Guest Post: Red Light Therapy for Seasonal Affective Disorder
Shorter days with less natural light make it harder to stay healthy, physically, and mentally. Specific wavelengths of light affect the immune system, promote a healthy inflammatory response, and send signals to your circadian rhythm or to your body’s internal clock. Without these wavelengths, you can get started.
Natural light treatments can improve your sleep and improve your energy levels. In this article, I’ll talk about red light therapy to add more natural light on dark winter days, when seasonal mood disorders are more common.
I’ll also share some of the first published and peer-reviewed research on red light therapy and mental health. Finally, I will explain how sleep, depression, and natural light are interconnected. Sleep disorders are pervasive in people with mental health problems. Our circadian rhythm influences almost every aspect of our body, including our brain and our mood.
How does red light therapy work?
What Are Mitochondria and Why Should You Care? What are Mitochondria Natural light treatments overload the mitochondria in your cells and cause a chemical reaction, so your body can maximize the energy production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP)? It’s the fuel we all use every day. Producing more ATP energy is excellent for physical performance, healing and recovery, and restful sleep. New evidence shows that red light therapy can also improve treatments for depression.
The wavelengths of natural red and near-infrared light also help improve your cellular environment, reducing oxidative stress and improving circulation during the cellular respiration process. Red light therapy is also a completely natural treatment with no common side effects. It is merely about giving your body and cells more natural light, just as you would in the sun. This makes light therapy a safe and secure way to add natural light to your life and enjoy the health benefits in winter.
What is seasonal affective disorder (SAD)?
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression with a seasonal tendency. Usually, the darker and colder fall and winter months are the hardest hit. Still, some people also experience seasonal depression in the spring and summer.
Millions of people are affected by SAD each year, including at least 5% of adults in the United States. Even if you don’t have a diagnosis of depression, a lack of access to natural light can be a significant barrier to optimal physical and mental health.
Mild Treatment Options for Seasonal Depression
You have probably heard of “SAD lamps” that mimic the sun in bright artificial light. These can really brighten a dark space and make it seem like there’s more natural light in your day. However, ultimately, it’s still a hefty dose of blue light, which can be detrimental: your circadian rhythm can cause fatigue and even damage to your eyes’ delicate structures.
You can get more natural and lifelike light in your own home, even when it gets dark before the end of the workday. With a quality fixture, you can get a full day of natural light in just 10-15 minutes, regardless of the weather. Because red light therapy is easy to use and low to no risk, red light therapy is likely to become a standard treatment for seasonal depression in the coming years. Pioneering physicians agree and are already using natural light to treat depression.
Dr. Schoen also observed that red and near-infrared light therapy also improves anxiety and compulsive symptoms.
The latest research on red light therapy and depression
In 2018, a team of mental health researchers conducted the Elated 2 pilot trial. This groundbreaking study tested the effects of “transcranial near-infrared light therapy,” which is the natural light that illuminates the head of a woman. No one. People with depression responded very well to eight weeks of natural light treatments. Here are the main conclusions of the trial:
Antidepressant properties in natural light. The researchers found that red light therapy applied directly to patients’ heads exhibited antidepressant properties in patients with major depressive disorder.
Safe and easy to use. Natural light treatments were well tolerated by patients, with no severe side effects or adverse reactions.
Light therapy, sleep, and depression
Sleep is an excellent topic of conversation because it is essential to our health and function. Almost everyone has struggled to sleep at one point or another. In-Game Changers: What Leaders, Innovators, and Mavericks Do to Make a Lifetime Achievement, Dave writes: “Quality of sleep is the engine of happiness. As we have seen, happiness is the engine. success.”
It’s no wonder that depression and lack of sleep are such a familiar combination. Specifically, insomnia and other major sleep disorders very often affect people with major depression.
Restorative sleep with red light therapy
A good night’s sleep is one of the most notable benefits people report from red light therapy sessions. Red light therapy has also worked wonders in treating sleep disorders.
Artificial light comes with risks, especially the incredibly bright blue lights that shine on your TVs, tablets, and anything with a screen. Too much blue light can disrupt your circadian rhythm and cause problems sleeping. Wearing blue blockers like TrueDark lenses when using light fixtures and buildings that use a lot of fluorescent lighting can mitigate some of the more damaging blue wavelength effects.
Red light therapy is natural light with a much lower color temperature than blue light. Where blue light disrupts your circadian rhythm and can make it difficult to sleep, natural red light and near-infrared light help adjust and reset your sleep cycle.
Melatonin also plays a vital role in our natural sleep cycle. Some people rely on taking melatonin supplements, which work well. Red light therapy has also been shown in studies to naturally increase melatonin. It is always good to give your body the raw materials and the conditions to produce what it needs. Natural light treatments are a great reset for your sleep situation.
The future of red light therapy and depression
More studies on light therapy and mental health will be carried out in the coming years, and the first signs are positive. Because red light therapy is safe and natural, there is not much risk in trying it for seasonal light issues.
You can expect great strides in the link between red light and depression. More exciting research emerges, similar to the Mental Health and Natural Light trial. In the meantime, go for red light therapy to make sure your body is getting all the natural light. It needs to generate energy, stay healthy, and wake up refreshed in the morning.
Additional Source: https://platinumtherapylights.com/
