Holistic Articles
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...there is knowledge
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Bright Light Benefits
- Jane Booth, BA, CSW, Wellness Facilitator
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Bright Light Benefits: Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) |
Symptoms: Those Affected: First Line Treatment: Antidepressant Drugs
SAD - or Seasonal Affective Disorder is a full-blown, debilitating, mood disorder, but it is predictable for half the year, at the same time of the year.
If you start feeling lethargic during the fall, have trouble waking up and getting out of bed, start wanting heavy or carb-rich foods, it's a sign that winter doldrums may be setting in. The mood disorder itself usually sets in weeks later - with chronic low mood, inability to do work, loss of pleasure in usual activities, etc. - and is worst in January and February. Usually, everything is fine again by early May.
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Bright Light Benefits: Winter Blues |
Symptoms: Those Affected: Treatment
The millions of people suffering from full-blown, clinical SAD are just the tip of the iceberg. Somewhere toward the bottom are people who are just dragging, not getting their work done, and generally feeling unhappy. These people may be more inclined to say that the wintertime fatigue is more prominent than a change in mood. Carbohydrate cravings are also common.
The time course is the same, though, usually starting in mid- to late fall and resolving by early May. Importantly, people may experience the blues some years, and full Seasonal Affective Disorder other years. This may be due to differences in the weather pattern, but also to current life stresses. If you're having trouble with employment or family, it's more likely you'll develop a major mood disorder that year.
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Bright Light Benefits :: Non-Seasonal Mood Disorders |
Symptoms: Treatment
There are many varieties of clinical mood disorders. Even with SAD, some people experience a "unipolar" pattern (winters low, summers normal) while others experience a "bipolar pattern" (winters low, summers high). The same is true for nonseasonal mood disorders, except the low periods are less predictable and can occur at any time of year. In another form, the depressed mood can last continuously, literally for years at a time without let-up. Regardless of the pattern, all mood disorders should be evaluated and treated by a mental health professional - although, if you're lucky, your primary care physician can also be helpful.
The good news is that patients with nonseasonal mood disorders, of all variations, are showing good response to light therapy. Often it is combined with antidepressant drugs, but not necessarily. Those with the bipolar pattern are only given lights after establishing a mood-stabilizing medication (such as lithium) to avoid manic swings.
You can evaluate whether your blue mood is seasonal or nonseasonal, and whether it is clinically severe or not, using the Personalized Inventory SAD at www.cet.org. If the problem looks serious, print out the results and show them to your doctor: it's a great way to get a discussion going and move toward supervised treatment.
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Bright Light Benefits: Circadian Sleep Disorders |
Delayed Sleep Phase: Advanced Sleep Phase: Mild Sleep Delay: Scheduling Light Therapy: Non-Circadian Disorders
Can't fall asleep till very, very late - then can't wake up in time for a normal workday? Possibly, you are suffering from Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome (DSPS), which tends to be a lifetime problem and often occurs in family lines. Other people can fall into a DSPS trap for several years (teenage and college years are prime examples), but then come out of it. Often DSPS is accompanied by daytime fatigue and a blue mood, but not necessarily. Sleep itself is normal - it just occurs much too late. A major factor in DSPS - like for SAD - is a deficiency in morning light exposure. And, like for SAD, morning light therapy can be corrective.
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Bright Light Benefits: Weight Loss |
Carbohydrate Cravings
Everyone knows there are no magic formulas for weight loss, yet it is major burden for so many people. Weight gain often accompanies mood disorders, and it is often a winter problem even without the blue mood. Even binge eating disorder and bulimia nervosa, psychiatric conditions that can be distinguished from mood disorders, often become worse in winter. Often, winter appetite turns to carb-rich foods, which combined with lower activity levels constitutes a formula for weight gain.
People with SAD, who are gaining anywhere from 5 to 30 pounds each winter (and losing all or most of it each summer), find that light therapy reduces their carb-cravings and help. Even patients with winter worsening of bulimia have been able to cut their binge eating by as much as half, using light therapy. In SAD, the turnaround in food cravings and weight gain is slower than the turnaround in mood - it may take several weeks so see a difference - but it works.
We don't know yet whether light therapy can assist with nonseasonal weight loss, but for someone living under conditions of daylight deprivation, it seems to us worth a try! 
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