


Verilux is one of the biggest names in light therapy lamps - you'll find them all over Amazon and the company has a large catalog of models. Read more: The 7 best blue light blocking glasses to prevent eye fatigue Light therapy lamps Only they can diagnose you with SAD, a mood disorder or depression and prescribe the correct treatment for you. Light therapy isn't for everyone, so it's important to check with your doctor before trying it. However, as someone who experiences both and has used light therapy as a treatment, I can recommend which lights are worth your money. Because I'm not a physician or psychiatrist, I can't tell you if these lamps will be effective for treating your depression, winter blues or SAD symptoms. There are a lot of options out there when it comes to selecting a light therapy device - they vary in intensity, and some even offer adjustable brightness. I've tested and evaluated some of the most popular light therapy lamps on the market. A light therapy session can mimic the experience of a sunny day - minus the ultraviolet rays - if only for a few minutes. A bright sunny day exposes you to about 100,000 lux or more, while you might only get about 2,000 lux of light exposure on an overcast day. To do this, you need a lamp that emits about 10,000 lux of light, which is higher than the artificial light from your home's fixtures and other lamps. Light therapy lamps try to mimic the extra hours of sunlight from spring and summer that we don't get in fall and winter. When my psychiatrist diagnosed me with SAD, she recommended light therapy, one of the most popular treatments that's backed up with a ton of documented research. Doctors believe that the lack of sunlight can trigger a chemical change in the brain, which can make you feel sad, unmotivated, sluggish and, essentially, depressed. When the days get shorter and darker, we get less exposure to natural sunlight.

With the sun about to start setting around 5 p.m., I can look forward to several months of feeling sluggish and down. As the days shorten and the temperature plummets, so does my energy level and mood. I deal with seasonal affective disorder (also called SAD or seasonal depression).
