Compose a 3500 words essay on Bright Light Therapy A treatment option for Alzheimers disease. Needs to be plagiarism free!Download file to see previous pages... The light therapy system that meets rec

Compose a 3500 words essay on Bright Light Therapy A treatment option for Alzheimers disease. Needs to be plagiarism free!

The light therapy system that meets recommendations consists of a set of fluorescent bulbs installed in a box with a diffusing screen, and set up on a table at which the patient can sit with comfort for the treatment duration. The treatment involves mainly the sitting of the patient in proximity to the light box, with lights on and eyes open. It is not recommended to look straight at the light, since it may prove to be hazardous to the sensitive eyes. It is always a good practice to make an arrangement for the person to engage self in other activities, like reading, writing, eating, or perhaps some other areas of preference or desire.

As a rule of thumb, the direction of the head and body should be toward the lights, and the concentration of the mind and eyes should be set on the objects that gain illumination from the bright light and not on the light itself. The treatment duration, depends of the type of disease or disorder demanding management or cure and the severity associated with that condition, and also the equipment in use. The treatment session varies and may last from 15 minutes to three hours, once or twice a day.

The different types of illumination sources include common electric light bulb (least effective), fluorescent strip lighting (more efficient), and full spectrum lighting (costly but effective). Full spectrum light bulbs are made to try to imitate natural sunlight, and like sunlight, they also produce UV rays. Full spectrum bulbs, usually have a Color Rendering Index (C.R.I.) of 90 or above (Outdoor light has a CRI of 100) and a Kelvin temperature of 5,000 or above. Thus, it competes natural sunlight in effectiveness to heal. Full spectrum light can be presented as being having a purple or a bluish cast. The innovation in the technology usage in companies has advantaged the light box by provision of blocking the hazardous UV rays through diffuser screen. The progress of technology towards positivity has offered to the market effective systems using cool-white, triphosphor and bi-axial lamps. The point of importance is that the intensity of light emitted should match that of light outdoors shortly after sunrise or before sunset.

The health benefit imparted by the bright light therapy has several known physiological effects. However, its mechanism of action is still not very clear. The human blood consists of a hormone called melatonin which is sensitive to light. This melatonin hormone which is abnormally increased at certain times of day gets rapidly decreased by exposure to light. Depending on time of bright light exposure, the internal clock of the body which controls daily rhythms of hormone secretion, body temperature, and sleep patterns gets shifted ahead or is delayed. These physiological time shifts can be the probable basis of the observed health benefit that results from light exposure. The intensity of light can also be responsible to amplify the day-night difference in these rhythms. Research into the exact mechanism of action of light exposure is in action.

A number of researches have approved the associated efficiency of bright light to help mange and treat patients with even long histories of SAD. A clear beneficial effect of the treatment is observed a short span of a week, or even sooner.