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Innovative light therapy helps residents cope with dark Seattle winters

By Gary Horcher, KIRO 7 News
By Gary Horcher, KIRO 7 News
Early morning bright light therapy has been used for years to treat people suffering from seasonal depression, but according to recent research, it can also help people with non-seasonal depression -- and almost everyone else as well.
Dr. David Avery has been on the leading edge of light therapy research for the treatment of Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD. 
A specific type of light therapy called "Dawn Simulation" can improve mood, and reset and improve sleep/wake cycles, according to clinical studies.
Dr. Avery says that feeling is a very real biological reaction to months of daytime darkness, "kind of like a hibernation response,'' he said. “We're talking, for some people, about a major depressive episode occurring each fall and winter.”
"Seattle is a great laboratory to do research in winter depression," he said.
Dr. Avery cautions that people who have depression symptoms should consult a specialist to be certain if SAD symptoms could indicate a more serious condition
>> Find 5 tips to help you cope with dark days.
For people diagnosed with SAD, Dawn Simulation, according to Dr. Avery's studies, can work for almost 80 percent of people who used it regularly.
Sheila Keaton of Burien says she felt the symptoms for years.

“We think that the circadian rhythms -- the body clocks -- are altered when we don’t get that morning light.” [David Avery, MD: UW Psychiatry.]Learn about #light therapy & the most effective way to utilize treatment [even if you don’t suffer from SAD] -- at 5:30 p.m. {kiro.tv/SADTherapy}

Posted by KIRO 7 News on Wednesday, February 10, 2016
"I definitely feel, like, caged," she said. "I really want to get out and do something but I can't. I don't have the energy."
According to Dr. Avery, for people with winter depression who are not using light therapy, "That's what every day is like.”
Therapy lights, which give off blue-spectrum waves, are used in Dawn Simulation. The brightness gradually builds on a timer, exposing a sleeping person's eyelids to alertness-boosting blue light.
"It mimics sunrise," Dr. Avery said.

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Dr. Avery prescribes 30 minutes of daily light to patients -- but he says timing is critical. He says morning is best.
Dr. Avery says recent studies revealed a light therapy breakthrough. Everyone, including people who didn't even suffer from SAD, can benefit from using a therapy light with a timer in the morning.
"So that when the alarm clock goes off at 6 a.m., they're alert," he said.
Dr. Avery says Dawn Simulation can even help reduce the need for caffeine and for former SAD sufferers, it helps kick the winter blues

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