Talk:Dark therapy

Further changes

For starters, dark therapy is also known as darkness therapy, which should be mentioned. One of its main uses is in the treatment of circadian rhythm disorders such as Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome and Non-24 Sleep-Wake Disorder, which again is very much worth mentioning.

I agree that this article needs a proper discussion of how humans evolved under certain light/darkness conditions and how that compares to light/darkness conditions in industrialised societies today.

Saying that "LED, incandescent and fluorescent light should be avoided" is missing the point. It's not about the light source, it's about light in general, and the wavelength around 465nm in particular, which is blue. There are two ways of practising darkness therapy. Either you cut out all light (including daylight), or you filter out blue light only (which is where amber lenses, yellow lights and so forth come in). If the latter, the standard practice is to start the virtual darkness several hours before bed, and then sleep in a room which is completely dark. Some people practising darkness therapy using virtual darkness believe that yellow light is sufficient, while others believe that only red light will do.

That said, some light sources contain more blue light than others. Incandescent bulbs are low in blue light, though as with all white or whitish domestic lighting, there's enough in there to keep you awake. Fluorescent light has peaks at various wavelengths though not 465nm, but there's more blue in fluorescent light than there is in incandescent light, so again, plenty enough to disrupt melatonin production. (Incidentally, melatonin disruption should be properly discussed in this article!) Blue LEDs are naturally exactly that wavelength, and white LEDs peak in that wavelength as well. This makes them particularly useful for bright light therapy, but since LEDs are not really used for general domestic lighting yet, it doesn't affect darkness therapy so much where light bulbs are concerned. However, computer screens and computers do emit a great deal of blue light, which is why you'll see a blue glow when looking through the window at a darkened room with a television on. This is why another component of darkness therapy is orange or amber filters for television and computer screens.

The links section is woefully inadequate. The first link I'd suggest is http://www.psycheducation.org/depression/darkrx.htm , a site written by the respected psychiatrist and specialist in bipolar disorder, Dr Jim Phelps. http://www.lowbluelights.com/ is another valuable resource, with links to much of the research on darkness therapy as well as products you can buy for virtual darkness. I'm a layperson who just happens to practice darkness therapy myself, but even my website, http://insearchofmornings.wordpress.com/, tells you a lot more about darkness therapy than this current Wikipedia page does.

- Insearchofmornings, 14 February 2010 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Elettaria (talk • contribs) 12:54, 14 February 2010 (UTC)

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