White Light, Red Light

J

j.

Guest
Effects of different wavelengths in seasonal affective disorder.
Brainard GC, Sherry D, Skwerer RG, Waxler M, Kelly K, Rosenthal NE.
Source
Clinical Psychobiology Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD 20892.

Abstract
The aim of this study was to compare the relative therapeutic efficacies of three different light sources for treating winter depression. A balanced incomplete block crossover design was employed, whereby all patients (n = 18) were randomly assigned to two out of the three treatment conditions: white, red and blue light. The degree of depression was assessed by the 21-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. The data suggest that at a photon density of 2.3 X 10(15) photons/s/cm2, white light has greater therapeutic benefit than red or blue light. It is clear that a larger sample population should be tested to confirm this result. This preliminary finding indicates that light sources currently in use for phototherapy could not be improved by narrowing the wavelengths provided and shifting them towards either end of the visible spectrum.

Link
 

narouz

Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2012
Messages
4,429
j. said:
Effects of different wavelengths in seasonal affective disorder.
Brainard GC, Sherry D, Skwerer RG, Waxler M, Kelly K, Rosenthal NE.
Source
Clinical Psychobiology Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD 20892.

Abstract
The aim of this study was to compare the relative therapeutic efficacies of three different light sources for treating winter depression. A balanced incomplete block crossover design was employed, whereby all patients (n = 18) were randomly assigned to two out of the three treatment conditions: white, red and blue light. The degree of depression was assessed by the 21-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. The data suggest that at a photon density of 2.3 X 10(15) photons/s/cm2, white light has greater therapeutic benefit than red or blue light. It is clear that a larger sample population should be tested to confirm this result. This preliminary finding indicates that light sources currently in use for phototherapy could not be improved by narrowing the wavelengths provided and shifting them towards either end of the visible spectrum.

Link

This is another of those ambiguous areas in PeatLand.

I think we have it pretty well figured out what Peat prefers in "Red Light Therapy."
But I've never been able to clarify for sure
if Peat also believes that "SAD" light therapy is beneficial.

I believe it was back in the '90's in one of his newsletters
that Peat seemed, vaguely, to refer to an "SAD"- style light therapy
in that he said something like
"staring into several hundred watts of bright incandescents
for a few seconds might be more beneficial than staring at
a low watt bulb for hours."

By "SAD style" light therapy
I mean a therapy centered around looking into bright lights for a relatively brief amount of time.
You will see very bright light panels for sale for this purpose
and the light produced by them is not only or maybe not even mostly of the red spectrum (600--850nm)
that Peat designates the therapeutic red spectrum.
And with Peat-style Red Light therapy
it is not clear that any "staring into" the lights is necessary.

We are talking about one kind of light therapy that targets the eyes/retina,
and another that targets the skin
(and Peat reputedly told someone privately,
when asked what are the best areas of the body
to focus the red light therapy upon,
that those areas would be the abdomen and the head.)
He didn't, as I recall, say "face." He said head. I wish I could know his explanation.

So...j.,
you seem to be emphasizing the SAD-style, eye/retina kind of light therapy.
And I don't know what Peat thinks about that--
what spectrums he recommends
or if he even thinks the therapy is helpful.
The SAD people seem to use bright "white" light which includes some blue and green wavelengths
as I recall.

I've been curious about this too.
 
OP
J

j.

Guest
I don't really emphasize SAD style therapy on purpose, I was just googling trying to learn more about the light stuff.
 
OP
J

j.

Guest
White light I think is supposed to be the combination of the entire visible spectrum, but I wonder if the benefits only come from the red and orange part of the spectrum.
 

Amazoniac

Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2014
Messages
8,583
Location
Not Uganda
I believe it was back in the '90's in one of his newsletters
that Peat seemed, vaguely, to refer to an "SAD"- style light therapy
in that he said something like
"staring into several hundred watts of bright incandescents
for a few seconds might be more beneficial than staring at
a low watt bulb for hours."
I suspect that even if someone was using a burqa, the therapeutic effects of perceiving the bright light would be similar. So bright incandescent lamps in front of the person (staring directly seems stressful) should compensate for the lack of bright light:
Light is Right – Functional Performance Systems (FPS)
The absence of bright light would create a progesterone deficiency, and would leave estrogen and prolactin unopposed.
Maybe it's something dictated by the amount of vitamin A that's being consumed for vision as a signal for the rest of the body about what's going on in the environment, as the fertile talked about here.

518a3beb205b4abe933b352fbe679c45--workspace-desk-desk-office.jpg
 
Last edited:

biggirlkisss

Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2013
Messages
971
red is the most effective it goes the deepest no point focusing on other wavelengths 670nm is the best next to 660nm. If you want to argue that a wide range of red 620-670nm is best then using one single wavelength I would need to use carbon moxide breathe reader with 0.01 and another one calibrated to give you that
 

Similar threads

Back
Top Bottom