Sufferers become lethargic,Light Therapy as a Treatment for SAD Articles feel tired even after sleep, and can suffer physical pain in the joints and abdomen. They can feel despair, guilt with nothing to be guilty about, and severe anxiety. Frustration and irritability for no apparent reason are also common. To some it is mild and to others it can be very severe to the point of suicide. It is not, therefore, a condition to be ignored and light therapy definitely helps in most cases.
OK, perhaps they do enjoy Christmas with their families, but the depression is not helped by the weight that they can put on through the excess red light therapy bed for sale of sugars and starches that they consume through no fault of their own. Not for them New Year resolutions to keep off the sugars and starches. The credit card bills at the end of January do not help either. So how can light therapy help SAD disease, as people call it, though it is actually a syndrome and not a disease? It can’t be ‘caught’ or passed from one person to another and it occurs in varying degrees. It is sometimes referred to as SAD disorder and Winter Blues, but what you call it is irrelevant. Professional psychologists agree on the use of light therapy as a treatment for SAD, and lamps are available that provide the full effect of natural sunlight. It is very important to understand that this is a very real condition, with potentially very serious consequences if not treated properly. Many sufferers feel isolated due to them feeling not fully understood by most people. It is not something they can just ‘snap out of’ or be resolved by them ‘pulling themselves together’. It must be recognized by sufferers and their families that light treatment as a therapy for SAD can help their symptoms and, in the most severe cases, save lives. Not only life itself, by the treatment of potential suicides, but also the quality of life of the millions of less serious cases.
Some sufferers are lucky enough to work in an environment where their exposure to sunlight can be maximized, but others do not. Office workers with desks beside a window can adjust their seating as to achieve this, but those working in windowless environment, which is the case in most manufacturing units, are unable to. Many with the potential to suffer from this disorder escape it through an outdoor life, or holding a job that involves predominantly outdoor work, such as the armed forces and construction industries.