• Get help. It’s simple. If you think you’re getting depressed, no matter what time of year, get help. Talk to a therapist, like a psychiatrist, psychologist, or social worker. Never take the signs of depression lightly. Don’t wait them out, assuming they’ll resolve. And even if your depression will resolve in September, that’s no reason to ignore it in June. We’re talking about three months of potentially avoidable misery. While the symptoms lift in a few months, the impact on your family and job can be permanent.

• Plan ahead.  June is right there on the calendar. So if you’re feeling OK in the spring, think about the specific aspects of your life that become difficult during the summer. What will help prevent summer depression? What’s the best way to take time off from work? Would signing up the kids for summer programs or camp help relieve your stress? You’ll feel a lot more in control heading into the summer if you have plans in place.

• Sleep. Vacations, summer barbecues, the short nights – they can all encourage you to stay up later than usual. But not getting enough sleep is a common trigger for depression. So make a concerted effort to get to bed on time.

• Keep up with your exercise. Many studies have found that regular physical activity can help keep depression at bay. So even if it’s getting too hot for your normal activities, find other ways to stay active and head off summer depression. Start earlier in the morning or later in the evening, when it’s not so hot. Consider fitness equipment for the cool basement. If an annual membership to a gym is too expensive, consider joining one for a couple of months just to get you through the summer.

• Don’t overdo dieting and fitness. Don’t kick off the summer with a frenzy of dieting and exercise in order to fit into last year’s bathing suit. It’s bound to make you unhappy and anxious. Instead, exercise sensibly and eat moderately. If you try an insanely restrictive diet, you probably won’t be able to keep it up. And that “failure” will just leave you more demoralized and worsen your summer depression.

• Protect yourself. Don’t let obligations drag you down. Maybe you always host the enormous family barbecue on Memorial Day or the July 4 picnic. But if you’re feeling overwhelmed, give it a pass this year. Ask another relative to host. Don’t risk pushing yourself into a summer depression just to live up to tradition.

• Think about why. If you struggle with summer depression year after year, ask yourself if there’s a reason. Do you associate summer with a difficult time in the past – the death of a loved one or the break-up of a relationship? Have you had previous bouts of depression during the summer? Without even realizing it, you may have started to associate the summer with sadness – an association that gets stronger every summer that you spend depressed. If you do have some unhappy connection with the summer, sorting it out could help you break the cycle.

• Talk to your doctor about adjusting your medication. If you’re on medicine for depression, and you find that summer – year after year – makes your depression worse, talk to your doctor about changing your dosage. Maybe he or she could up your dose in the late spring and taper it back down in the fall.

• Plan your vacation carefully. Before you book your plane tickets or load up your car’s roof rack for your annual summer vacation, ask yourself this: Is this what you really want? Or is it an obligation you’re fulfilling to a relative? Will it make you happy? Or will it stretch your finances, stress you out, and make you fall behind at work? Consider alternatives. Instead of taking a whole week off at once, might it be better to take off several long weekends spread out through the summer? Would taking time off but staying at home – a “staycation” – be more relaxing? Don’t get locked into a vacation that won’t feel like a vacation.

• Don’t beat yourself up. One thing that’s hard about summer depression is that you feel so out of step. Everyone else seems to be having such a swell time. You aren’t. You keep asking yourself, “What’s wrong with me?”

Try not to think that way.  So stop worrying about how you feel relative to other people. Stop assuming that you’re supposed to be happy just because the calendar says it’s June. Instead, concentrate on what’s triggering your summer depression and how you can overcome it.

1. See the Light and Make it Bright Cure your insomnia with bright light therapy. Bright light therapy involves sitting in front of a therapeutic light box for a prescribed amount of time each day. Therapeutic light boxes use diffused fluorescent light bulbs to produce at least 10,000 lux illumination. You do not stare at the light. Instead, the light is angled to brighten your head, body and the activity you are engaged in.

2. Tans and Sunglasses Save the suntan lotion for the beach. It is not needed by most people using bright light therapy since most therapeutic lights filter out UV rays. Eye strain, eye irritation and nausea are the most reported side effects of bright light therapy. Patients using bright light therapy for SAD have reported the rare side effect of hyperactivity and difficulty sleeping. All of the reported side effects either diminish on their own or merely require the doctor to adjust the amount of time a patient spends exposed to therapeutic light. Special sunglasses are available for intense glare under a bright light box.

