Light therapy

Ten thousand lumens of light are being emitted from a small, square box of LED lights to my right about 18″ from my eyes right now, and will be for the next hour or so.  It’s a small light therapy unit that I ordered off of Amazon for $35 that can either plug into a wall socket or power strip with a wall adapter or be plugged into your computer via a USB cable.  It’s small enough that I can even travel with it, which is why I got this particular model.  The light therapy was recommended to to my by my psychiatrist, since we live way up north here in Montana and there’s not much light to be had in the winter time here…at least not when we need it.  He doesn’t think I have Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), but he does think that it can’t hurt because I do have PTSD with Depression and Anxiety.  So, for 30-60 minutes every morning, I get to bathe in the bright (and I do mean bright!) light of my light therapy lamp so that my brain gets going on producing the neurotransmitters that it needs to in order to keep me happy-er.  That’s the hope, anyway.  Now, don’t get this picture in your head wrong.  I’m not staring into this light!  It’s to the side, so that the light enters my eyes, but I’m not staring at it going blind or anything like that.  It came with instructions, which I read (yes, I’m good at reading the instructions, especially when the thing could blind you or make you think the aliens are coming to take you away!).  So far, I’ve noticed that it lights up the room quite well and doesn’t bother me once I get used to it being on.  I don’t have it on the highest setting, because that’s a bit much, but it has two or three different settings of brightness, and I’m on the middle or lesser one right now.  The highest one kind of got to me a bit, but would be doable if that were all that there was on this unit.  Anyway, if you live where there isn’t much sunlight during part of the year, I’d recommend that you try light therapy.  The units are small, affordable, and easy to use, and the research is there to back up the use of bright light without the UV radiation as therapy for depressive disorders.  Whether or not you have a depressive disorder doesn’t matter.  It might just make you happier and more productive in the morning!  That’s why many people call them “happy lights”.  You may or may not have to order one online, depending on the area you live in and the availability of what you need in your area.  Online, there’s literally everything under the sun in form, fashion, functionality, and even fun as far as light therapy lights go!  Find something that will work for you!  And be happy-er!  Good luck!