Light Therapy and Sound Therapy for Sleep

<a href=”http://www.lightsoundtechnology.com”>Sleep disorders can have many causes and may be of many types; Insomnia is a familiar amongst the many types of sleeping disorders. Medication often proves to have worst side effects and the body builds a resistance or a dependency to the commonly used sleep drugs as well. Whether the causes to these sleep problems are deeply psychological or related to more common reasons such as seasonal affective disorder, light therapy, especially blue light and dawn simulation, have been highly effective in providing relief to patients and helping them sleep when they need and want to.

Sleep Disorders

SAD, Insomnia, Circadian rhythm sleep disorder and Narcolepsy are the most common disorders that affect the sleeping patterns of people on a regular basis all over the world. These disorders are deeply related to the biological clock of the human body, and light treatment uses this clock by affecting its reactions through the use of bright light stimuli. This is done in order to ‘set’ this clock, allowing patients to sleep proper hours and at timings which cause the least disruption of normal daily hours for work and family life. The therapy is not used to cure any possible root cause (such as psychological causes – even though light therapy has had success in helping treat psychological disorders such as SAD and bipolar disorder), it generally elicits and reinforces desired behavior while offsetting the undesirable behavior by resetting the biological clock.

How light therapy affects Sleep cycles

Our body clock must be in sync with our natural inclination (natural cycle) in order to sleep well. This clock can be offset by a number of causes; such as depression, SAD (winter depression etc), illness or irregular sleeping hours. This lack of sleep and the offsetting of the natural clock can then lead to deeper effects such as increased depression, exhaustion and lack of energy and lack of sleep (insomnia).

Bright Light; Clinical tests have shown that the pineal gland in the eye is affected by the presence of any bright light. This gland acts to regulate our natural biological clock (the body clock), which, in turn is connected to our sleeping habits (the natural sleeping patterns our body adheres to come from the body clock), mood, sexual drive and even our eating habits.

Blue Light; The retinal receptor in the eye is the receptor that interprets and responds to the wavelength of the light entering the eye. Tests indicate that his receptor responds more to particular wavelengths of light, including blue light (405 to 425 nm). This receptor sends signals to the part of the brain (hypothalamus) which controls sleep, hormonal function and our emotion levels (moods.)

Therapy; Light therapy can be planned around the type of disorder. The schedule and frequency / duration of the treatment depends upon the type of disorder, how it affects the sleeping patterns (how much sleep is being attained and at what hours?) and what the possible causes are. The therapy can be scheduled to provide the stimulus using a light source (such as those found at clinics or the portable ones which can be used at home) at appropriate times in order to technically reset the biological clock (with the treatment continued over a set period of time) until the subject becomes accustomed to a desirable sleeping routine. The better sleep will in turn induce better moods and remove insomnia and lack of energy.

References:
Wikipedia[dot]com
En[dot]wikipedia[dot]org/wiki/Light_therapy
www[dot]naturebright[dot]com/

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Light Therapy Is Used For Many Areas

Where is Light Therapy Used

Light therapy has found many uses in different areas. For example, it is used to treat a variety of skin diseases and it is used to treat mood and sleep related disorders as well. Let us have a look at the various places where light therapy is being used.

Acne:

It has been known since a long time that sunlight helps cure the bacteria which cause acne. The visible violet light which is present in the sunlight activates a porphyrin that damages and kills the bacteria which cause acne. And this process does not cause any tanning or sunburn. However, during the course of this treatment, it is important to protect the eyes from the light as this may be harmful to the chemicals in the retina. This treatment has proved to be more effective than Benzoyl Peroxide which is often used to cure acne.

Psoriasis:

One of the common problems of people suffering with psoriasis is skin inflammation. Narrow band ultra violet B rays are given as a light therapy on the skin surface which is inflamed. The ultra violet rays help suppress the inflammation on the skin.

Wound Healing:

It has been found that infrared light releases nitrous oxide in the blood stream which increases the circulation of blood in the area where the light is directed. This is very helpful for people, who due to various diseases such as Diabetes find it very difficult to heal wounds on the surface of the skin. This is also helpful for patients suffering with Neuropathy, Ulcers and for patients whose blood circulation is improper.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD):

People with seasonal affective disorder go into depression like states during the winter months. This is seen in places where the amount of daylight is very less in these seasons (countries near the North Pole, for instance). The cure for these people is full sunlight. So, light boxes which replicate sunlight conditions are used for these patients. These use artificial illumination to re-create the fully lighted atmospheric conditions that are normally present in sunlight.

Depression:

This is a non-seasonal kind of depression. But light therapy has shown interesting results in the treatment of such patients as well. A similar kind of treatment method is followed for treating these patients as with the people affected with SAD. The results are faster compared to the use of anti-depressants.

Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome (DSPS):

People suffering with Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome (DSPS) have problems sleeping and often end up falling asleep way past midnight and thus have difficulty waking up in the morning. In these cases the light must be provided as soon as the patient wakes up. Light therapy is useful for the people suffering from DSPS because it causes dawn simulation.

Jet Lag:

It has been seen that exposing the person suffering from jet lag to light at appropriate times before, during and after the air travel can actually reduce the effects of jet lag and help the body to adjust easily to the time differences. This process has even been used by NASA to train its astronauts for late night launches.

Heliotherapy:

This is a very popular term which is used to describe light therapy, and is used in spas and such places. These places use various forms of light therapy to provide tanning beds and booths and even tanning lamps which use both ultraviolet and infrared rays of light for providing treatment to their customers.

When not to use Light Therapy

However advantageous light therapy may be, there are certain times when light therapy is not advisable.

It has been observed that exposure to too much light can cause skin damage as well as destroying the amounts of vitamins A and C in the skin, and it can damage the generation of free radicals in the body. It is for this reason that it is said that light therapy should always be taken in the presence of a licensed practitioner, qualified doctor or dermatologist.

Light therapy used for patients suffering from depression can also cause maniac states (which are the absolute opposite of depressed states) because of the mood alteration effect produced by it. As such, it can also be considered similar to taking mood-altering drugs. Hence, it is always advised to take such therapies under the consultation of a qualified medical practitioner only.

In some cases, where the patient suffers from phototoxicity (light can kill the cells), or has a photosensitive skin or is taking certain medicines which can create such conditions, light therapy is not advised. Also, with patients that have a tendency towards manic behavior, light therapy is not advised.

By Madhavi Ghare
Published: 2/20/2008

The Relaxation Effect with Sound Therapy

The body rejuvenates itself during rest periods and sleep. Therefore use this protocol when stressed or experiencing sleeplessness. Using headphones with our “Deep Relax” CD optimizes the relaxation effect. When the mind is at rest, the body’s ability to heal itself is maximized.

For Sleep or to decrease anxiety, set on Low 1 (blinking lights) and place on tummy while in an easy chair or lying down. It’s best to play the 30 minute ”Deep Relax” CD which came with your light box (with headphones if possible) which is equivalent to a 2-3 hour nap ….or use Barry Goldstein’s other soothing music CD’s sold on our website.

This allows the mind to sleep while the lights relax the body, like melting butter, from the inside out. The body can repair itself much faster and effortlessly if the mind is out of the way. The lights also clear blockages in the acupuncture meridian points throughout the body for prevention and maintenance of a strong immune system and internal organ health. Let us know how it works for you.