I have a couple of coworkers who use SAD Lights (SAD = seasonal affective disorder, aka the winter blues) and say it has helped give them more energy. Anybody use one before? Did it work? Which one did you use? White light versus blue light?
The short days never really bothered me until 5 years ago when I started working; I now have an inside office so I'm getting even less natural light than before. Taking vitamin D supplements but I'm not sure it's making much difference
I use one in the winter in Iceland, since during the peak winter its dark pretty much all day.
I find it works, especially using it for 15 mins in the morning before I leave. I used to back in the day in Iceland use tanning beds to help me with SAD in the winter, but I hate to ruin my skin.
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Anyone else? Not sure I want to plunk down $100 for an expensive light bulb; on the other hand, if it actually works $100 is probably a bargain to get through the next 4 months of winter
I'm not really up on any of this SAD stuff, so I don't know if what I have applies, but I have an alarm clock that has a light bulb attached to it. I set the alarm for 5:30 am and at about 5:15am, the light starts to come on, simulating a sunrise. By the time 5:30 hits, my room is bright and it's pretty easy for me to get up.
You can set it to start coming on 15, 30, 45 or 60 minutes prioir to your alarm. You can also do the same when you are going to sleep. You can read a book and get it to dim until it is off simulating a sunset.
I've had mine for 10 years and really beats waking up in the pitch black in the cold.
It's called a biobrite sunrise clock and looks like this:
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The wife and I picked up a "happylight" this year from her work, she gets a staff discount there so we didn't pay full retail for it.
We've been keeping ours on the dining room table and making a habit of flicking it on while we're eating, I'm not sure it makes a "huge" difference in our moods/energy. But I will say seems to help a bit. It's not a night & day difference, but I haven't found November/December to be as damn gloomy as in past years.
Would I recommend paying full retail for one of these lights? No, probably not.
But I'll probably continue using it, as it seems to have a moderate effect.
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I'm not really up on any of this SAD stuff, so I don't know if what I have applies, but I have an alarm clock that has a light bulb attached to it. I set the alarm for 5:30 am and at about 5:15am, the light starts to come on, simulating a sunrise. By the time 5:30 hits, my room is bright and it's pretty easy for me to get up.
You can set it to start coming on 15, 30, 45 or 60 minutes prioir to your alarm. You can also do the same when you are going to sleep. You can read a book and get it to dim until it is off simulating a sunset.
I've had mine for 10 years and really beats waking up in the pitch black in the cold.
It's called a biobrite sunrise clock and looks like this:
I second this, I picked up a Philips Wake-Up light a couple of years ago and it's a really nice way to wake up.
I might have SAD as every year at this time I ask my self why the hell I live here and I start looking up properties in places like Costa Rica.
Isn't the whole point of the blue lights to give you enough blue light in the morning to match your circadian rhythm? I don't think using it in the evening is going to do you any good. In fact, IIRC, getting too much blue light at night will inhibit your system from generating melatonin, which isn't good for you.
I've had some fracked up sleep lately; so I saw a doc at the calgary sleep centre. Bad sleep/fatigue/lack of energy were my symptoms.
He prescribed 30min SAD light in the morning and 3mg melatonin 2.5 hours before bed. Also have a set bed time/wake up time to have a proper routine. It's only been a week and I haven't noticed any difference. The light they were selling was cheaper at Costco.
I have the Litebook and it was $200 when I got it... It does make a bit of difference in the mornings... I felt more sharp after using it and didn't take me as long to get into a good focused mode... That said, I haven't used it enough to warrant the money, only because I basically forget about it, I'm going to start trying it again
I've had some fracked up sleep lately; so I saw a doc at the calgary sleep centre. Bad sleep/fatigue/lack of energy were my symptoms.
He prescribed 30min SAD light in the morning and 3mg melatonin 2.5 hours before bed. Also have a set bed time/wake up time to have a proper routine. It's only been a week and I haven't noticed any difference. The light they were selling was cheaper at Costco.
I saw a doc last year on BBC about just this issue, the thing that was most important was to keep the sleep schedule for at least 30 days, if you can't fall asleep leave the bedroom and return when your really tired again, even if you only get 2-3hrs sleep, you have to keep this up until your body finally listens to you.
I think this was the doc, worth a watch for sure for anyone.
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SAD Light Therapy - anybody use it?
