Red Light Therapy Panels and SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) / Winter-depression

“So is it’s like one of those ‘bright lamps’ people use in the morning?”

Many people mistake red light therapy for bright light therapy (or even for UV-lamps). Red light therapy is neither, although it is preferably used in the mornings and although it carries a similar effect on seasonal affective disorder (SAD), which is also known as ‘winter-depression’. 

As a Scandinavian company, we understand far too well the challenge of combining a geographical placement that severely limits the amount of light the sun provides each day, and a modern lifestyle that severely limits the amount of time we spend outside during these few hours each day.

Most of us have at some point shared the frustration of ‘going to work before the sun comes up and leaving work after the sun goes down with our fellows. 

The difference between one’s mood in the winter and summertime actually tells us a lot about the importance of light to our combined physical-psychological state. If one thinks that the change in mood, energy, and overall thriving all comes down to simply ‘seeing less light’ (or ‘feeling more cold’), one could wonder, why sitting under sharp artificial lights (and putting on a sweater) isn’t just as good (which most of us still do, when we’re inside at our jobs or universities during the winter months). 

The fact is, that we not only do we need to ‘see’ more light quantitatively, but we need the physiological exposure to particular parts of the electromagnetic radiation that the sun provides. The most obvious example of such a ‘need’ is the crucial lack of vitamin-D that most of us suffer from in the colder months of the year, when we do not get sufficient (invisible) UVB radiation.  

Just like you’ll have to ’supplement’ vitamin D through your diet (lots of fatty fish or synthetic D3), you’ll have to ‘supplement’ red- and near-infrared-radiation, if you want your body to function optimally during these months. 

A ‘bright light therapy’ lamp helps you wake up by providing a very powerful white light, which is the most circadian-activating type of light. It helps you wake up, basically, due to the strength of the light (10.000 lux of white light). A powerful Red light therapy panel, such as ours, doesn’t just help you wake up and set your circadian clock due to the strength of its light (about 25.000), it also gives you the particular electromagnetic frequencies that your cells are designed to receive in the morning from the sun.

Many factors play into SAD, but winter is fundamentally a state of less sunlight. It should be no wonder that both research and anecdotes demonstrate the significant effects of getting more light, in amending it. RLT is beneficial to anyone who lives a modern lifestyle, even those who don’t experience clinical SAD, but the further north you live (or the more modern your lifestyle is), the greater the chances, that it will be a huge benefit in your efforts to live a happy and healthy life.