Dr Dave's My Alternative Healing & Health Blog

A. Dent says:

Review by A. Dent for Philips goLITE BLU Light Therapy Device
Rating:
The manual that comes with the goLITE states that it could help alleviate the so-called winter blues depressions, help with jet lag and allow shift workers better adjust to their unusual schedules. The theory claims that exposure to bright blue light tricks our body into producing producing certain hormones that make us feel more alert and energetic and inhibits the production of hormones that make us sleepy. Some people who feel depressed and exhausted in winter time because there’s not much bright light may respond favorably to light therapy. goLITE is a light therapy device.

The light:

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It’s really, really bright. For those familiar with LED flashlights, think of it this way: a decent LED flashlight device has about 3 LEDs. The goLITE has SIXTY. Therefore, think of TWENTY flashlights bright, when used at maximum intensity. That IS bright. It’s so bright, you are not supposed to stare at it directly. I did and my eyes hurt for about half an hour after that. Thankfully, the intensity is adjustable in increments of 25% with the 50% setting being recommended for starters.

The therapy:

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The manual recommends 15-30 minute sessions with the light bathing your face from the side, at about eye level. The light therapists believe that the best times to use it are in the morning but, for those who, like me, feel sleepy in the afternoon, an afternoon session could also be beneficial. I normally use it early in the morning, with my breakfast and every time I exercise, which is the evening-afternoon.

The controls:

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A touch LCD panel allows the user to set the clock, the timer, the alarm and the light intensity. The most needed functions: the timer and the light adjuster are easy to set. For the others, you may need a manual to remind you that, for example, if you really, really want to switch between the 12-hour to the 24-hour time format you must press and hold both the TIMER and the MINUS buttons for 2 seconds. So, don’t lose the manual.

The build:

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The goLITE has a definite durable, solid, ‘high end’ feeling. A protective case/sleeve is included. There is also a charger. A small metallic ‘stand’ is held magnetically inside its own depression in the back of the body. The small manual is informative and only 20-30% of it is regulation-mandated nonsense or technical mumbo-jumbo graphs. The rechargeable battery can not be replaced. The manufacturer expects the goLITE to last for about 50 years if used for 30 minutes per day, every day. A fully charged device should be able to run on battery for at least 3-4 sessions.

The ergonomics:

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I appreciate the small size because I am taking it with me to office. It fits easily inside my laptop bag. The carrying case is well made. My only problem and this is where goLITE is losing one star is the placement of the controls on the same side with the lights. Like I said, staring directly at the lights is not pleasant and, the way the controls work, accidentally touching the PLUS button WILL turn the light on. It would be A LOT better if the LCD panel was located on the back. It might have even allowed for a smaller device.

The effectiveness:

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I can now testify that, after more than three months through a long winter I feel happier and more optimistic now than at the same time a year ago. Normally by early March I have that feel of exhaustion and the ‘will this winter ever go away?’ type of thoughts. Not this year. I do wish for the winter to go away but I seem to feel more energized and less negative.

The battery life:

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The manual claims that you could use the goLITE for about 4 sessions on one charge. I am pleased to note that, after 3-4 months of use I can use it for 6-8 sessions on one charge. They are 20 minute sessions with the light at 100% intensity.

The rating:

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I appreciate the quality of the build, the brightness of the light and the fact that I can do several therapy sessions before having to recharge. This is a good light therapy device.

The very small negatives are all related to the LCD control panel. Certain functions can not be intuitively invoked and, once the manual is lost, may give the end-user some headaches. The other small negative is the placement of the LCD control panel. Think of it this way: you would not like a gun that was build in a way that forced you to stare at the barrel while loading it, right? Similarly, it would be a lot better if you didn’t have to stare at sixty LED that could turn themselves on at any time while you are struggling with setting up the timer. However, once the goLITE is set up, I rarely change the setting so this is a very rare inconvenience.

Michael Bluth says:

Review by Michael Bluth for Philips goLITE BLU Light Therapy Device
Rating:
So after reading these reviews on Amazon.com, I was initially VERY skeptical about this product working. Most of these reviews come from people in the Vine program or the reviews were being released rapidly over a short time period and that had me very doubtful. But before I go into that, let me give you a little background on my personal story. I am 21 years old, Asian-American (maybe I’m not adjusted for the long winters in Vermont and I’ve been having sleep problems since the age of 17 or 18.

