Commercial lights for treating seasonal affective disorder (SAD, winter blues) are not nearly bright enough. They max out at 10,000 lumens, which—in

YOU NEED MORE LUMENS

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2021-08-01 13:00:03

Commercial lights for treating seasonal affective disorder (SAD, winter blues) are not nearly bright enough. They max out at 10,000 lumens, which—in my experience—has only a small effect. Recently I built a 30,000 lumen light, which seems much more effective. I suspect even more would would be even better.

Clinical studies have found that bright light treats SAD effectively. To work, it has to be really bright. Most commercially available SAD lamps are essentially fraudulent; they are much less bright than those used in the research. The brightest one I could find, when shopping online several years ago, was 10,000 lumens. That was enough that I noticed a clear improvement, but not nearly enough to restore full brain function. So over several years I’ve experimented with various homemade alternatives that are significantly brighter—and more effective.

[Update: In a more recent post, I explain using LED light bars for SAD phototherapy. The bars are less expensive than the technology I describe in this post, and easier to install. I think they will be a better solution for most people. They’re not suitable for all purposes, though, so I’m leaving this post up!]