Light Box

There are many mental health disorders that people experience. Some of the disorders are triggered by events that occur during the course of a lifetime and others can be brought on by our environment. Taking care of your mental health is important to have the best quality of life possible. The first step to insure good mental health is being able to recognize and identify when things are not going well. Reviewing your symptoms with a mental health professional can lead to improving your mental health. One common mental health disorder is seasonal effective disorder or SED. SED is an environmental disorder that many people experience during the dark winter months. A quick and easy way to help deal with SED is through the use of a light box.

People that experience seasonal effective disorder often report symptoms similar to depression, such as feeling tired, restless, loss of interest and change in appetite. The thing that makes SED different than depression is that the person cannot identify an event or reason for the symptoms. A light box is a simple unit that gives off the effect of day light. By spending twenty minutes in front of a light box the body and brain reacts as it does to spending time in the sun light. The effect of the light box is that the symptoms of depression are alleviated.

The box needs to be of a certain kind of light and intensity and should be used under the recommendation and guidance of a mental health professional. Because the light box duplicates the effective of sun light, it needs to be used during the day time, and preferably in the morning hours. If the light box is used in the evening your internal clock can be altered and it will be difficult to sleep at night.

The use of a light box started in Alaska and Russia during the long winter days that provide only a few short hours of sun light. There have been many variations on the boxes, but now that the technology is perfected the units can be purchased very reasonably for at home use. Most mental health professionals will recommend that you place the portable light box on the breakfast table for twenty minutes. During this time you can have your breakfast and read the morning paper. The effect will be the same as spending time in the sun light. Your spirits will be raised and your energy level will return to normal. This will increase your activity during the day and lead to a more restful night sleep. One light box can be used by several different people, so the investment can benefit more than one family member