With one in four people in the UK alone experiencing some kind of mental health issue at any time, poor mental health affects every aspect of society.
One particularly prevalent condition is Seasonal Affective Disorder. People with SAD suffer with a lower mood in the darker, winter months, potentially due to a lack of exposure to sunlight. For people with SAD, winter can be a very difficult time.
But SAD isn't the only mental health condition affecting our societies. Depression, anxiety and stress are very common too.
Traditionally, science has responded with medicalised approaches, ranging from destructive surgical techniques like lobotomies, before trying to change brain chemistry with tablets and medications like anti-depressants.
Recently, research scientists have started to look at more holistic approaches towards improving mental health, including light therapy. Light is made up of various colours including blue, red, yellow, green and the invisible near infrared, that travel on different wavelengths and affect the body in different ways.
Although the research is still very new, some studies are starting to suggest that using red light and blue light can help with conditions like seasonal affective disorder (SAD), depression, stress and low mood. You can read about these studies on the PubMed website here.
Other studies suggest that using near infrared light might help with depression and anxiety, too, and you can read about that on PubMed here.
UNDERSTANDING MENTAL HEALTH, SEASONAL AFFECTIVE DISORDERS AND HOW LED PHOTOTHERAPY AT LED BY LIGHT IN SPALDING COULD HELP
Because there are so many different mental health conditions, ranging from the mild to the severe, there's no one, single, NHS treatment.
For very mild conditions, treatment will often involve lifestyle advice (like exercising, eating better, reducing alcohol), while more severe conditions will often be treated with talking therapies or long term medication.
For some people, these approaches will work very well indeed.
However, other people can struggle. Lifestyle change can often be difficult to stick to, especially if you have a stressful job or busy home life. Equally, NHS talking therapies often have a long waiting list, and medication can come with unpleasant and unwanted side effects.
STANDARD NHS TREATMENT FOR MENTAL HEALTH CONDITIONS
It's important to understand that the science around light therapy and mental health is still new.
Although studies are starting to suggest that various combinations of blue, red and near infrared light can help with problems as wide ranging as insomnia, depression, stress and anxiety, these studies are often still small and experimental; they are often "feasibility studies" designed to see if a larger, more comprehensive study would be useful.
LED Phototherapy is a non-invasive procedure (it's lying under a particular type of bright light), and many people report feeling relaxed during treatment and feeling "in a better mood" afterwards; of course, this is not the same as a scientific study!
Although many businesses are putting forward factual statements about how LED Phototherapy will improve mental health, we don't feel comfortable making that "promise"; anecdotal reports are not the same as large scientific studies of the type we've seen for acne or psoriasis and LED Light Therapy.
We do feel comfortable saying that the science is promising, and if you're looking to try more holistic and alternative routes to help manage your mental health, you may wish to investigate LED Phototherapy further - we'll be happy to talk through treatment protocols with you here at LED By Light in Spalding.
We look forward to more comprehensive studies showing exactly how LED Phototherapy can help improve mental health and wellness!