LED strip lights and light therapy
Legal LawLight is not just for furnishing our homes. It can also serve for restorative purposes. The most notable example is ‘light therapy’.
Light therapy is a form of palliative treatment in which patients are exposed to specific wavelengths of artificial light for a set number of hours a day. It is used in the treatment of common skin disorders, psychiatric disorders, and sleep disorders and has proven to be very effective in most cases.
The therapy itself involves the use of devices called light boxes. As the name suggests, these are containers filled with LED bulbs or strip lights and covered by a frosted glass panel.
The light emitted by the box is directed towards the affected area of the skin or directly affects the retinas, depending on the type of ailment in question.
In the case of skin disorders, the light is focused on those areas of the body that need attention. For psychiatric disorders, the light is projected directly into the eyes.
Light therapy has been shown to be particularly effective in the treatment of seasonal affective disorder (SAD). SAD is related to the regulation of two important hormones (mood-altering chemicals) produced by the brain’s hypothalamus; melatonin and serotonin.
– melatonin It is a sleep regulating hormone. The production of this hormone is inhibited by light and stimulated in its absence.
– seratonin It is a mood regulating hormone. It is produced under the opposite conditions to melatonin.
During the dark winter months, when sunlight is scarce, people tend to suffer from a serotonin deficiency, making them unhappy and despondent. The onset of SAD is marked by symptoms such as sadness, malaise, and insomnia. Symptoms reappear annually between mid-autumn and last until spring.
Light boxes can be used to correct serotonin imbalance in the body by shining a light directly into a patient’s eyes. The light is UV filtered to prevent damage to the skin or retinas.
Non-seasonal depression and other psychiatric disorders, such as bipolar depression, can also be alleviated through the use of light therapy.
A study by the Cochrane Collaboration concluded that “for patients suffering from non-seasonal depression, light therapy offers modest but promising antidepressant efficacy.”
SAD treatment is particularly important for businesses, particularly offices, as it can slow down employee performance. Upgrading the lighting system in an office to improve the Color Rendering Index (CRI) has been shown to increase employee happiness and comfort, and therefore increase productivity. Cool White LED strips have exceptional color rendering, making the color appear more vibrant and natural under your light.