luminotherapie

Light therapy

What is Light Therapy ?

Light therapy (or photo therapy if using the Greek root) means « therapy by the light ». It originated from the discoveries of an American psychiatrist Norman Rosenthal, which linked the lack of natural light exposure and different health troubles that affect us.
Effectively, light is a natural source of energy that influences our mood and acts on the biorhythm of our body. When we lack of light exposure, we tend to feel less energetic, lose our optimism and even face sleep problems. A daily exposure to the light therapy lamp allows to fill up this lack and to boost up your energy and vitality levels.



Seasonal depression

SAT (Seasonal Affective Troubles) are manifested by a seasonal depression which occurs every year during autumn and winter. The lack of natural light exposure increases the secretion of melatonin, sleep hormone responsible for the well-known winter depression or blues. One over five people is victim of this pattern, the melatonin excess leads to a feeling of chronic tiredness, a low morale, a bad mood, etc. and often leads to depression.

The principal symptoms linked to the lack of light exposure : Morning tiredness Lack of energy Headaches Irritability Reduction of the sexual activity Insomnia Need for a social confinement Loss of productivity    Loss of motivation Excessive need for sleep Signifiant increase of appetite Consumption of anti-depressant

Reajusting your biological clock

The principal synchronizers of our organism are the light and the alternation between the day and the night which set the rythm of our sleep cycles. During the dark periods of the year, we spend most of our time indoors.
The normal brightness of a house varies between 50 and 100 lux, whereas the natural light measured during summer day is comprised between 50,000 and 100,000 lux (thousands more)! That is the reason why winter season and its lack of light exposure provokes a deregulation of our biological clock and eventually of the SAT.
Regular sessions of light therapy allow your organism to compensate for the lack of light, to block the abnormal secretion of melatonin during the day and to boost your energy level. This treatment is highly efficient for people who work constantly under artificial lighting, night workers and to fight against travellers’ jet lags.

The use of a dawn simulation is an excellent complement to a light therapy treatment. The advantage of waking up in the light is to reproduce the benefits of the sun rise on the organism.

How is the dawn simulator operating ?

At day break, the light will sink through your eye lids when you sleep. This is the sign that the day approaches and that it is time to wake up. This operation exists since forever in the animal world. The light signals your brain that a new day has begun, naturally. Your body reacts by stopping the production of melatonin (sleep hormone) and by increasing the production of cortisol (energy hormone). Dr Servan-Schreiber explains in his book Heal, (Robert Laffont, 2003 edition) that waking up in the light allows us to finish a dream and that waking up while dreaming has a negative effect on the rest of our day.

Light therapy : simple and efficient

Exposing yourself to light therapy everyday for 30 minutes to 2 hours is an agreeable way to take good care of you. It is not necessary to fix the source of the light; it just has to stay in your visual. It is highly possible to keep reading or working while under exposure.
The lamp white light penetrates through the eye retina and reaches your nervous system to the part sensible to the light (the supra-chiasmatic nucleus), which plays an essential role in the regulation of the biologic rhythms of your body.

Examples of light intensity

- Sunny day: 100,000 lux.
- Light therapy equipment: 10,000 lux at 42cm; 5,000 lux at 64cm; 2,500 lux at 85cm.
- Well lit workplace: 400 lux
- Home lighting: 50 lux


MINI TEST : Evaluate the benefits of light therapy

This questionnaire, realized from a standard tool used by medical doctors was conceived to let you appreciate how much the light can be a source of benefits. Each person will not present all the symptoms; however, the final result should diminish as weeks go by. You will maybe wish to share with your doctor or someone from your surroundings.

How were you feeling last week? Compare your results with those computed at one moment when you were feeling well.
0 = no difference with the moment I was feeling well 1 = it was a bit the case 2 = it was the case 3 = it was really the case 4 = it was definitely the case, it was unbearable.

DEPRESSION SYMPTOMS TABLE

I felt ...	Before using the lamp	After 1 week	After 2 weeks	After 3 weeks	After 4 weeks
Fear and depression
Loss of general interest
Loss of libido
Loss of appetite
Loss of weight
Difficulty of sleep
Bad sleep, nocturnal awakening
Anticipated wake up
Feeling of failure
Feeling that life is not worth living
Tension. Irritability and preoccupation
Imaginary sickness, extremely worried about my health
Difficulty to think or talk
Impatience, agitation, difficulty to stay calm
Feeling of being cut off from reality, as if I was living in a dream
Paranoia, suspicion
Preoccupation, easily distracted
Physical tiredness, e.g. Heavy legs, headaches, back and muscular aches
Other physical symptoms, e.g. Perspiration, frequent urine, dry mouth, cramps, palpitations, hyperventilation
Facing more difficulties in the morning than in the evening
Facing more difficulties in the evening than in the morning
Standard Depression Results
Unsociability, social rejection
Weight gain
More appetite than usual
More important food consumption than usual
Need for sweet and starchy food
Too much sleep, feeling more tired than I should be
More difficulty in the afternoon or evening and an improvement one hour before bed time
Supplementary depression Results
TOTAL RESULTS (STANDARD AND SUPPLEMENTARY)