Light therapy is an up-and-coming treatment for a variety of mental health issues, namely depression (especially Seasonal Affective Disorder) and sleep-phase disorders. The dysregulation of the body’s circadian rhythm (sleep cycle) has been implicated in these issues, so light therapy aims to regulate this janked up rhythm by mimicking the light of the sun. To do this, light therapy involves the use of light boxes (though there are also light glasses, lamps and dawn simulators, which I won’t go into now), which are essentially just boxes with really bright lights inside them. For treatment, you turn the box on in the morning for thirtyish minutes (it differs on how bright the light is, and how much light you want), and bathe in its light (i.e. go on your phone while facing the general direction of the box).

This treatment is great because it’s backed by some science suggesting its effectiveness (citation: google it you frick), and it’s generally harmless (It apparently can trigger mania in people with Bipolar Disorder, but I can’t find a cite for this), and the therapy is just LEDs, so it should be pretty accessible to everyone, right? Lol no, trying to find one is a nightmare, which is what this post is about.

For context, [Redacted] (Got a little too personal here for a public website, but in summary, I’ve had big sad for a bit).

Anyway, I’ve been trying to figure out new non-awful strategies, and I noticed that my mood does get a bit better when I’ve been outside in the sun, which made me think of light therapy. Now I could just go outside, but light therapy would have the benefit of being impervious to lockdown, and it could help fix my broken sleep schedule (I’m struggling to wake up before 11am nowadays). Plus I have my daddy dan bucks, so I could afford to buy something. So off I went, to buy a digital sun and further burden the already struggling Australia Post.

And that’s when I discovered that all the light boxes available in Australia are either a. Ridiculously overpriced, or b. Scam boxes. I started with some ones I could find that were recommended by actual psychiatrists, which cost around $500 AUD! That’s actually insane, I don’t think I even cost that much. Keep in mind that light boxes are literally just bright lights, they’re not doing any amazing technological feats or anything. AND! The same product only costs $95 USD in the US.

Alright so, $500 is a bit more than I’m willing to pay for something that the sun gives away for free (the chump), so I went looking for some less reputable boxes.

Now, most light boxes will tell you how bright they are, which is given in Lux, and generally you want a box that can give you 10,000 Lux (which is still only a fraction of what the sun emits). The thing about the Lux measurement, however, is that it’s a relative measurement based on distance, so both the Sun and the light on a phone can give you 10,000 Lux based on how far they are from your eyes.

Pretty much every reasonably priced light box I could find advertises their ability to give you 10,000 Lux, but neglects to mention that you essentially have to have the box inside your eyeballs to get that. Now you can make up for a lack of Lux by increasing the time you spend in front of the unit, but who the hell wants to spend 2 hours in front of a box of light (teehee screen bad, fornite good).

And that’s the end of the post. I haven’t managed to find a light box yet, but there’s got to be a cheapish light box somewhere that doesn’t suck, right? Like am I missing something? They’re bright light bulbs, how do they cost more than my TV? Anyway to summarise, we live in a society.