About Light Therapy Research

Light therapy is a treatment method that uses light to help problems such as insomnia, non-productivity, jet lag, bulimia, seasonal affective disorder, depression and more. Many general medical problems are successfully treated with light therapy.

History of Light Therapy

• Light therapy research or phototherapy goes all the way back to ancient Egypt. The ancient Greeks also used sunlight medicinally. In the 1920s, the late Dinshah Ghadiali, M.D., stated that color and light are how the body meridians function. He had his own successful system of healing with colored lights which he introduced in New York City. In 1980, A.J. Lewy, M.D., and his co-workers at the National Institute of Mental Health, verified that high-intensity light affects the natural release of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin. They also found that light therapy helps seasonal depression and jet lag.

Features

• The circadian rhythm in our bodies has to do with timing of sleep, endocrine hormones, body temperature and biological functions. These biological regulators in humans occur in a 24-hour cycle. Studies have shown that light therapy can improve disturbances in the circadian. Only light that has full wavelength spectrum, like natural sunlight, can maintain health, according to the photobiologist and researcher John Nash Ott, D.Sc. For 40 years, he researched wavelengths of natural light and their effect on living things.

Functions

• Different medical fields use light therapy to treat patients. These include dermatology, physiotherapy, sports medicine, rheumatology, psychiatry, rehabilitation and surgery. It is used for therapeutic purposes and helps the body make quick adjustments so you can heal either mentally or physically. Norman Rosenthal, M.D., psychiatrist and author, discovered that some individuals get depressed only in certain seasons, usually winter. He is the one who defined and named "Seasonal Affective Disorder," (SAD). He created the use of a light that is similar to sunlight to treat SAD patients.

Identification/Symptoms

• If you feel depressed any time of the year or only in the winter, you may benefit from light therapy. Light therapy research has supported the usefulness of treatment for depression that occurs anytime of the year. Problems sleeping may also be helped by light therapy. The Bioptron Lamp, which began manufacture in 1988, was developed in Switzerland and has been found to stimulate the immune system and skin cells. This light helps the body heal with its own natural power. Pain from fibromyalgia and arthritis may improve from using a Bioptron Lamp.

Types

• Human tissues are affected by the wavelength or electromagnetic radiation of the light used, the power density, the source of light and if it is continuous or pulsed light. Different lights are used for different purposes. An excellent treatment for pain relief is infrared light devices. Ultraviolet light is used to kill bacteria. Blue light therapy is good for the treatment of skin problems, such as acne vulgaris. Light boxes are used for depression and seasonal effective disorder.