Light therapy

When Kristin Tokarsky first set her bright light box on her desk at work, her colleagues thought it a bit strange. But puzzlement over the box, which Kristin, 31, would switch on twice a day to take in the light's white glow, soon gave way to believing in its effects.

“Before bright light therapy, I'd constantly have to remind myself to focus. It would take me twice as long as anyone else to do tasks at work,” says Kristin, who was suffering from the side-effects of antidepressant medications. Now she can concentrate better, and the light also helps boost her overall energy.Light therapy for sleep, seasonal, and nonseasonal depression
What might surprise you is that Kristin is using light therapy for something other than seasonal affective disorder (SAD), the condition most commonly associated with light therapy, in which depression is triggered by the lack of daylight during the winter months.

Kristin's story is just one example of how light therapy can help treat a number of conditions, such as sleep disorders, nonseasonal depression, premenstrual syndrome and even bulimia.

How light therapy helps
In sleep disorders, for instance, studies found that in early morning awakening insomnia, bright light therapy helped people wake later and increase total sleep time. One American study found that in patients with depression, the combination of light therapy and antidepressants sped up improvements over taking medications alone (and lowered the chance of side-effects).

A SAD study showed light therapy was actually an equal form of treatment to antidepressants. In a small study of people with bulimia, light therapy (along with medication and psychotherapy) lowered the number of binges per week by 10 per cent, and it also significantly improved mood.

The lowdown on light
“We don't know exactly how light therapy works,” says Dr. Raymond Lam, a professor of psychiatry and head of the division of clinical neuroscience at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. “But there are a couple of major theories.” The leading one is the role of the hormone melatonin on our circadian cycles. Melatonin helps trigger the sleep cycle once darkness sets in, and it helps our system slow our body's functions down as we snooze. If your body is short of melatonin, you won't log the deep sleep your body needs, which can lead to depression and irritability.

Light is a factor because exposure to it slows down the production of melatonin. Scientists figure by using light to put the brakes on melatonin in the morning, your body clock will be reset so you have proper levels of it at night.

“So the theory is that people with winter depression, for example, don't synchronize their internal clock properly with the changing levels of light from summer to winter,” says Lam. “The other theory,” he adds, “is that light switches our brain's neurotransmitters, which control mood, sleep and appetite, on and off.” Depression, poor appetite, low energy and insomnia can also be related to those neurotransmitter levels.

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"The brighter the light, the shorter the time you use it."
Like Kristin, therapy users sit in front of a bright white (usually fluorescent) light for two 20- to 30-minute sessions daily. While you don't need a prescription, light boxes sell for $150 to $300, so it's better to get a formal diagnosis and prescription from a mental health professional. Drug plans may not reimburse you without a prescription.

“The brighter the light, the shorter the time you use it,” says Michael Young, a psychologist from the Illinois Institute of Technology and past-president of the Society for Light Treatment and Biological Rhythms. That brief exposure to light kick-starts a process in our brain, reducing and regulating melatonin levels to help you wake up and get or stay energized, and starts a chemical production of serotonin, which affects mood and energy. By controlling these levels with light, you can feel less depressed, more energetic, less reliant on the need to turn to comfort carbs (a winter habit!) and, hopefully, more awake.

Dawn simulation therapy
A new therapy technique might be easier to deliver than standard methods. While dawn simulation therapy primarily relieves SAD symptoms, it's also used to treat sleep disorders caused by a disconnect between the internal body clock and the external day-night clock.

“The idea for this treatment started with the theory that if we can recreate a dawn that is like summer, we might be able to train the internal rhythms to believe it's summer and prevent the depression that occurs in winter,” says Dr. Anthony Levitt, psychiatrist-in-chief at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and Women's College Hospital in Toronto.

So lights controlled by computerized chips turn on in a dawnlike fashion in your room as if it were, say, June 21. Like bright light therapy, it's best to have a health-care provider monitor your treatment. The lights sell for about $80 to $200.

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Regulating the melatonin cycle
So while bright light therapy is effective and the standard treatment for seasonal depression and some kinds of insomnia, dawn simulation can be more convenient, says Levitt. Both regulate your melatonin cycle to proper levels -- low in the daytime and high at night.“With bright light therapy, you have to wake up to take it. If you wake up too late, it may not be as effective,” he says. “Dawn simulation, on the other hand, works just before you wake, when the internal clock is most sensitive to the effects of light.”

The two forms of light therapy seem to work equally well, says Levitt. Beyond the scientific studies, there are anecdotal reports from people such as Kristin. “I find light therapy really helps in raising both my mood and my energy levels,” she says, “and it helps improve my concentration.”

Light by day -- dark by night
If you prefer the security of a little light at night, opt for a red nightlight. “Lights out at night promotes production of melatonin, which helps us sleep and is known as an effective antioxidant,” says Patricia Wales, a naturopathic doctor at the Acadia Wellness Clinic in Calgary. “Lights on at night decreases production of melatonin, apparently even if they are on only briefly.”

But red lights, it's been shown, don't turn off that melatonin production as regular lights do. Call your local lighting store to look for red nightlights near you.

Light warning
As helpful as this form of therapy sounds, it's not without its side-effects. Eye irritations, nausea and headaches are possible results, and light therapy can trigger a hypomanic response in those with bipolar disorder. Be sure to discuss side-effects with your physician.

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