Light Therapy

When winter comes around I tend to feel very blah!  No energy, tired and somewhat grumpy. I've been wanting to get a light therapy unit for some time, but I didn't want something that had to sit on a table and take up space, or have to pull something out of the closet every day to plug in and use.

I saw a YumaLite on The Shopping Channel some months ago but at that time it was pretty new and there weren't a great deal of reviews about it. So I passed on it.

I've just seen it again and have read the reviews and they are mostly positive; with the exception of a few saying the side bands aren't very strong and had broken on them.  That I can deal with by being careful.

http://www.yumalite.com/

I ordered now because there was free shipping. I can't wait for it to arrive and try it out. I'm so tired of feeling like I'm going to fall on my face from exhaustion at 3pm and crawling into bed by 6 or 7pm every night.

My husband is very affected by the dark days, too. We get rain all winter with grey skies and clouds and sometimes it seems we wait all day for the sun to come up!

We use full-spectrum bulbs everywhere, but since incandescent bulbs are being phased out and no longer made, we've decided a future purchase will be a couple of BlueMax lamps. (I refuse to use fluorescent lighting since it's so bad for the thyroid and I already have major thyroid issues... fluorescent lighting feels like it's sucking the life out of me and that's one reason I can't stay in a mall very long without feeling horrible.)

I'm curious if the YumaLite is good - please keep us updated. Do they have floor lamps? BlueMax has free-standing floor lamps which we need for the living room since the house is so small. http://www.bluemaxlighting.com/floor_lamps_27_ctg.htm

I looked up BlueMax and it seems it is only available in Canada for emergency vehicle lights.  The home lighting seems to be only available in the USA.

EDIT: I just noticed that BlueMax will ship to Canada using only UPS. Which is not good for Canadians. UPS gouges us sometimes 75% of the total cost of the item for COD fee, brokerage and taxes. One time I ordered a video course for a graphic program I use. The cost of the item was something like $70.00  Once UPS finished adding their fees and taxes and brokerage charges, the total came to about $140.00. Another time I ordered a stethescope for $190.  The UPS driver showes up at my door trying to collect $90.00 I told him the item was paid for.  The charges were Brokerage for customs, COD fee and taxes on it all. I refused delivery.
 

I have family close by in Washington state so shipping isn't a problem. 

I thought I saw the BlueMax lamps in a store here but maybe it was Verilux.

It's here!!!!  I just opened the box and am about to read the information that came with it.  I'm anxious to try it, but I don't know if I should try it now, or wait until tomorrow morning. I'm having trouble enough sleeping, so I don't want to find myself all peppy from extra sunlight when it's time for bed!  LOL

It's pretty cool!  It runs on 3 aaa batteries (batteries come with the unit).  You can choose between red and white light.  Both give the same result apparently. I've tried both and I prefer the red light. It isn't so glaringly bright, but the white light isn't hard on the eyes.

The pamphlet says that I will notice a difference in about a week if I use it daily for 7 days.  They say to use it in the morning.

I've also made an appointment to see my family doctor at the end of the month to have my thyroid checked.
 

I tried it last night using both the white and red light.  Both seemed to be ok for me. I found the red one more calming though. 

And I used the white light for about 40 minutes this morning.

I don't know if it's all in my head, but I slept well last night. I went to bed around 9 pm and read for about 1 hour, and slept all the way through until almost 6 AM.

At work, I usually feel like I'm going to fall on my face from exhaustion around 1 or 2 PM, but today I didn't seem to feel tired. In fact I feel like I want to go and do grocery shopping today, and plan on it once I have my dinner.

Again, I don't know if it's psychosomatic or what, but I'm going to keep using it and see how it goes.
 

I'm interested in hearing the results of your "long-term study". Every December I think about getting one of those lamps because it's so dreary and the days unbelievably short.