For sale: light therapy by the hour; SAD: key treatment to be made

0 Comments | Sunday Herald, The, Sep 12, 2004 | by Jenifer Johnston

With weeks to go before the clocks go back, it may feel like the dark clutches of winter are still a way off.

But September is the time when sufferers of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) start to feel the effects of darkening skies.

SAD sufferers can endure months of depression, lethargy and glumness due to the lack of natural light - up to 500,000 people suffer from SAD in the UK, most of them in Scotland where daylight can shrink to just five hours in January.

But this year, for the first time in Britain, a cure can be found on the high street.

Edinburgh-based Buddhafield - an alternative therapy and lifestyle centre - is offering customers professional-standard light therapy using the same "drop-in" approach popularised by tanning salons.

Entrepreneur Thom McCarthy, owner of Buddhafield, is offering the 15-minute high street "mind tanning" sessions in a bid to help stressed shoppers, students and office workers beat the winter blues in their lunch hour.

McCarthy believes his "rent some sunshine" plan may alleviate symptoms, and at (pounds) 5 for a 15-minute rental in a meditation room, he is sure gloomy Scots shoppers will flock to the idea.

He told the Sunday Herald: "Its not a gimmick, or something airy- fairy. Our studio will have several lightboxes available for 15- minute hire, which deliver the kind of daylight that wards off depression."

McCarthy, 54, is an American Vietnam war veteran who has been living in and around Edinburgh for 33 years. He has been credited with driving the growth of Buddhism in Scotland through his involvement with the Samye Ling Buddhist Monastery in the Borders.

He made a substantial fortune in the 1970s running alternative shops along Edinburgh's Cockburn Street before retiring to the monastery for 10 years.

Lightboxes are a popular way to ward off SAD, and studies show they can alleviate symptoms in up to 85% of sufferers. The bright light simulates sunshine, prompting the brain to believe the body is receiving its normal amount of light.

McCarthy said: "Most of us know what seasonal adjustments our bodies make. From September onwards we aren't getting enough sunlight. People become run-down, sleepy, depressed and anxious.

"In Edinburgh post-festival, post-holidays, and post the high from the summer, lots of people start feeling a little depressed and using lightboxes can help.

"In fact just the other day, one guy who was working here was feeling a bit down, went in and sat in front of the light for 10 minutes and came out laughing his head off."

The 15-minute sessions are the shortest length of time customers can spend in the glow of the lightbox - several sessions lasting at least an hour at a time are recommended to get the full benefit of light therapy.

Celia Robertson of the Mental Health Foundation said the effects of SAD can be debilitating.

"Between September and April about half a million people have either the winter blues, or more seriously SAD which is a genuine clinical depression.

"Young people aged 18 to 30 and women, are most at risk.

"Symptoms include depression, lethargy, over-eating and anxiety, craving carbohydrates like potatoes and toast, and having the feeling they want to hibernate. People's moods can change rapidly and they can become irritable very quickly."

Robertson agreed light therapy can be helpful, even in short bursts.

"We recommend people use lightboxes from early autumn - you only need a short amount of time in front of a lightbox to feel benefit from it. From now until April we will see more and more cases of SAD appearing, and light therapy is thought to help about 85% of people."

Robertson added that taking plenty of exercise in the winter months, following a healthy diet and getting the most out of the daylight hours available can also help.

However Professor Prem Mishra, a Glasgow-based consultant psychiatrist, said that the winter months can bring on clinical depression that only medication can treat.

"Using light therapy will certainly not do any harm for someone suffering from SAD, but a visit to the GP may be in order - there is a risk of serious clinical depression arising from SAD."

Mishra said the medical profession has all but done away with lingering doubts over whether the condition is real.

"SAD is now a well-recognised phenomenon, and more and more people are being diagnosed properly as suffering from it. There is increasing evidence of relapsing/remitting illness in the autumn and winter months, it is a chronic disorder - there are resources in place with psychiatrists and doctors to help people.

"I would say, however, that we need more research into the field of light therapy - it will help some people, but not everyone is going to benefit from receiving it."

The boxes used at Buddhafield are high-quality Vilux boxes, imported from Germany, and eventually McCarthy will offer them for sale.

Discovering the origins, effects and possible treatment of SAD is now an earnest academic occupation. Earlier this year Scottish researchers at the Medical Research Council studied soay sheep on the remote island of St Kilda looking for answers about the origins of SAD - their study found that night length affected the timing of the clock genes in the brain, and the production of the hormone melatonin, which the brain produces when it gets dark.