How Can Light Therapy Help With Better Sleep Cycle?

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Light therapy is a noninvasive, drug-free treatment for specific sleep problems. When used consistently, it can help reset circadian cycles and enhance sleep.

Fremont, CA: Light therapy involves exposure to a light source that is brighter than normal indoor light but not as bright as direct sunlight.  

It entails using a lightbox for a set period each day, and you can do it from the comfort of your home.  

Light therapy is used to treat a variety of illnesses, such as sleep difficulties, jet lag, depression, and seasonal affective disorder (SAD).  

Light treatment, also known as phototherapy, may help you sleep better by changing essential brain chemicals related to sleep and mood.

Insomnia may be caused by a change in your circadian rhythm connected to your sleep-wake cycle.

Your circadian rhythm is a component of your body's internal clock that makes you feel alert and awake during the day and tired at night.

When your circadian cycle is interrupted, symptoms can vary from daytime tiredness to depression.  

When used appropriately, light therapy can promote a reset of the circadian rhythm, which may improve sleep and other problems.

Light therapy has been found in studies to aid persons with sleep difficulties and depression.

Light therapy can treat circadian rhythm sleep problems, such as sleep-onset insomnia. This is when you can't fall asleep at typical times but can stay asleep. Accelerated or delayed circadian rhythms might be attributed to this.

Advanced sleep phase problems cause you to feel drowsy in the late afternoon or early evening. Bedtime is generally between 6 and 9 p.m. Because bedtime is early, you frequently awaken between 2 and 5 a.m.

In this case, light treatment in the early evening can help reset an "early bird" internal clock.

With delayed sleep phase disorder, you will likely stay up late into the evening, typically past midnight. As a result, you tend to get up later in the morning.

In this case, light treatment in the morning, soon after you wake up, may assist in advancing your internal clock and cause you to feel tired earlier in the evening.