Posted by Nickengland on October 30, 2005, at 5:40:26
Hello there :-)
I purchased a light box last week (monday) and glad to say it arrived 2 days later on wednesday - 26th October.
I've been using the device everyday since then and it has made an excellent difference to my everyday mood and sleeping patterns all with the added bonus of being free of side effects...(no hypomania, just the feel good summer feeling :-)
Before buying the light box, searching through the internet I noticed there was various products to choose from depending on size, mobility, light strength (lux) duration of time being used, distance from where to had to be to recieve ample light ~ and of couse price.
Bearing in mind that most S.A.D sufferers who have the condition of 'winter blues' tend to live above 30 degrees latitude, the products I was looking at were from the UK, North America, Canada, Sweden, Finland and Germany.
I was going to go for a light box from a company called Apollolight, as the research and profile made it out to be very good (the best) but because it meant shipping it in from the US and waiting etc (and the clocks have gone back today I was in a hurry!) I ended up buying from the UK.
The top of the range product from Apollo was/is also out of stock unfortunately and from what I could tell there wasn't international shipping for the box I wanted - cost $449.
There is however a German product that costs £549 - that would be just under $975!
I ended up buying a product called a Diamond 4, from most places costs £270 ($480) but fortunately I was able to find a site and pay £225 - about $400. Of the Diamond range its the most powerful one, so luckily I only need to use it for 20mins each morning. They were the first company in the UK to design the light boxes here and fitted the original treatment rooms at the Maudsley and Charing Cross Hospitals and still continue to ~ so I'm glad all that money didn't go into a cheap product/company!
Anyway, happy to say that 5 days into the treatment and I have found the light ;-) It really does quite literally brighten up my day, regulate my body clock and great for jump starting the day.
Apprently its best to change the lights every 3 years, although they don't go out then, but this keeps them as bright as possbile and its pretty cheap to do so, about £15.
Next winter I dont think I'll be in England though lol
I would also think as well that bright therapy could possibly also have an affect on improving depression/sleeping patterns (circadian rhythms) in people who do not have Seasonal Affective Disorder, at the same time I guess in some individuals it could possibily make them worse if they do not like the sun/bright light.. Also according to a study from Denmark it can also be benefial for people with hypothyroidism.
Heres some more studies I looked up..
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=pubmed
Kind regards
Nick
poster:Nickengland
thread:573285
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051024/msgs/573285.html