DOES SUNPIPE HELP PEOPLE WITH
SAD?
Exposure to daylight is an important and under-emphasized consideration for healthy humans, SAD or no SAD. Most people can identify with SAD sufferers in a small way because, during extended periods of overcast skies, it's sometimes difficult for all of us to get motivated and productive. SAD sufferers have that feeling too, but it's so much stronger, it brings on bouts of severe depression, often involving self-destructive emotions, even to the point of considering suicide.
It seems funny to me, how we often take care of our possessions better than we take care of ourselves. I see people concerned about whether their house plants get the right amount and the right kind of light. I see people take care of their cars in a meticulous fashion, and if their pet dog or cat exhibits even a hint of a problem, they get whisked off to the vet. Yet often these same people are overweight, out of shape or neglecting themselves in some health-related aspect. To some extent, we are all control freaks, and isn't it so much easier for us to exert control over other things in our life than it is to exert control over ourselves.
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a depression disorder that affects millions of people in the U.S. Its treatment is exposure to bright, full-spectrum light. In his book, "Winter Blues," Dr. Norman E. Rosenthal, M.D., of the National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, comments about the SunLight PipeTM saying,
"Not only is the extra light welcome, but there is the added advantage of feeling connected to the passage of the sun across the sky and even to the moonlight when the moon is full" (pg. 134)." He goes on to say that, in addition to having electric light-boxes scattered around his home, he also "had a SunLight Pipe installed in our upper hallway, which used to be quite dark, but is now often well illuminated with natural light (Pg. 180)."
In all fairness to SAD sufferers out there, our founder, Greg Miller, met with Dr. Rosenthal and asked him, point blank, if he would call SunPipe "therapeutic" for SAD sufferers. Here is Dr. Rosenthal response:
"No. To be therapeutic it would have to be at eye level in order that it stimulate the hypothalamus. However, it does make the area much more bright and cheerful."
(Dr. Rosenthal is one of our nations foremost authorities on SAD.)
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