Light therapy is something very few people know a lot about. People know about special lights you can get to help you with your mood but few actually understand how these lights benefit you. A person may get one of these lights to help with their mood but they don’t really understand how the light does this. This is really strange because you should really understand how somethings benefiting you in order to truly benefit from it.

You have to be careful because a lot of these lamps or as they call them light boxes are just products that businesses want to sell you in order to make money. A lot of times you can make these light boxes yourself and save a lot of money. Light therapy increases your bodies metabolism. This is done by the red and orange light that is produced from the right types of light. Light therapy will regulate blood sugar, improve your mood and energy. It will improve digestion and increase your ability to handle stress.

You reduce your chances of many diseases and live a better quality of life by utilizing light therapy. Many people are lying on their couch watching television or watching a movie when they could just have some lights on their body while they do these things. There isn’t very many good excuses to not do light therapy when it’s so easy to do and can be quite inexpensive. I have five 300 W bulbs that are on me at all times through chicken lamps and desk lamps. It cost me about $50 to have this all set up. It greatly improved my overall health and the bulbs last for about a year. This means that it’s one the cheapest things you can do to improve your health. Eating organic foods is super good for you but super expensive too. Light is very cheap and easy to do.

The biggest cost your going to have is your electrical bill. LED lights are more expensive but they take very little electricity to use. This means that you can save long- term by using red LEDs. The only problem with red LEDs is that they don’t produce orange light so you want to make sure to also use incandescent lights alongside red LED lights. There are orange LED lights but I’m not sure how effective they are. The stronger the red and orange light is the better. That means that incandescent light bulbs that are five hundred watts will have a better affect then incandescent light bulbs that are 250 Watts. You want to also make sure that your bulbs are 130 volt. By using 130 V bulbs you produce a lot less heat because the bulbs are not running at their maximum of 130 V.

We use in North America 120 Volts. This causes the bulbs to produce less heat which tilts the specter more favorably producing much more red and oranges. You can see from this that it’s not just about the strength of the reds and oranges but also about the wavelength. You want ideally a good mixture of power and balance when it comes to the reds and oranges. You want as many reds and oranges as possible and as little blue as possible. At the same time through you want the red and orange light to be very strong. It’s very hard to stimulate the actual benefits of sunlight because sunlight is so strong. I think that with enough incandescent light bulbs and red LEDs you could come close though.

One of the things I really like about light therapy other than it’s cost is it’s safety. Light therapy is one of the safest things you can do to improve your health. It’s almost as safe as food. It is way safer in comparison to other things people do to improve their health. Some people take thyroid drugs to increase their metabolism or they exercise but both of these things can have negative consequences if not done properly.

Light is something that is safe as long as is the right type of light. I would much rather do very aggressive and very strong light therapy than ever take a thyroid drug because there’s going to be a lot more side effects and risk with thyroid drugs. It’s much better to use light and food to increase metabolism. This is much safer and I think healthier for you overall. I think that some people may find it challenging because they work in a job that exposes them to fluorescent lighting. One option they can do is wear amber shades. By wearing amber shades they convert the blue light that goes into their eyes into a safer color. I still think there is some damage from the blue when it touches your skin but at least you counter some of the toxicity from it.

If you’re allowed to try placing a red LED light under your desk at work. This may bother other people so make sure that you have your own office if your going to do this. You could also turn the lights off but darkness itself is catabolic. If you asked me what’s worse fluorescent lighting or darkness I’d have a hard time answering you. I say probably darkness because at least with fluorescent lighting you get a bit of red and orange. You get much more blue which makes it bad but at least you get little bit of red and orange. Both darkness and fluorescent lighting are quite bad for you. I would say overall though that complete darkness is worse. Darkness increases serotonin which increases the absorption of endotoxin. Melatonin is produced at night time but that’s because the body converts serotonin to melatonin as a to detoxification effect. I’m sure that fluorescent lighting also increases serotonin production. Light of the right type actually reduces serotonin. If you reduce serotonin you reduce reabsorption of endotoxin. This allows you to have a higher metabolism which improves overall health.

In conclusion, light therapy is a huge benefit for people that are suffering with seasonal affective disorder. You could say that a lot of health problems are caused by lack of light or lack of exposure to light. Many people struggling with very strange diseases and health problems could seek relief through light therapy or sun bathing.

Written By: Nancy Farber. Nancy is a expert in alternative health. You can learn more about light therapy on her website. She likes to use safe and natural resources to help people heal.