Most people feel happier when the sun is shining than when it's cloudy outside. And some people get depressed in winter months when the days are shorter and the sunshine is less direct. They call this "Seasonal Affective Disorder" or SAD.
When I first moved from the East Coast to Southern California, I noticed an immediate improvement in my mood. There was hardly a day that wasn't sunny and warm. There was no excuse to stay indoors. I could go outside every day and take a walk or jog to the beach or into the mountains. Wow, what a revelation!
However, the days are still shorter during the winter months, and now that I live in Northern California, there are a few more cloudy days as well. So I've purchased a portable "Full Spectrum Light" that I can use at home or take to work with me to get the energy and mood boost that I would normally get when the sun is shining.
Unfortunately, different manufacturers have different definitions of what constitutes a "full spectrum light" and such lights can cost many times more than traditional light bulbs. Many companies tout the wondrous benefits of using "light therapy" to enhance mood, clear acne, or improve other health issues. So does light therapy with full spectrum lights really work? If so, what products are the best that won't break your pocket book?
So I tried to find some answers.
The Lighting Research Center, a non-profit group of utility companies, experts and government agencies, established the National Lighting Product Information Program (NLPIP) to provide objective information about the effectiveness of different lighting systems. According to the NLPIP, full-spectrum light does not provide any improved benefits over similar light systems:
“Full-spectrum light sources will not provide better health than most other electric light sources. Recent research has shown that human daily activities are strongly influenced by the solar light/dark cycle. The most notable of these daily, or circadian, cycles is the sleep/wake cycle; but other activities including mental awareness, mood, and perhaps even the effectiveness of the immune system go through regular daily patterns. Light is the most important environmental stimulus for regulating these circadian cycles and synchronizing them to the solar day. Short wavelength (blue) light is particularly effective at regulating the circadian system; long wavelength (red) light is apparently inconsequential to the circadian system. Thus, to maximize efficiency in affecting the circadian system, a light source should not mimic a full spectrum, but instead should maximize only short wavelengths. Even if a full-spectrum light source includes short wavelength light in its spectrum, it will not necessarily ensure proper circadian regulation because, in addition, the proper intensity, timing and duration of the light exposure are all equally important for satisfactory circadian regulation (Rea et. al, 2002).
Light therapy treatment of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) usually involves regulated exposure to a white light source, commonly 10,000 lux at the eye for 30 minutes per day (Partonen and Lönnqvist, 1998). Any white light source will be effective at these levels (Lam and Levitt, 1999), so full-spectrum light sources are in no way special for treatment of SAD.”
For more information from the NLPIP and full-spectrum lighting, visit the following link: http://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/nlpip/lightingAnswers/fullSpectrum/abstract.asp
For technical information showing spectral radiances of different light sources, visit the following link: http://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/NLPIP/lightingAnswers/fullSpectrum/comparisons.asp
Their main website is at: http://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/NLPIP/index.asp
Unfortunately, this abstract suggests that many normal lights are just as effective as some products that are marketed as "full spectrum lights" for seasonal affective disorder. But it didn't give examples of which normal lights were the ones that were as good as those fancy schmancy light therapy lights. So I have to do more research on the subject.
In the meantime, I can tell you that I purchased my own portable light therapy lamp from Apollo Heath.
The Apollo Health "GoLite" Blue Wave P1 Blue Spectrum Light was on sale at Amazon for about $148 at the time. It is now more expensive. Apollo claims that it will help me "sleep better, wake refreshed, have more energy, and improve your mood." I was a little apprehensive about the price, but went ahead with the purchase since I got a good deal on Amazon. When it arrived, I was disappointed with the quality of the plastic case surrounding the light - it's made of lightweight, silver plastic and just feels cheap. Plus, although there is a clock and a timer, there is no way to set the light to automatically go on at a certain time of day - for instance, to wake you up like an alarm clock. Certainly for something this expensive, they could have added that feature.
In any case, I do sit in front of my light many days a week, especially at work. Does it help? I can't say yet. I can tell you it doesn't hurt! I would rather hope that it's helping!
The Apollo Health website does have a lot of good information about full spectrum lights and how to combat SAD. It's at:
http://www.apollolight.com/full-spectrum_controversy.htmlHowever, I don't have the proof yet that this light works better than other lights. It's a light! It's bright! It's darn expensive! Sunlight is obviously preferable!
In any case, stay tuned as I will be researching this topic further so I can give you some real info and better recommendations.
In the meantime, grab all the sunshine you can get!
PTD
is also available from 
, you can find some great deals that are only available for 1 day only. Remember about 2 weeks ago when I wrote about 
