About Light Therapy

Light therapy is another name for heliotherapy. It is the treatment of the symptoms of a disease or condition using natural or artificial light. Doctors prescribe light therapy when a patient needs more sunlight or the aide of a tanning bed or sunlamps.

One of the more common uses of light therapy is to treat seasonal affective disorder, also known as SAD. SAD causes symptoms of depression in people who live in light-deprived regions. As an example, the northern countries in Europe and the Northeast region of the United States lacks the sunlight compared to regions closer to the Equator.