3. What Time is Your Internal Clock On? Many individuals suffering from a sleep disorder suffer from a circadian rhythm disorder. Their biological clock is set differently than their schedules permit. If you allow your internal clock to take over, you get enough sleep but it occurs at strange times. People who fall asleep early in the evening and wake up unusually early are often diagnosed with advanced sleep-phase syndrome. Night owls or people who stay up late and cannot rise in the morning are considered to have delayed sleep-phase syndrome. Bright light therapy helps with both of these conditions. Visit a doctor who specializes in sleep disorders for a proper diagnosis of your insomnia. Ask about bright light treatment to reset your biological clock.

4. It’s Early Sit in front of a bright light box between six and nine in the morning if you have DSPS. Your doctor will recommend the daily amount of time that is needed in front of the light box. Avoid bright light in the early evening and your biological clock should begin to adjust itself to a normal schedule.

5. A Bright Light Starts the Evening Find a bright light early in the evening to adjust your internal clock from early bird to normal bird. Treatment with bright light therapy has shown effective in treating ASPS, which is more common in senior citizens.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/6027-need-bright-light-therapy-insomnia/#ixzz1uOX5qjRj

How has YOUR light box impacted or changed your life?

Video Testimonial Giveaway:

Send us a short video telling us how your light box has impacted your life. For sending us your video testimonial, you will be entered to win an iPad 3!!! So join the fun and send us your video today!

To enter in your name to win an iPad 3, follow these 3 easy steps:

1. Shoot a video of yourself telling us how your North Star 10,000 Light Box has impacted your life.
2. Please keep your video to no more than 1 minute in length.
3. Email your video and contact information to: jessica@alaskanorthernlights.com

This is a $499 value; offer ends May 15th!

Photo Testimonial Giveaway:

If you can’t shoot a video but still want to spread the word on Bright Light Therapy, submit a testimonial and picture!

Send us a photo of you and your light box and tell us how your light box has brightened your life. For sharing your message, we would like to thank you by sending you two replacement light bulbs to refresh your box for this coming winter season. Check out what others have done and said on our Client Testimonials page if you need an idea on what to do.

To receive your FREE replacement bulbs, follow these 3 easy steps:

1. Write a quick testimonial on how your light box has changed your life.
2. Take a picture of you using your light box
3. Email your testimonial and picture to: jessica@alaskanorthernlights.com

Once we receive your information, we will mail you your free bulbs! It is that easy!

This is a $52 value; offer ends May 15th!

Who is at risk for Seasonal Affective Disorder?

Many Seasonal Affective Disorder sufferers might wonder why they are affected by this disorder.  Although many people do develop this condition, some are more at risk than others for being diagnosed with SAD. It can depend on your sex, geographic location and genetics. SAD can affect adults, teens and even children.

According to research, more females are diagnosed with SAD than males.  This does not mean that men do not get SAD. It simply means, development of SAD is more rare in men.  However, if a male does develop SAD, studies indicate their symptoms will be worse.

Where you live also influences how likely you are to develop SAD because development of the disease depends on sunlight and weather. One study on SAD found the rate of people affected was seven times higher in New Hampshire than Florida. SAD appears to be more common among people who live far north or south of the equator.

All mental illnesses usually involve some sort of family history.  As with other types of depression, studies do show if SAD runs in the family, than you are more likely to develop the disease than someone who does not have relatives with the condition.

If you think you suffer from SAD talk with your physician. If you’ve been diagnosed, check out our website for more information at alaskanorthernlights.com.

Testimonial Giveaway

Help Alaska Northern Lights spread “Your Word” about Bright Light Therapy by sharing your story today!!!

Video Testimonial

Send us a short video telling us how your light box has impacted your life.  For sending us your video testimonial, you will be entered to win an iPad 3!!!  So join the fun and send us your video today!

To enter in your name to win an iPad 3, follow these 3 easy steps:

1. Shoot a video of yourself telling us how your North Star 10,000 Light Box has impacted your life.
2. Please keep your video to no more than 1 minute in length.
3. Email your video and contact information to: jessica@alaskanorthernlights.com

This is a $499 value; offer ends May 15th!

Get creative, make it fun, be a star!  Your video will be used on our website to let others know about the benefits of Bright Light Therapy.

Photo Testimonial

If you can’t shoot a video but still want to spread the word on Bright Light Therapy, submit a testimonial and picture!

Send us a photo of you and your light box and tell us how your light box has brightened your life.  For sharing your message, we would like to thank you by sending you two replacement light bulbs to refresh your box for this coming winter season. Check out what others have done and said on our Client Testimonials page if you need an idea on what to do.

To receive your FREE replacement bulbs, follow these 3 easy steps:

1. Take a picture of you using your light box
2. Email your testimonial and picture to: jessica@alaskanorthernlights.com
3. Once we receive your information, we will mail you your free bulbs! It is that easy!

