
Jan. 10, 2001 -- Scientists continue to probe the mysteries of how light affects the human body and mind. One such mystery is how it causes -- and alleviates -- a type of depression.
Seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, is depression thought to be triggered by shorter hours of daylight in the late fall and winter. Not to be confused with common wintertime blahs, SAD is a serious condition that strikes about 20 million Americans a year, and many more women than men.
In an effort find a safe and comfortable treatment for seasonal depression, researchers at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn., are studying a new light therapy that is worn around the knee. Fitting around the knee like a loose Ace bandage, the Apollo Light Systems Skin Light Band delivers light of various wavelengths directly to the skin while allowing the user to remain active during treatment. The heatless therapy has no known side effects.
"If this device proves to be effective, it would mean the availability of a very convenient, portable treatment for people suffering from SAD," lead researcher Dan Oren, MD, associate professor of psychiatry at Yale, tells WebMD.
Currently, many people with SAD sit in front of a special light box to ease their symptoms -- such things as change in appetite, weight gain, low energy, fatigue, irritability, trouble sleeping, or difficulty concentrating. Although the light box is usually effective, the therapy requires the patient to remain in one position for a period of time. Most people choose to avoid treatment altogether and just stick it out until summer, when sunshine returns and symptoms subside.
Light box therapy has been approved to treat SAD since 1984. Despite much research, however, the ways in which light affects the body remain unclear. One theory, Oren says, is that light has an antidepressant effect on the system through the blood -- the blood absorbs the light.
As far as side effects go, light therapy is about the safest intervention possible, Oren says.
"Our bodies have evolved with exposure to light since the beginning of humanity," he says. "The light intensities that are used [in light therapy] are well within the normal range of light exposure ... and should have no unacceptable side effects."
Source...