In the dark of winter, the Light Cafe chases the blues away

0 Comments | AFP, November, 2006

STOCKHOLM (AFP) — It's pitch black outside in wintry Stockholm but indoors at the all-white Light Cafe, guests recline comfortably in white armchairs as they soak up a dose of artificial sunlight to fight off the winter blues. In the depths of winter, daylight in the Swedish capital lasts from 9:30 am until 2:30 pm.

The average office worker often goes to work in the dark and returns home in the dark, offering little opportunity for the body to get its much-needed fill of sunlight. The day's first customers at the Iglo Ljuscafe, or Igloo Light Cafe, arrive early to undergo an hour of light therapy before work. They turn up before 7:00 am, enjoying their breakfast while sitting under special lights for one hour, the amount of time recommended by doctors. "I opened the...