Light Therapy Benefits

Light therapy is used by mental health providers to assuage some conditions that have proven responsive to light exposure. Light therapy involves full-spectrum light, UV light or bright-light.

Benefits for Depression

• Light therapy triggers a chemical reaction in the patient's brain, suppressing the production of melatonin that determines sleep cycles and can lead to depression or insomnia.

Benefits for Insomnia

• Therapy involving a few hours of exposure to bright light can alter someone's circadian rhythms, training the body to sleep at night.

Benefits for Seasonal Affective Disorder

• Light therapy can treat SAD, a form of depression, by causing a biochemical change in the brain that reduces bad moods.

Benefits for Acne

• Blue light therapy can attack acne-forming bacteria and treat severe acne.

Benefits for Lupus

• Types of UV lights might help relieve the symptoms of lupus.