Tanning Not A Cure For Seasonal Depression

The mood disorder depression can come in many forms, and one of them is a condition known as seasonal affective disorder. This particular condition is believed to be caused by a lack of vitamin D, and as such, is known to affect people largely during the colder parts of the year. For many years, exposure to light has been the prescribed main therapy for the condition. Since the human body can only derive vitamin D from sunlight, this seems like a natural choice. However, experts warn that the popular tanning bed method of getting light therapy is not the most advisable course of action.

SAD depression is known to be treated by exposure to light on a daily basis, but there has been very,very little concrete evidence showing that tanning bed light can achieve this. There are a few reports of people having this form of depression having experienced relief from a tanning bed, but this is not conclusive. According to a number of experts, the eyes and not the skin should be what is exposed to the light therapy, and it requires a completely different type of light to work. The typical tanning lamp uses ultraviolet light, and the modern lamps can generate far more of it than ordinary sunlight can. To make matters worse, this is also quite harmful to the eyes, thus making them poor choices for light therapy.

The latest breed of sunlamps used for tanning, in particular, were found to be dangerous and anyone suffering from SAD depression should avoid them. The lamps produce much more ultraviolet light than ordinary sunshine, and the goggles that are used by people on these beds still allows for far too much rays to reach the eyes and do untold amounts of damage.

Light therapy is believed to work by resetting the biological clock through an articial dose of sunshine. It is known to be effective in treating depression caused by SAD and other, less severe seasonal disorders. However, medical experts warn that certain types of light are not only ineffective, it could potentially cause more problems after overexposure.