All You Should Know about the Application of Light Therapy in the Treatment of SAD

Light therapy for sad is one of the means through which SAD can be treated. SAD is an acronym for seasonal effective disorder. It is a disorder that occurs during the fall and winter season when there is reduced sunlight. There are certain symptoms that are associated with this disorder. Some of the symptoms of the SAD are mood disorder, loss of pleasure in normal activities, inability to do some work and the likes. SAD can occur to any person though at different degree. Some people may not also experience it.

During Light therapy for light, the affected person exposes himself or herself to artificial light emitted by a light box designed for the therapy. The light box emits light that has similar effects with that of the sunlight. Sunlight plays some important role in the secretion of certain neurotransmitter in the body. Serontonin is an example of such neurotransmitter. The absence of sunlight will affect the level of the chemical and this will lead to a drop in the level of energy, fogginess, sense of confusion and the likes. When a person suffering from SAD is exposed to artificial light emitted by the light box, the level of the serontinin will increase and this will help the person to deal with the symptoms of SAD.

Light therapy also known as phototherapy or bright light therapy can also be applied in the treatment of some other disorder like sleep disorders. Exposure to sunlight will lead to the drop in the level of melatonin which is a hormone that aids natural sleep. It is produced in a gland in the brain. When there is darkness or no sunlight, the level of the hormone will increase and this will make a person to feel sleepy always. With the exposure to the artificial light, the level of the hormone will drop and this will help to deal with sleep disorder.

There are many reasons why light therapy for SAD can be applied. A doctor may recommend the therapy to a patient in order to improve the effect of antidepressant medication a patient is taking. Besides, it can also be used to reduce the amount of antidepressant medication taken by a patient. It can also be recommended to a person undergoing psychotherapy in order to boost its effect.

Pregnant women who cannot take antidepressant medication can also opt for light therapy for SAD as alternative means of treatment.

Besides the above seasonal effective disorder, light therapy can also be applied for the treatment of some disorders that are not seasonal such as jet lag, obsessive compulsive disorders, Parkinson disease, attention deficient/hyperactivity disorder and Parkinson disease.

If you are opting for light therapy for SAD, you should be aware that the therapy cannot eliminate the symptoms of seasonal effective disorder completely. It is only applied in order to reduce symptoms or to enhance the effect of other treatment options for SAD.

There are certain side effects that are associated with light therapy for SAD. However, the side effects are mild. Some of the side effects are nausea, headache, dry mouth, sleep problems and eyestrain. These side effects are temporal and last for few days especially at the beginning of the treatment.

There are different strategies that you can apply in order to reduce the side effects of light therapy. One of the ways through which you can deal with the side effects is by reducing the time of treatment, altering the time of the day that you expose yourself to light etc.

Light therapy for SAD will help you to reduce the symptoms of SAD. More information of this therapy is available on the author’s blog – www.Sadlight-Therapy.com