This is a $52 value; offer ends May 15th.

If you have any questions or need anything further for your light box, simply go to our website. If you prefer, contact our office directly at 800-880-6953.

Humans have an in-built “biological clock”, which tells us when our body is tired. This clock actually works on a 25 hour cycle, but the change from light to dark helps our bodies to fall asleep at the right times. That is, unless you have a sleep phase disorder.

Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder

If you struggle to wake up in the morning and regularly sleep through your alarm, you might be suffering from delayed sleep phase disorder. Your biological clock has fallen out of sync, and you fall asleep late and wake late. The sleep you do have, however, is restful, but you may feel sleepy during the day (especially the morning), struggle to remember things or concentrate for long periods of time, and suffer from headaches.

Sleep phase disorder is believed to be quite common, but most people who have it don’t go to a sleep clinic.

Delayed sleep phase disorder commonly begins in childhood and reaches its peak during the teenage years. It’s also common in people who suffer from depression.

It frequently begins during childhood and is most common during adolescence. These symptoms are also seen in people suffering from depression.

Advanced Sleep Phase Disorder

Like Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder, if you suffer from Advanced Sleep Phase Disorder, your biological clock has fallen out of sync. You will find yourself falling asleep before 9pm and waking up at around 3-5am, unable to fall back asleep.

Advanced Sleep Phase Disorder occurs mostly in elderly people, and doctors believe it may not be a disorder at all, but a common affect of the aging process.

Treating Sleep Phase Disorders

To treat a sleep phase disorder, you can use light therapy; using bright, artificial lights in the morning and blocking light in the evening to reconfigure the sleep cycle. You can buy these light boxes from specialist medical suppliers.

Check out our video on YouTube:

Broad Spectrum vs. Full Spectrum – Alaska Northern Lights

Broad Spectrum vs. Full Spectrum

Full spectrum light bulbs are made to try to imitate natural sunlight, and like sunlight, they also produce UV rays. Full spectrum light is described as having a purple or bluish cast. Most light box companies using full spectrum light bulbs now block these UV rays through their diffuser screen, it’s good to check to be sure.

Broad spectrum light boxes are described as being as close to full spectrum as you can get without the UV rays. Broad spectrum light bulbs are described as being a pure white light. Most light box companies use a broad spectrum light bulb so that there is no danger of UV rays.

Research has shown that in light therapy, the light’s intensity is the key, not UV rays. UV rays are considered a liability and a health problem with the eyes and skin. Our light box produces no UV rays.  The North Star 10,000 is a broad spectrum light. With our brightness level of 10,000 lux at two feet, the North Star 10,000 is effective, easy and safe to use!

Human Seasonality

The strongest evidence of human seasonality comes in the form of winter depression, or Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Individuals with SAD usually suffer from depressive episodes beginning in late fall or early winter, and start to feel better when spring or summer approaches. Living in a northern locale with harsh winters and extended darkness can affect your levels of melatonin, a hormone that impacts sleep. When daylight hours decrease, melatonin levels increase, which can cause fatigue and depression for some.

Extended darkness also disrupts the body’s circadian rhythm because decreased exposure to sunlight tells the body to be asleep when it should be waking up. Light provides you with environmental cues that influence pupil dilation, alertness, heart rate and melatonin levels. In fact, the light that enters the retina of the eye actually sets your circadian rhythm.

This response to the seasons can happen in reverse when the weather turns warm and sunny, and your body starts receiving extended exposure to light. Some individuals experience insomnia, or become more anxious, irritable and hyperactive during the spring and summer. This condition is called Reverse Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Treatment

Each person’s circadian rhythm is different, depending on their genetics and environmental circumstances. Plus, with increased urbanization, people tend to spend more time working indoors in windowless offices than they did in past eras. The resultant lack of sunlight can cause a decrease in the body’s levels of vitamin D, serotonin and dopamine, which can affect brain chemistry.

Light therapy, or photo therapy, has been found to be extremely helpful for alleviating some depressive symptoms. Light treatment uses artificial lights to imitate light from the outdoors, thereby triggering changes in the brain that can help elevate serotonin and dopamine levels. You can also use dawn simulators that mimic sunrise to help you wake up without feeling groggy. Thirty minutes of daily exercise can also help balance your brain chemistry and increase your energy levels. In milder cases of SAD, the addition of extra omega-3 fatty acids to an already balanced diet has been shown to relieve some depressive symptoms.
If you notice that you experience a seasonal pattern of winter depression and feel that your symptoms are severe, seek help from a professional. Try to keep a journal of behavioral changes so that you can provide accurate information about your symptoms to your doctor. Practice a healthy lifestyle every day so that you can enjoy every season of the year.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/556293-how-seasons-affect-moods/#ixzz1rksHm6rC

Many of us can hardly wait for summer to arrive, but a small number of people are much happier when it’s over. You’ve no doubt heard of Seasonal Affective Disorder, the wintertime mood disorder — but some get SAD in the summer.

