Light darkens mood

Light Dulls and Darkens Bird Eggs

Although egg color is generally consistent within individual birds and robust to environmental variation, recent evidence suggests a degree of susceptibility to environmental perturbation or modulation of egg color. Most of this variation manifests via the physiology of the laying female, but some direct impacts of the environment on laid eggs have also been discovered. Here we test whether lig...

Light treatment of mood disorders

In 1981, seven patients with nonseasonal depression were treated with bright white light in 1982, bright artificial light was used to treat a manic-depressive patient with a seasonal mood cycle. In the last 20 years, a plethora of studies have further defined the depressive populations, who are responsive to light treatment; the optimal timing, intensity, spectral frequency, and duration of tre...

The Effect of Exercise and Light on Mood

Bright-Light Therapy in the Treatment of Mood Disorders

Bright-light therapy (BLT) is established as the treatment of choice for seasonal affective disorder/winter type (SAD). In the last two decades, the use of BLT has expanded beyond SAD: there is evidence for efficacy in chronic depression, antepartum depression, premenstrual depression, bipolar depression and disturbances of the sleep-wake cycle. Data on the usefulness of BLT in non-seasonal dep...

Bright-light therapy in the treatment of mood disorders.

Bright-light therapy (BLT) is established as the treatment of choice for seasonal affective disorder/winter type (SAD). In the last two decades, the use of BLT has expanded beyond SAD: there is evidence for efficacy in chronic depression, antepartum depression, premenstrual depression, bipolar depression and disturbances of the sleep-wake cycle. Data on the usefulness of BLT in non-seasonal dep...