Light therapy is an alternative treatment that helps people reset their body clocks and get them back in sync if these have been put off track.

The relationship Between Light Therapy and Depression

Light therapy is used to treat various depressive and sleep disorders. This therapy is based on light intensity and there are many benefits of light therapy. This intense light triggers off a chemical reaction in the brain’s pineal gland and lessens the transformation of serotonin into the sleep hormone melatonin. Melatonin hormone, made from serotonin, in the absence of light, is in charge of determining sleep cycles. These sleep cycles are also referred to as circadian rhythms, which, when disturbed, led one towards depression, melancholy and sluggishness.

Seasonal changes show physical manifestations in people having received benefits of light therapy

Light therapy and depression have certain effects on the functioning of the human body, which have physical manifestations. The warmer months, like spring and summer, slows the production of melatonin because people are exposed to more natural daylight during these seasons as opposed to wintertime. Fall and winter sees a reverse in pattern as bodies naturally produce more melatonin because of shorter days in the season. This causes mild hibernation in many people. Many people slow down and feel lethargic as a result of the increase of melatonin/decrease in level of serotonin. This is due to energy reserves being used up. Additionally, these low levels of serotonin affect the metabolism and mental state of many people while also disrupting their sleep patterns and circadian clocks.

Youngest users benefiting from light therapy

Commercially created light boxes make use of light to treat disorders in many young people. Infants have benefited from this alternative, new age knowledge too as treatment of skin disorders like psoriasis and hyperbilirubinemia, which causes jaundice in newborns, have been very successful.

The larger perspective: benefits of light therapy extended to the world

Light therapy is a successful remedy for mental illnesses like SAD (seasonal affective disorder) and scientific studies support its benefits for sleep disturbances, depression, bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder as well as premenstrual syndrome. The greater advantages are that it is essentially non-invasive, with negligible side effects and a large number of people are recorded to having responded to this treatment quickly. Light therapy has come to mean a rejuvenation process of the skin achievable by wavelengths of light.

Light therapy has powerful therapeutic benefits to living tissues, for both body and mind. Photo-stimulation is one mode used in light therapy, requires a visible red light to penetrate tissue to a depth of about 8-10 mm and this light beam has a beneficial effect on cell tissue.

The other kind of light therapy involves LED light. This converts light energy into cell energy without thermal tissue injury and delivers adequate energy to help the body heal itself by stimulating collagen, increasing fibroblasts and rejuvenating cellular production. Thus, light therapy helps reverse the regenerative aging or sun damage caused to the skin.