As hot weather approaches, those with summer SAD sleep less, eat less, and lose weight. They’re extremely irritable and agitated. (It’s the reverse for people with winter SAD, who sleep more, gain weight and crave high-carb foods, and tend to slow down and socially hibernate from late fall to early spring.)

Summer-onset depression is thought to affect less than 1 percent of the population, making it much rarer than the winter variety experienced by an estimated 5 percent of people.

In its most severe form, people with summer seasonal depression may be more at risk for suicide than cold-weather SAD, says Dr. Norman Rosenthal, a clinical professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University Medical School, who has studied both types and first helped discover their existence. “Suicide is more of a concern when people are depressed and agitated rather than depressed and lethargic,” he explains.

When summer depression was first recognized in 1986, Rosenthal said that mental health professionals suspected the cause was the heat and humidity. That, he said, lent itself to the idea that a cold shower, air conditioning, swimming in cold lakes or heading North would relieve symptoms. Although these treatments for hot-weather depression are useful for some, they lack the staying power that light-box therapy has on winter SAD.

‘The light is cutting though me like a knife’
A person with summer SAD can stay inside, crank up the AC, and darken the room but then go outside into the heat and it’s as if they’ve never been treated, explains Rosenthal, the author of “Winter Blues.”

Another idea is that it might be the light itself that’s aggravating sufferers, whether it’s the intensity of sunlight or the angle it’s coming at people. One of Rosenthal’s summer depression patients describes it as “feeling like the light is cutting though me like a knife.”

Still another possibility is that there may be two kinds of warm-weather depression, says Dr. Alfred Lewy, a professor of psychiatry at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland. He suggests there might be one group of people who have an unpleasant reaction to the heat and humidity — a discomfort with the climate. But even in Portland where summers aren’t that hot or humid, he’s seen patients struggle with summer depression.

Lewy suspects the cause in a second group might be that the body’s natural clock, it’s circadian rhythms, are misaligning in summer. Instead of cueing to dawn, the longer daylight is causing some vulnerable people to cue to dusk. Cueing to dusk shortens the typical body clock and delays a person’s sleep-wake cycle. This mismatch, theorizes Lewy, may be triggering depression.

He successfully treated a person with summer depression with a combination of getting early morning sunlight (30 to 60 minutes daily), which shifts the body clock forward, and low-dose melatonin, a hormone that helps regulate sleep-wake cycles. Severe symptoms may also benefit from antidepressants.

Do you secretly — or perhaps not-so-secretly — loathe the summer months? What helps you get through them?

Might give you more insight on why UV rays is harmful, and why we like to use broad spectrum light bulbs in our light box.

For those suffering from depression or seasonal depression, what do you think about tanning beds?

_____

British Columbia became the latest jurisdiction to ban children and teenagers from tanning beds on Tuesday.

Health Minister Mike de Jong says the increased risk of cancer connected to the beds is too great to take less restrictive measures, such as requiring parental consent.

Speaking at the BC Cancer Agency, he said the government will pass regulations by the fall preventing children under 18 from using tanning salons.

De Jong said teens can get a prescription if UV tanning is required for medical reasons, such as to treat psoriasis.

Kathleen Barnard, who was diagnosed with malignant melanoma in 2003, welcomes the announcement.

“I became tanning obsessed as a teen,” she said. “I have had four different treatment protocols, two blood transfusions, three major surgeries.”

Barnard was given nine months to live but beat the odds and founded Save Your Skin, a volunteer organization dedicated to eliminating melanoma.

“I know now I would rather be alive with the skin I was given than die with the skin I so desperately wanted to have,” she said.

But Steven Gilroy, the executive director for the Joint Canadian Tanning Association, says the province should do more to regulate the equipment used and the training standards instead of banning teens.

“Parents make that same choice every time they let their child go out to the beach or go on a sunny vacation,” he said.

“About three to five percent of our industry is to do with under 18. They only come in for prom or with parents for vacation.”

The decision comes after the government consulted the medical community, municipalities and the tanning industry, with all but the industry association calling for a ban.

Nova Scotia already bans anyone under 19 from using tanning beds, and the city of Victoria implemented its own ban last year.

Article from Canadian CBS.