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Bright Light Therapy: A Non-Drug Way to Treat Depression and Sleep Problems
What is bright light therapy?
Bright light therapy (BLT) is a non-drug way to treat depression and sleep troubles.1 BLT can be used to treat seasonal affective disorder (SAD), major depressive disorder (MDD), and bipolar disorder. It can also be used for sleep problems related to dementia, the sleep/wake cycle, and insomnia. BLT involves sitting in front of a light box for at least 30 minutes every morning. Light therapy can be used by both adults and children. It can be used alone or along with medications. BLT is safe, and people find it acceptable.1
Is BLT effective?
- Seasonal affective disorder (SAD)
SAD is a condition in which people have low moods that appear in the fall or winter and improve in the spring or summer. People with SAD may also be very tired, sleep more, be hungrier, crave sugar, and gain weight.2 About 2% of people who live in northern areas experience SAD.3 Women have SAD more often than men.3
BLT is the treatment used first to treat SAD. BLT will help about 60-90% of people who use it correctly.4 Some people find that it starts to help after only 2-4 days.4 It may take up to 2-4 weeks for others.4 A study compared no treatment for SAD, a fake treatment, and BLT. Depression was less severe in the people who used BLT.5 A different study found that BLT reduced symptoms of depression by almost half in people with SAD.3
- Major depressive disorder (MDD)
MDD is a condition in which individuals suffer from long periods of such low mood that it affects their daily life. Unlike SAD, MDD does not change with the seasons. About 14% of people will experience MDD at some time during their lives. MDD is the second most common cause of disability worldwide.1
BLT is very effective for treating MDD. Fluoxetine (Prozac) is a medication often used to treat depression. One study found that BLT helped more than Fluoxetine did for major depression.1 Depression symptoms disappeared in about 20% of people who received Fluoxetine. In contrast, symptoms disappeared in 44% of the people who used BLT. Symptoms disappeared in 59% of people who received both Fluoxetine and BLT at the same time.
Similar results were found when BLT was compared to Venlafaxine (Effexor) to treat severe MDD in patients who were hospitalized. (Venlafaxine is another medication commonly used to treat depression.) This study found that depression completely improved in 76% of individuals