A few questions from a newbie

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crashtst
joined 8 Jan 2008
13 posts

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Posted by crashtst, 15:21 8 February 2008

Does anyone know if contact lenses somehow obstruct the good sunshine rays coming into the eyes?

ALSO: I've become very diligent about getting up in the morning and, on these amazing sunny winter days, standing in the sun for a good 20 minutes.
The amount of wakefulness I feel - and the opening of my eyes - is truly truly amazing. It's GREAT.

I only wish I could get the same result with my light lamp. Never do I get the same sort of blistering sunshine feel, or awakeness with the lamp.

So, I'm just a little bit frustrated. I'm considering getting a blue light lamp just to try is out, see if the intensity can mimic the goodies I feel from outside therapy.

On cet.org (great website for SAD by the way), they said that my optimal waking time for using light therapy is 7:30 am.

Now, I know that light therapy should be used primarily in the morning, within 9 hours of ones melatonin onset the night before, etc. etc. Does anyone else know anything about the science between early-morning light therapy treatment?

Is it smart for people with SAD to get, say 6 hours of good sleep as opposed to 9, to ward off excessive melatonin secretion?

Amalthea
joined 12 Nov 2006
472 posts

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Posted by Amalthea, 20:40 8 February 2008

I'm not sure that SAD people get "good sleep." Rosenthal's book "Winter Blues" suggested that SAD folks don't get stage 3 or 4 sleep.

So far, I've found nothing that deals with this issue, except possibly exercise. Yes, exercise... in the depths of SAD, the thing we feel least like doing. It's a mood booster, it helps with sleep -- something I've personally experienced and is part of my own regular treatment regimen. Sleep meds make you sleep, but apparently if what other people have told me is true, do not actually help with getting "deep sleep."

I will be seeing a sleep therapist on Monday, hopefully. I know I'm going for an initial consult with a sleep clinic, and I hope they have someone else on staff besides a pulmonologist.
Maybe I'll have some answers.

As for contact lenses, my intial thought is "no." The exception would be if they were tinted, then perhaps. I wonder if SAD folks would be well-advised to stay away from those contact lenses that change the color of your eyes... but then again, I suppose that pigment would be around the iris... when we see through the pupil.

So, I got side-tracked. That's my "SAD brain" letting me go off on a tangent.

I did have transitions lenses for my glasses. They darkened when I went into the sun, and acted like sunglasses. That was the worst winter I have ever had with SAD -- Got rid of the glasses!

Does anyone know more about blue light technology? I've not investigated, as I'm happy with my full spectrum therapy. Perhaps someone else can be more helpful!

Good luck!

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