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Air Pollution
Published in William J. Rea, Kalpana D. Patel, Air Pollution and the Electromagnetic Phenomena as Incitants, 2018
William J. Rea, Kalpana D. Patel
Light treatment has been successfully used to reduce symptoms of the circadian sleep disorders described above. Light boxes using fluorescent light sources are the most common treatment devices available on the market. In general, light boxes provide a high amount of white light (2500–10,000 lx at the cornea). The main disadvantages of such devices include the necessity to remain in one place for the duration of the treatment and the fact that some users experience discomfort from having to stare into the bright light. Until recently, light treatment devices used “full-spectrum” light. More recently, products have become available that use narrow-band blue (λmax = 470 nm) and green (λmax = 500 nm) LEDs. Because the circadian system is maximally sensitive to short wavelengths, much lower levels of blue and green light can be effective. The small, versatile nature of LEDs has also facilitated the development of personal light-treatment devices, such as LED light goggles. Treatment devices such as these goggles can reduce the need to sit in front of a light box for extended periods of time and may lead to higher compliance in using light as a treatment option.
Healing with Light
Published in Aruna Bakhru, Nutrition and Integrative Medicine, 2018
Anadi Martel, Wesley Burwell, Magda Havas
The therapeutic use of sunlight, known as heliotherapy, was common in antiquity, whether in Egypt, Greece, or Rome. Separately from this use of the sun's white full-spectrum light, there gradually emerged sophisticated systems of healing with colors, or chromotherapy. Some of the earliest records can be found in India's Ayurvedic medicine: the Atharvan Veda, dating from 1500 bce,3 which describes the healing powers of colored light and is considered as important as food and medicinal remedies. China's traditional medicine associates each organ with a specific color.
The Relaxation SystemTherapeutic Modalities
Published in Len Wisneski, The Scientific Basis of Integrative Health, 2017
Full-spectrum light, like sunlight, includes all wavelengths of light, from infrared (IR) to ultraviolet (UV). Bright light includes all but the UV end of the full spectrum. In 1984, Dr. Norman E. Rosenthal first defined the condition of seasonal affective disorder (SAD), and in 1985 he described the first application of bright artificial light for its treatment (Rosenthal et al., 1984, 1985). SAD appears to stem from dysfunction in secretion patterns of melatonin from the pineal gland and from abnormally low wintertime secretions of serotonin in the CNS. Research has shown that patients with SAD have abnormally delayed circadian rhythms (Sack et al., 1990). In other words, they do not secrete melatonin at the appropriate nighttime hour. Bright or full-spectrum light, but not ordinary indoor light, can advance (i.e., shift to an earlier time) the onset of nighttime melatonin production in humans. Recent research has shown that morning light treatment (administered in circadian time at 8.5 hours after melatonin is endogenously released) is more effective than late morning or evening treatment (Terman et al., 2001). Light therapy appears to be most effective at 10,000 lux for at least 30 minutes, but takes about 3 weeks for therapeutic benefit to occur (Eastman et al., 1998; Terman et al., 1998). Bulbs producing bright white light, lacking the UV end of the spectrum, are sometimes used as they are just as effective for depression, but they avoid side effects of sunburn and eye damage (Lam et al., 1992). However, some technicians selling therapeutic light products claim that sunburn and eye damage is an issue created by researchers and is not a side effect that their clients ever encounter. Technicians receive complaints of glare with bright light, but not with full spectrum.
Effects of nocturnal light exposure on circadian rhythm and energy metabolism in healthy adults: A randomized crossover trial
Published in Chronobiology International, 2022
Youngju Choi, Yuki Nakamura, Nobuhiko Akazawa, Insung Park, Hyo-Bum Kwak, Kumpei Tokuyama, Seiji Maeda
The participants underwent two conditions that differed in light exposure: < 50 lux (control) and BL between 21:00 and 24:00. They were exposed to a BL dose of 10000 lux, equivalent to outdoor daylight level on a clear day, at eye level using a lighting device (Bright Light Me, Solartone Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan) that was placed 30 cm from the participant. The BL was a fluorescent full spectrum light at 6700 K. In the control condition, the intensity of light was < 50 lux, equivalent to the light of 5 candles at the eye level. Control conditions were achieved using a curtain that reduced light intensity levels to < 50 lux. During the 3-h-long sitting period in the metabolic chamber, the participants were allowed to read books in an upright position for 3 h. The participants were contacted through an interphone at 15-min intervals and every time their eyes closed for several seconds. Salivary samples were collected for assaying the hormonal levels of the circadian rhythm (19:00 to 08:00 the following day except for the sleeping period).
Impact of an Individually Tailored Light Mask on Sleep Parameters in Older Adults With Advanced Phase Sleep Disorder
Published in Behavioral Sleep Medicine, 2020
Mariana G. Figueiro, Philip D. Sloane, Kimberly Ward, David Reed, Sheryl Zimmerman, John S. Preisser, Seema Garg, Christopher J. Wretman
Laboratory studies have indicated that phase advancement in older adults can be ameliorated by exposure to light levels higher than those experienced at home (Cagnacci, Soldani, Romagnolo, & Yen, 1994; Lack, Wright, Kemp, & Gibbon, 2005). However, the optimal timing of such light exposure is approximately 4 hr before the time of the core body temperature minimum (CBTmin; Cagnacci et al., 1994), which in research settings has typically required participants either to be kept awake beyond their typical bedtime or wakened after falling asleep to sit facing a full-spectrum light box for 2 hr or more (Kim et al., 2014; Kolodyazhniy et al., 2011; Lack et al., 2005). Since such a method would be unacceptable outside the laboratory setting, we hypothesized that light exposure during sleep, if feasible, might be a potent method for creating phase delay in older adults whose lives are adversely affected by advanced sleep phase disorder.
Red white and blue – bright light effects in a diurnal rodent model for seasonal affective disorder
Published in Chronobiology International, 2019
Carmel Bilu, Haim Einat, Katy Tal-Krivisky, Joseph Mizrahi, Vicktoria Vishnevskia-Dai, Galila Agam, Noga Kronfeld-Schor
Bright light exposure is a mainstay treatment for seasonal affective disorder [SAD; (Terman and Terman 2005; Wirz-Justice et al. 2005)] as well as an adjunct treatment for major depression (Golden et al. 2005; Wirz-Justice et al. 2005). Despite the use of this effective treatment for decades the underlying biological mechanism of bright light exposure’s beneficial effect is not clear. Moreover, there is a debate regarding the most efficacious wavelength of light for treatment. Whereas in the traditional approach full-spectrum light is used (Nussbaumer et al. 2015; Terman and Terman 2005), some studies suggest that the critical wavelengths are within the range of blue (Anderson et al. 2009; Meesters et al. 2011, 2018) or green (Loving et al. 2005; Oren et al. 1991; Wirz-Justice et al. 2005) light.