Dark therapy

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the medical uses for the absence of light. For the Echobelly song, see Dark Therapy (song).

Dark therapy is the practice of keeping people in complete

circadian rhythms. Darkness seems to help keep these circadian rhythms stable.[1]

Dark therapy was said to be founded by a German anthropologist by the name of Holger Kalweit.[2] A form of dark therapy is to block blue wavelength lights to stop the disintegration of melatonin.[3]

This dark therapy concept was originated back in 1998 from a research which suggested that systematic exposure to darkness might alter people's

intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells, it has been hypothesized that similar results could be achieved by blocking blue light, as a potential treatment for bipolar disorder.[7][8] Moreover, researchers exploring blue-blocking glasses have so far considered dark therapy only as an add-on treatment to be used together with psychotherapy, rather than a replacement for other therapies.[9]

Another study consisting of healthy females and males suggested that a single exposure to blue light after being kept in a dim setting could reduce sleepiness.[10] Contrary to the original claim that decreasing the amount of blue light could help with insomnia, this study suggested improvement with blue light exposure.

See also

References

  1. PMID 17637502
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  2. ^ Childs, Morgan (2018-07-06). "A Week of Darkness, for Your Health". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2019-11-23.
  3. ^ "Dark Therapy". PsychEducation. 17 September 2014. Archived from the original on 2019-04-28. Retrieved 2019-04-28.
  4. PMID 27218661
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  5. PMID 15654938
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  6. PMID 17637502
    .
  7. PMID 27226262
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  8. PMID 15654938
    .
  9. PMID 27226262
    .
  10. S2CID 144027952
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