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Light
- Medicine of the Future |
by:
Larry
Weber |
Light
- Medicine Of The Future
Naturallighting.com http://www.naturallighting.com
888.900.6830 email: sales@naturallighting.com
Excerpt from "Light Medicine of the Future"
by Jacob Liberman, O.D.,
Ph.D. These findings seem to indicate that
full-spectrum lighting may act to boost
the immune system in the same way as natural
sunlight.
As researchers isolate the specific part
of the sun's spectrum that is related to
health and well-being, we could eventually
create the perfect indoor environment with
artificial lighting, until then it's Vita-Lite.
Based on the research of Hollwich and others,
the cool-white fluorescent bulb is legally
banned in German hospitals and medical facilities.
Most offices, stores, hospitals, and schools
currently use cool-white fluorescent!
Full Vs. Incomplete Spectrum Lighting
"In 1980, Dr. Fritz Hollwich conducted a
study comparing the effects of sitting under
strong artificial cool-white (non-full spectrum)
illumination versus the effects of sitting
under strong artificial illumination that
simulates sunlight (full-spectrum). Using
changes in the endocrine system to evaluate
these effects, he found stress like levels
of ACTH an cortisol (the stress hormones)
in individuals in sitting under the cool-white
tubes. These changes were totally absent
in the individuals sitting under the sunlight-simulating
tubes.
The significance of Hollowich's findings
becomes clear when the functions of ACTH
and cortisol are examined. Both of these
metabolic hormones play major roles in the
functioning of the entire body and are very
much related to stress response. Since their
activity increases inhibitors, this may
account for the observation that persistent
stress stunts bodily growth in children.
Hollowich's findings clarify and substantiate
the observations of Ott and others regarding
the agitated physical behavior, fatigue,
and reduced mental capabilities of children.
He concluded that the degree of biological
disturbance and the resulting behavioral
mal adaptations were directly related to
the difference between the spectral composition
of the artificial source and that of natural
light.
Since cool-white fluorescent lamps are especially
deficient in the red and blue-violet ends
of the spectrum, this may explain why color
therapists have historically used a combination
of the colors red and blue-violet as an
emotional stabilizer. Hollwich's work not
only confirms the biological importance
of full-spectrum lighting, but it also reconfirms
the importance of specific colors by evaluating
the effects of their omission from our daily
lives. Based on the research of Hollwich
and others, the cool-white fluorescent bulb
is legally banned in German hospitals and
medical facilities. It has been found that
full-spectrum lighting in the work place
creates significantly lower stress on the
nervous system than standard cool-white
fluorescent lighting and reduces the number
of absences due to illness. These findings
seem to indicate that full-spectrum lighting
may act to boost the immune system in the
same way as natural sunlight. Excerpt from
"Light Medicine of the Future," by Jacob
Liberman, O.D., Ph.D.
Shedding Light on Those Winter Blues
Does your spirit wanes with the shortening
of days? You may be suffering from sunlight
withdrawal. The syndrome appears with inevitable
regularity. As summer pales into autumn,
the victim feels an ominous sense of anxiety
and foreboding at the mere thought of approaching
winter. As days shorten from November into
December, there's a gradual slowing down,
a low of energy, a need for more and more
sleep, a longing to lie undisturbed in bed.
It becomes harder to get to work, to accomplish
anything when there. Depression and withdrawal
follow. As a Brooklyn, New York, woman described
it, "Everything seems gloomier and more
difficult. There is sadness looming over
everything. I can't concentrate at work
and feel like going home afterward to hibernate
like a bear."
Just as routinely, as spring approaches
and days stretch out, the sufferer flips
into high gear."Once the warm weather arrives,
I feel a burden lifted," says the Brooklynite.
"I feel freer and happier."
This is more than a dislike of icy slush
and raw winds. Psychiatric researchers at
the National Institute of Mental Health
(NIMH) have identified these complaints
as a previously unrecognized clinical syndrome.
They call its victims "winter depressives."