For years, I would sleep in and miss classes, and would generally feel chronically fatigued and apathetic. My problem got pretty bad to the point that I would miss important meetings or events. I was focused, and hardworking but I just could not wake up on time (and go to bed on time either)! I would go to bed at say 11 PM, yet I would still wake up at 12 PM or 1 PM the next day. I would be like what the hell. So then over this winter break (where I had a good 5 weeks off), I started letting myself go to bed at the time my body NATURALLY fell asleep (not when I *wanted* to). I found that I was going to bed at 3 AM. And what happened? I STILL woke up at 11 AM!!!! What did this show me? That I WAS getting 8 hours of sleep BUT it was at a later time (hence going to bed at 11 PM didn’t do anything because I really wasn’t falling asleep until 3-4 AM in the morning).

So why did this happen? Why did my sleep schedule get delayed (this problem is called DSPS or delayed sleep phase syndrome — it’s nothing serious it’s just a big pain when trying to function in society — my primary care physician referred me to a sleep MD who diagnosed me with this as well.)? Well in high school I had bad habits. I would go to bed late playing VIDEO GAMES, watching TV, doing intellectually stimulating activities that would make me stay up late. Also the summer before college started, I had a job where I was working as a waiter at night (4 PM-10 PM) or (6 PM-1 AM), and thus I was sleeping later. I guess all of this carried through college and in grad. school (modern day society makes it difficult to live a natural technological-independent state huh?)

Anyways, before I digress any further, this winter break, I let my body go to bed when it wanted too. But then something bad happened. I was going to bed later and later every day (going to bed at 8 AM!!!). And thus, I would end up sleeping my 8 hours during the DAY!!! It was terrible. So I looked into chronotherapy, and I did something where I would go to bed a little bit later every day (so instead of going to bed at 8 am the next day, I would go to bed at 11 am, then 2 PM, then 5 PM, then eventually 8 PM), and let me assure you it wasn’t fun.

So my doctor recommended me this product which piqued my interest and I eventually found this product here on Amazon (Apollo was the company that makes these products, but Philips bought them over). Immediately after a few sessions, I found that I was waking up at 5-6 AM NATURALLY and going to bed at 9-10 PM PHYSICALLY/EYELID HEAVY SLEEPY. I also felt happier too and the reason why this happens is that the blue light increases the production of SERATONIN (the happy go-lucky hormone that is low in depression, etc).

I’m a grad. student in Biology, and I’ll briefly go into the details of the basic physiology of blue light. Basically, your eye’s retina (a thin membrane at the back of the eye-ball) has a couple of receptors. The ones you’ve probably heard of were the rod and cones. Well, there’s another one called the “MELANOPSIN” photoreceptor that scientists about 10 years ago discovered. And these are on the edges of the retina (not centric like the rods and cones). These melanopsin photoreceptors absorb light of a specific wavelength and that is BLUE (460-480 nm). Older light boxes used white light (which contained blue light) that mimicked light from the sun, but apparently those are superbright. So why can’t you use a regular old BLUE lightBULB then? I don’t really know maybe someone can comment on this as I’m not a physicist.

Other notes: This thing is expensive, so if you want something a BIT cheaper you can go with the slightly older Philips/Apollo units some of them are as low as $80.P You might be able to make a deduction on this unit with your health insurance or through your taxes, just a heads up, but I’m not 100% as of yet.

If you have problems waking up on time, have chronic fatigue, depression, SAD, ciracadian rhythm disorders, then this is worth a shot. I can’t guarantee that it will work for you, but after doing some experiments, I don’t believe that this was a placebo affect. N=1 though, so take what I say and everything on Amazon.com with a grain of salt.

Laura I says:

Review by Laura I for Philips goLITE BLU Light Therapy Device
Rating:
I don’t have seasonal affective disorder, but I’ve heard light therapy can help insomnia.

Every morning I’d wake up completely exhausted. I’d feel like the living dead until about noon. Then when I’d try to sleep at night, I’d be wide awake because as far as my brain was concerned, I hadn’t waken up until noon. It was a vicious cycle. For awhile I was on a prescription sleep aid, which helped but the doctor didn’t want me to become dependent. Since then I’ve just had to go back to being tired during the day and not sleeping at night.

Well, I’ve been using this light every morning for about 30 minutes for the past two weeks now. The light makes me feel much more awake in the morning. I no longer sleep on the train every morning going to work, I actually read and feel awake! By bedtime I feel tired again and I’ve been sleeping so much better. This light was a miracle for me!

There’s many features I like about it. I like that it can be used as an alarm, with or without a buzzer sound. I like that it has an internal battery that you only need to charge about once a week. You can adjust how bright the light is (I keep it at the lowest setting). Also, I wondered how long the LED lights would last before burning out, and according to the manual if you use it 30 minutes every day, it’ll last 50 years. So, I’m sold! I wouldn’t want to live without it ever again.