Supposedly people with Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome and Bipolar II are differently sensitive to the light spectrum than "normal" people. Most people are able to wake up in the morning because of natural daylight, and get sleepy when it gets dark even sitting in a room with artificial light. This doesn't work for people with DSPS.
The idea is to use bright "blue" lights in the morning (or when you want the morning to be), natural light during the day, then dimmer "yellow" light in the evening, a few hours before you want to go to sleep. The "blue" light stimulates production of chemicals in the brain that wake you up, and absence of those frequencies of light is supposed to make other chemicals get produced to make you sleepy.
Different types of light also affect mood. Apparently, if you get the type of light right and have the correct periods of light and darkness for your brain, it may be possible to be happy and mentally stable without any mood stabilising drugs! I'm not sure that I want to try that, but certainly I'd like better functionality in the winter.
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Supposedly people with Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome and Bipolar II are differently sensitive to the light spectrum than "normal" people. Most people are able to wake up in the morning because of natural daylight, and get sleepy when it gets dark even sitting in a room with artificial light. This doesn't work for people with DSPS.
The idea is to use bright "blue" lights in the morning (or when you want the morning to be), natural light during the day, then dimmer "yellow" light in the evening, a few hours before you want to go to sleep. The "blue" light stimulates production of chemicals in the brain that wake you up, and absence of those frequencies of light is supposed to make other chemicals get produced to make you sleepy.
Different types of light also affect mood. Apparently, if you get the type of light right and have the correct periods of light and darkness for your brain, it may be possible to be happy and mentally stable without any mood stabilising drugs! I'm not sure that I want to try that, but certainly I'd like better functionality in the winter.