Monday, November 9, 2009

Light Therapy

I’ve been following Dr. Fuhrman’s advice to use light therapy to help you sleep better and fight the winter blues. You sit in front of a bright light for 20-30 minutes a day, right after you wake up. I’ve been doing my morning studying with this light. I’ve been doing this for 2 weeks now, with the exception of this weekend when I got up early to drive to Chicago on both days. It seems to be working pretty well. I’m sleeping more and my mood is improving, though I got cranky this afternoon when work was stressing me out. The real test of this will be in the spring. That is when I have the most trouble sleeping. I think it’s caused by the change of lighting. As the days get longer, I have more trouble sleeping. As I get older this affects me more. Even though the light is expensive ($200!), it's a one-time investment which is worthwhile if it regulates your sleep and mood.

One thing I wonder about is that I sit in front of a large computer screen at night. Does that mess up my sleep schedule?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

did it end up helping you in the spring? I have just ordered one to help with depression and sleep scheduling and am hoping to have positive results.
- tpareo

kneecap said...

hey tpareo!

sorry it took me a while to respond. Yes I found it helped but I didn't stick with it for very long. I ride my bike outside in the morning and that seems to work too. Let me know how it works for you.

-barb