How Does Light Therapy Work for SAD?
With light therapy for SAD, you sit about 2 feet from a bright light (about 20 times brighter than normal room lighting). You start with one 10-minute to 15-minute session per day. The time is then increased to 30 minutes-45 minutes a day, depending on your response. Some teens recover within days using light therapy; others take much longer. If the SAD symptoms don’t stop, your doctor may increase the light therapy sessions to twice daily. Those who respond to light therapy are encouraged to continue until they can be out in the sunshine again in springtime. Light therapy alone may not be enough to relieve SAD. Since SAD is just a variation of depression, an antidepressant may be helpful. Some researchers link SAD to the natural hormone melatonin, which causes drowsiness. Because light modifies the amount of melatonin in the human nervous system and boosts serotonin to the brain, light therapy has an antidepressant effect. When light strikes the eye’s retina, a process in the body dec
