light box therapy for improved moods

Mental health professionals have used light-box therapy for decades to treat seasonal affective disorder (SAD), which leads to a low mood in winter but eases its depressing grip when the days get longer. 

HANNAH WHITAKER

New research indicates that the same therapy may be effective for other types of depression, including treatment-resistant depression and even bipolar depression. (Indeed, one recent study found that among patients hospitalized for depression, those in rooms facing southeast, which received the most light, were discharged an average of 30 days earlier than those in rooms facing northwest.) 

Researchers believe that the therapy, which involves sitting near a light box during morning hours, resets a disordered circadian rhythm, resulting in an improved mood.