"It is much more common than we thought,"
says Dr. Norman Rosenthal of NIMH. "We expected
to get a few replies from our description
of this pattern. Instead, we received more
than three thousand responses from all over
the country. The symptoms described were
one after the other very much the same.
"Some of these winter depressives are being
successfully treated, not with drugs or
psychotherapy but with an element common
to all our lives: artificial light. What
scientists are learning from the use of
light as it affects health and mood has
implications for us all. It forces us to
rethink the way we light up our lives, especially
urban dwellers and workers who spend so
much time indoors. Apparently artificial
light does much more than enable us to read
and work without benefit of sunlight. It
affects our bodies.
"It is important to recognize that this
is a distinct syndrome with a well-defined
cluster of symptoms," says Dr. Thomas Wehr,
an NIMH researcher. "We have measured some
very interesting physiological changes specific
to this kind of depression." While typically
depressed people have impaired sleep patterns
and usually wake up early, winter depressives
might sleep nine or 10 hours a night, wake
up tired, and take naps. There is a 50%
reduction in delta sleep, the deepest, most
restful phase of the sleep cycle. Winter
depressives gain weight, crave carbohydrates,
and their libido pales. Their energy levels
drop; monitors on their wrists show that
they are less active than in summer.
Such symptoms begin earlier the farther
north they live and abate when they visit
sunny climates in the winter. Symptoms peak
and wane according to the length of days.
In New York, for instance, on the shortest
day of the year - December 21 - the sun
rose at 7:17 a.m. and set at 4:32 p.m.,
contrasted to 5:25 a.m. and 8:31 p.m. at
the height of summer, a six hour difference
in light. Such a distinct seasonal pattern
implicates the external environment as the
culprit, the most obvious being sunlight.
Sunlight has already been shown to trigger
cycles and seasonal behavior in animals,
including reproduction, hibernation, migration,
and molting. Animal behavior has been fooled
by artificial light. Could it also fool
humans? Apparently. In a recent NIMH study,
a group of these depressives were treated
with amounts of light that simulated that
of summer days. Short winter days were stretched
by six extra hours of light. The subjects
were awakened before sunrise to bask in
three hours of light, and dusk was delayed
for three more.
Since sunlight is thought to be the missing
element, the subjects were flooded with
an artificial light that most closely resembles
the full broad spectrum of the sun. At 20
times the intensity of normal indoor lighting,
the light approximated the sensation of
sitting on a shady porch or under a tree
in mid-summer. Fluorescent lamps are roughly
three times more intense than ordinary light
bulbs. A bank of eight 4-watt fluorescent
bulbs at eye level lit the participants'
rooms as they read, worked, or moved around.
Within days this group responded with measurable
mood changes, says Rosenthal. Their symptoms
eased and energy levels rose, while a control
group with a different threshold of light
showed no change in behavior.
"Something in the external environment caused
these changes," says Wehr, "but we are not
prepared to say exactly what it is at this
point. It is true, though, that waking up
these people and exposing them to this light
treated their symptoms. Whether it is the
break in sleep pattern, the wavelengths
or intensity of light, or some other factor
we can't say at this point. The intensity
of light used in the study may be well in
excess of what is necessary to effect changes,
stress the researchers. So they will continue
to experiment with varieties of light therapy
to determine the crucial element. The subjects
themselves feel that sunlight is the missing
ingredient.
One said that she felt as if she were in
a "lower state of evolution since I function
by photosynthesis." Although these winter
depressives showed an abnormal response
to light, each of us responds to it in varying
degrees. External light travels on a direct
pathway from the retina to the part of the
hypothalamus believed to be involved in
running our biologic clock, the suprachiasmatic
nuclei. The path continues to the tiny,
cone-shaped pineal gland, which secretes
the hormone melatonin. It is thought that
melatonin affects the regulation of behavioral
changes in animals, but this has not been
clearly shown in humans. Sufficiently intense
light suppresses the secretion of this chemical,
making it a useful marker in determining
light's physical effect on behavior. The
secretion of melatonin reflects light's
effect on the hypothalamus, itself highly
sensitive to light. This complex part of
the brain regulates a multitude of body
functions, playing a vital role in reproduction,
thirst, hunger, satiation, temperature,
emotions, and sleep patterns. Depression
is associated with disturbances in the hypothalamus.
