Nothing like a fake glow to brighten your day..... and I dont mean a tan

The cold weather and lack of sunlight brings peoples energy and personalities down fast especially if you live in a place where it is has even less sun then the rest of the country. 

I have heard that some people try to take a sunny vacation or pick up an extra hobbie to keep their mind off the dreary weather but this new idea definitely sheds like on the term "Brighten up your day". 

In an article written by the NY Times, there was a husband and wife living in Portland Oregon and were deeply feeling the effects the cold weather season. They were considereing moving to a play with more sunlight like Arizona, when they stumbled upon a product that would light up there day anytime they choose. 

The wife Jan discovered an artificial light box she now uses every morning  for about 30 to 45 minutes while catching up on her reading. The boxes come in different sizes; Ms. Brehm’s is about 15 inches high and 12 inches wide, and she keeps it a foot or more from her face.

“I still say to myself, ‘It’s a dark crummy day,’ when the clouds roll in,” Ms. Brehm, a 57-year-old actress and entrepreneur, said. “The difference is, I don’t feel like going back to bed.”

For the millions of Americans who suffer from mild to severe winter blues, a condition called seasonal affective disorder, the artificial box can be used as  bright-light therapy instead of antidepressants. “Your natural clock is usually longer than 24 hours, and you need light in the morning to set it and keep it on track,” said Dr. Alfred Lewy, a professor of psychiatry at Oregon Health and Science University and an expert on seasonal depression and light therapy.

The box is really small about 9 by 11 inches and 5 inches deep, with the bright light emanating from the square surface, in the morning. “With the natural dawn being later in winter, the body rhythms drift late,” Dr. Lewy said. “If you can fix the drift, you can fix the depression.”

Light therapy may even help with major nonseasonal depression, experts say, and with sleep disorders. And because it has few side effects, researchers are studying whether light therapy can help with depression during pregnancy and be used to treat elderly people with dementia. 

Sometimes if you dont have time to do a workout to get your energy up, you can use artificial light to wake you up and get you ready for the day. 

Keep Sweating it!

Tina