Replacing antidepressants with light therapy, what do scientists say?

Light therapy, a therapy finally recognized in the treatment of different types of depression

Recognized by the medical community as an effective therapy for the symptoms of seasonal depression, caused in part by the decrease in light in winter, light therapy has been re-evaluated by French psychiatrists and is confirmed as a real alternative for the treatment of other types. of depressions.

Following the completion of a meta-analysis, published on September 18, 2019 in the scientific journal Sleep Medicine Reviews , Pierre Alexis Geoffroy, psychiatrist and sleep doctor in Paris, and colleagues from the Strasbourg University Hospital, proved the effectiveness of light therapy, not only in the treatment of seasonal depression but also in the treatment of moderate and severe depressive episodes.

Light therapy could be a serious treatment replacing antidepressants or complementing them.

This morning exposure would have an antidepressant effect and would resynchronize our internal clock.

Light therapy produces several effects on the body, it improves the rhythm of sleep, synchronizes biological rhythms, improves vigilance, but also happiness, thanks to its action on the production of serotonin.

Light therapy or anti-depressants?

This team of French researchers carried out a meta-analysis, compiling studies comparing light therapy and antidepressants. They were thus able to analyze seven trials representing 397 patients suffering from a moderate to severe depressive episode.

They then concluded that antidepressants were not superior to light therapy, they even affirmed that the combination of the two therapies is more effective than taking antidepressants alone and for any type of depression, seasonal or not.

Faced with non-severe depression, the prescribing physician may opt for first-line antidepressants or light therapy treatment depending on the patient's preferences and drug tolerance. When the depression is more severe, the combination of the two treatments can be initiated from the outset, to obtain a faster effect than with antidepressants alone.

This non-invasive therapy offers many virtues and can treat many ailments only by exposing yourself daily to a light therapy lamp for 30 minutes.

However, the choice of light therapy lamp or glasses remains decisive in the effects observed. For maximum efficiency and safety, the lamp used must have CE medical device certification and photo-biological non-harmfulness.

Dayvia, a French manufacturer of light therapy lamps and glasses, provides you with all of these certifications and is now positioned as a serious player in light therapy.

Find out here how to choose the right light therapy lamp , compact lamp, desk lamp or glasses, Dayvia meets all your needs.