Bright Light Treatment Insomnia

Living with insomnia if you have been diagnosed with insomnia follow your treatment plan and make healthy lifestyle and sleep changes.

Bright light treatment insomnia.

Bright light therapy in the evening before sleep would be indicated for this type of insomnia as well as for the more extreme version advanced sleep phase disorder. Light therapy can help some sufferers of insomnia. The current study sought to evaluate the efficacy of bright light exposure in the treatment of sleep maintenance insomnia. Following baseline sleep and circadian rhythms assessment subjects with sleep maintenance insomnia were treated with timed exposure to either bright white light or dim red light for 12 consecutive days.

In this case wake up time needed to be advanced by 2 5 hours over. With this treatment you plan time each day to sit in front of a light box which produces bright light similar to sunlight. In some cases light therapy can be helpful for people with insomnia. Bright light therapy might be an alternative treatment with potential advantages over melatonin treatment.

Theoretically decreased daytime light intensity can also increase the length of the circadian period. Your body has an internal clock that tells it when it is time to be asleep and when it is time to be awake. The light usually mimics natural sunlight but there can be variations. Chronic sleep onset insomnia with late melatonin onset is prevalent in childhood and has negative daytime consequences.

If you are working with your primary care doctor or a sleep specialist for insomnia you can ask if this is an appropriate treatment for you. Melatonin treatment is known to be effective in treating these sleep problems. 24 in cases in which the amplitude of the clock is low properly timed light exposure can elicit a recovery in amplitude. 25 only a few of the previous studies that examined the utility of bright light for treatment of insomnia examined.

The standard output of a light box is between. The box gives off bright light that mimics natural outdoor light. Figure e39 2 illustrated is the use of morning bright light treatment and stimulus control ther apy for sleep onset insomnia. A unit of measure called a lux gauges the amount of light used in a treatment.

Light therapy is thought to affect brain chemicals linked to mood and sleep easing sad symptoms.