Light therapy can help decrease depression

Question

According to Harvard health light therapy can help improve seasonal affective disorder (SAD). It can also be effective for major depression, and depression that occurs during or after late fall and early winter. Light therapy allows the body to be exposed to light for a certain amount of time that then influences the body's natural circadian rhythm,  improving mood and sleep patterns by stimulating the production of serotonin and regulating melatonin levels in the brain. Which then can help with heightening your mood and making you feel better overall.

Comments

You did a great job explaining your source. This is vital because it's always good to have a thorough explanation for the point you're addressing. I liked how you built off of your claim by adding good evidence and reasoning. Overall, great job!

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I really enjoyed your response. This is well written and proves a really good point. It is really interesting and I am looking forward to searching more about it. Good Job!

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I really was impressed with the source that you used because it had a lot of factual information that proved this claim to be true. Your claim was very interesting and I found this to be true by looking for your link for more research. Good job on citing important information in your description as well!

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I think that BLT (bright light therapy) can be effective in helping with depression. It seems to be especially helpful with seasonal depression when there is less sunshine. It can also help to create a false vitamin D serotonin feeling for the nervous system. It is also a treatment that has fewer to no side effects than many other depression treatments. "A 2018 research review suggests that light therapy may effectively treat MDD with seasonal patterns and non-seasonal MDD. It may have fewer side effects than traditional depression treatments and act more quickly, too." The only issue with it is that people are replacing it with going outside. Although there may not be sunlight outside, exercise is one of the biggest things that help with depression.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5403163/

https://www.healthline.com/health/depression/light-therapy#expert-opinion

Answer 1

This claim is true. The source linked explains how seasonal affective disorder (SAD) can be treated with light therapy, but also that this treatment can help other forms of depression. Light therapy works by re-aligning your circadian rhythm, or your biological clock. This can increase alertness, help stabilize sleep patterns, and balances serotonin in your brain. Light therapy is not an automatic fix to depression, as it is important that you are using the right wavelength of light and duration. Still, the proper use of this treatment has shown beneficial results.

Sources:

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/light-therapy-not-just-for-seasonal-depression-202210282840

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6405415/

https://www.healthline.com/health/depression/light-therapy

Answer 2

This article is well laid out with clear details explaining your claim. This article is super beneficial and helpful to those curious and who are researching this idea. Very good job!

Answer 3

This claim is true. The article was published by an well-known prestigious educational institution which are typically very reliable sources that undergo rigorous fact-checking. The author is a health journalist who has years of experience in the field. Additionally, I researched other health journals in hopes of corroborating the claim with more sources. I found that multiple studies had been done on the topic (Yale School of Medicine, Healthline)  all of which came to the conclusion that light does actually help with depression. Therefore, this claim is true. 

https://www.healthline.com/health/depression/light-therapy

https://medicine.yale.edu/psychiatry/research/programs/clinical-people/winter/obtain/

Answer 4

This claim is in fact true. Harvard is a well known and reputable source whose article backs the claim. It says that "SAD seems to be triggered by a drop in daily sunlight exposure." The article then gets into the science of the circadian clock in the brain which is what is responsible for causing SAD.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/light-therapy-not-just-for-seasonal-depression-202210282840

Comments

Whle Harvard is a legitmate source, it is also the claim's source. It's best to always check for more sources and be sure the information is accurate. Thanks!

Answer 5

Going to college in Eugene OR. I can greatly feel the effects of this situation. This topic made me scavenge the web for more information regarding this light therapy and what benefits or harms come from it. Over 60% of patients with mild SAD (seasonal affective disorder) benefit from this treatment and 40% of more severe cases are helped due to this therapy. You also may be asking what light therapy is and it is proven to help boost serotonin levels which is what regulates your mood.

https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/seasonal-affective-disorder-sad/treatment/#:~:text=more%20about%20antidepressants-,Light%20therapy,lamps%20and%20wall%2Dmounted%20fixtures.

https://cerebral.com/blog/what-is-light-therapy-for-mental-health#:~:text=The%20theory%20behind%20light%20therapy,symptoms%20of%20depression%20and%20anxiety.

Comments

Nice work finding stats that prove the claim is factually accurate. Where are those stats from? Always mention within the fact-check where you found your information.

Answer 6

Your claim that light therapy helps to treat Seasonal Affective Disorder is true. The source you linked is from a credible university and the article quotes the associate professor of psychology at Harvard University. It lays out how treatment works and its effects. Light therapy is a popular treatment for those who have SAD and other forms of depression. Your submission itself was also detailed and informative.

Comments

Don't forget to add your source links to your fact-checks going forward. Thanks!

Answer 7

Your explanation of your source was excellent. This is important since having a detailed explanation for the argument you're making is always beneficial. I appreciated how you supported your assertion with sound logic and supporting data.

Answer 8

The Harvard Health article "Light therapy: Not just for seasonal depression?" suggests that light therapy can help treat other forms of depression, such as major depression and perinatal depression, beyond its typical use for seasonal affective disorder (SAD). The article references a meta-analysis published in JAMA Psychiatry, which found that bright light therapy is an effective supplemental treatment for various depressive disorders. This evidence is strong because meta-analyses combine data from multiple studies, offering a more complete picture of how effective the treatment is.

Comments

Great fact-check! I really like how you looked into the article that was referenced in the original article that was linked in the claim. You found that through meta-analyses and multiple studies, those studies show that has its benefits.

Answer 9

Light therapy can in fact help seasonal depression. This claim is true. The national library of medicine has an entire paper on this, "Residential Light and Risk for Depression and Falls: Results from the LARES Study of Eight European Cities". The NLM is a reputable source, and both authors covering this topic can be traced to certified backgrounds. In the study, they found that in 20 randomized controlled analysis of light therapy, the bright light treatments decreased the severeness of their patients depression (NLM). Proper treatment of light can in fact decrease SAD, therefore this claim is true.

Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3072912/#:~:text=However%2C%20bright%2Dlight%20therapy%20is,patients%20undergoing%20bright%2Dlight%20treatment.

Comments

Amazing fact-check! You found an article by reliable authors that did a study on the claim. I really like how you summarized their findings to back up why you believe that the claim is true.

Answer 10

This claim seems to be true. After reading through the article the claim links, other articles, and even discussion forums that are skeptical of light therapy, almost all of them mention the same benefits with light therapy. Not only is the original source, Harvard Health Publishing, already reliable itself, the author, Julie Corliss, has a reliable background involving health.

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/22146-led-light-therapy

https://carex.com/blogs/resources/common-light-therapy-mistakes-and-misuses?srsltid=AfmBOorGMvxApjPcEJceX_yyrjkrsBRjHC5qdVFuwWJEC9VKu4n0W2oz

https://www.reddit.com/r/DSPD/comments/tb02vz/light_therapy_not_helping/