"By stimulating the hypothalamus with light
we may be correcting these disturbances
in this group," explains Rosenthal. Most
artificial light differs from natural sunlight
in wavelength (color) and intensity. Sunlight
is very intense electromagnetic energy in
a continuous spectrum of colors ranging
from the short wavelengths of invisible
ultraviolet light (UV) through blue, green,
yellow, and into the infrared waves. Incandescent
bulbs that light through heat light the
majority of our homes. They lack the intensity
of sunlight and produce light that is heavily
infrared. "We don't like the incandescent
lights," says Wehr. "It's conceivable for
this purpose that they are not the safest.
You can get burned from the heat and the
infrared radiation."
Although some fluorescent lamps are described
as "broad spectrum," they do not have the
same distribution of colors as sunlight.
Widely used fluorescent lights peak in the
yellow-green portion of the spectrum, wavelengths
to which the eye is most sensitive. That
makes them energy efficient but different
from natural sunlight, notably in the blue-green
spectrum where the sun's emission or radiant
energy is strongest. Additionally, conventional
indoor lighting lacks the proper proportion
of near-UV radiation of the sun that advocates
claim to be vital to health and well being.
Just as overexposure can be unhealthy, regulated
doses of sun and UV can be therapeutic.
UV is currently used to treat psoriasis
and, experimentally, genital herpes and
some forms of cancer in the early stages
of the illness. Full-spectrum artificial
light is widely used to cure potentially
fatal type of infant jaundice. We need sunlight
with its UV rays to metabolize vitamin D,
necessary for the absorption of calcium,
especially in growing children and the elderly.
Some studies show that working under true
full-spectrum lights enhances productivity
and reduces fatigue. Even critics concede
that many people who are deprived of natural
light, such as night or shift workers, suffer
undue emotional stress. Whether or just
how we should alter our indoor lighting
is a question being raised by these studies.
As Dr. Richard Wurtman, professor of endocrinology
and metabolism at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, has been saying for years,
we should not take artificial lighting for
granted. Lined up in the pro-sunlight camp,
he has written, "Light is potentially too
useful an agency of human health not to
be more effectively examined and exploited."
As researchers isolate the specific part
of the sun's spectrum that is related to
health and well-being, we could eventually
create the perfect indoor environment with
artificial lighting, says E. Woody Bickford,
environmental engineer with Duro-Test, manufacturers
of Vita-Lite. "Until we know," he points
out, "Vita Lite, with its complete range
of visible and invisible light, is what
we have to work with."
For ordinary indoor lighting, two to four
40-watt lamps would provide some health
benefits, he says. "The benefits seem to
be proportional to the amount of light,"
he adds. "We may need higher intensity in
all our work levels. Perhaps the cutoff
point is what you can afford," Vita-Lite
tubes are expensive, and most of our homes
are not equipped with fixtures that can
accommodate them.
Although many lighting experts are skeptical
of the entire concept of light affecting
our health, some light manufacturers are
beginning to support research in the field,
and one trade association has just established
a new branch devoted to light and health.
As the relationship between light and health
becomes publicized, NIHM's Rosenthal worries
that people will try to treat themselves.
"With the winter depressives it's a matter
of risks out-weighing benefits. Bright light
can damage the retina; UV can be dangerous.
But depression can be dangerous for them,
too!"
Rather than attempting to cure themselves,
people who think that they are winter depressives
should contact the NIMH, Bethesda, Maryland
20205, for literature and specific recommendations
as they become available.
As Dr. Wehr puts it, "we are not telling
people to hurry and turn lights - not yet."
M.D. Magazine, January 1984, by Patricia
McManus.
About the Author
Larry Weber, President. Naturallighting.com
specializes in all types of high quality
full spectrum lighting, and has been in
business for 15 years.
http://www.naturallighting.com Toll Free
888.900.6830 |
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