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Light Therapy

I have suffered from most every flavor of sleep issue: trouble getting to sleep, trouble staying asleep, and waking too early. Currently, my insomnia du jour is waking in the middle of the night. I've been taking melatonin, which I believe helps somewhat, but not completely. Last week I purchased a light box and, for the past 6 days, have used it first thing in the morning. I was amazed at how instantly it improved my mood and daytime wakefulness! The first night I slept OK yet woke earlier than I would have liked. The next day I woke in the middle of the night, as usual, only more awake than normal. The next two nights I slept fine, and last night I awoke after sleeping only a couple of hours and was pretty much up, sporadically, for the rest of the night.

I have tried most every sleep aid and anti-depressant, and I really want light therapy to work: I haven't felt this good during the day in a long time. But I would love to sleep better. Will this work itself out? Should I try different times during the day? Is there any resource that I can find near me?

Thank you very much!

2 Responses
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707647 tn?1251488547
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Light therapy is only effective for insomnia if you have  a delayed or advanced phase component to your insomnia. Delayed phase means your body temperature rhythm is shifted several hours later than normal so that it rises later in the morning and falls later at night than it should. This results in problems initiating sleep at bedtime and is treated with light exposure in the early morning upon awakening to phase advance or “move forward" body temperature so that it rises earlier and falls earlier (making it easier to fall asleep earlier). Advanced phase means that body temperature rises to early in the early morning hours, around 3-4 am, leading to early awakenings. Exposure to light in the evening, around 8 pm, delays the drop, and rise, in body temperature so that awakenings don’t occur as early. Light therapy has not been shown to be effective for middle of the night awakenings. If your awakenings are 3 am or later, you need to shift light exposure to the evening since the morning light exposure could make your early awakenings worse, not better.

The more effective approach to all types of insomnia, including middle of the night awakenings, is cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, which I have discussed at length in most of my prior posts.

Dr. Jacobs
www.cbtforinsomnia.com
Helpful - 2
Avatar universal
Is there a way to use the light box to improve mood without it setting my clock? My days   go so much better after 15 minutes in front of the lamp, but my sleep has been terrible.
Helpful - 0

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