10 Advantages of Light Therapy
Lee Dobbins
Weakness and disease are inescapable facts of life. You could fall prey
to a pathogenic bacterium that could eat away your skin. You could
catch a deadly virus that could lodge in and weaken your lungs. You
could be sick because of sunlight, or you could be sick because of
depression related to the weather.
Sickness is inevitable, but suffering is optional. There are many
therapies available to cure sickness, or to alleviate the pain of its
symptoms. You can take medicines or be injected with them. These
medicines are engineered in the laboratory to destroy infectious agents
by either breaking open their cell walls, or targeting pathogenesis-related
genes in their genetic material.
You can also be given vaccines to protect you from future infections.
Vaccines are actually a mild version of the pathogen, and mimic the
presence of the pathogen in your body. It is this mimicry that, in
turn, triggers a mild immune response, which leads to your body
producing cells that will keep you from succumbing to infections when
you grow older.
Surgery is the last resort when trying to cure a disease. Parts of
damaged organs can be removed, so that they do no further harm to the
body. Whole organs may also be transplanted into you to ease the body
of its burden of trying to use an organ destroyed by pathogens. You may
be fitted with prosthetics, given chemical treatments, or tumors can be
taken away for biopsy.
Thanks to modern technology and discoveries in science, these are not
the only ways that diseases can be treated. Laboratory research has
found that certain frequencies of light can actually kill pathogens or
even rejuvenate cells. As a result, laboratories and clinics now
specialize in research and applications in light therapy.
Certain wavelengths of light can have different effects on living
organisms. Ultraviolet, or UV light, for example, can destroy bacteria.
Lasers can change the configurations of molecules. Alternating periods
of light and darkness can cause different plants to fruit or flower,
and can change sleep rhythms in humans as well.
Light therapy exploits these properties of light and uses them to
create regimens that can help cure, or alleviate the pain brought about
by certain diseases. Light therapy can also be used for cosmetic
purposes, and is often used in psychiatry to relieve weather-related
depression.
Also known as phototherapy, light therapy involves exposing subjects to
specific light wavelengths using light emitting diodes (LED), lasers,
fluorescent lamps, or bright lights emitting all the colors of the
spectrum. Such procedures will be prescribed for a short period of
time, and are non-invasive. That is, they will not involve surgery or
other penetrating therapeutics, and can thus ease the anxiety of the
needle-fearing, scalpel-phobic patient.
What are the advantages of using light therapy?
- Light therapy is a non-invasive method that can kill acne-causing
bacteria. Acne removal can be painful if done in a dermatologist's
clinic, with only piercing equipment and syringes. Thanks to advances
in light therapy, these bacteria can be destroyed when the light
penetrates their cell walls, thus stopping them from causing more acne.
- Lack of light, as well as the gray air of winter, can trigger
depression. Light therapy can treat depression disorders by giving
patients various amounts of light, awakening the brain into thinking
that the less gray seasons of summer and spring have come. This
prevents patients from taking anti-depression medications, which can
have side effects.
- Light therapy can work into the body's sleep rhythm, or circadian
rhythm. Research shows that our sleep habits are governed by light, and
light therapy exploits this fact by giving patients varying amounts of
light at designated times of the day. This keeps patients from taking
tranquilizers to get a good night's sleep. It can also alleviate the
pain of jet lag for frequent travelers.
- Light therapy can treat skin diseases like psoriasis and eczema at a
much faster pace than other therapeutics. Ointments and shampoos need
months, even years to fully take effect.
- If you are miles away from the beach, but still want to get a tan,
you can go to an accredited tanning salon for UV light therapy. At safe
doses, UV light can give you the tan that you want without you worrying
about overexposure to the sun's harmful rays.
- Light therapy users claim that light rejuvenates their cells and
gives them a more youthful, glowing look. This means less spending on
expensive ointments and elixirs promising to turn back the clock on
skin.
- Light therapy has been shown to be largely effective for at least
ninety percent of patients.
- Light therapy can be done at home, with special light boxes. Although
expensive, rising demand can lower the prices of such light boxes.
- When done with the supervision of experts, light therapy can be
controlled, and its effects monitored accordingly. That is, the amount
of light, its intensity, and frequency can be measured and adjusted
easily.
- Light therapy is safe for many patients, if placed under the control
and supervision of accredited experts.
If you think that light therapy is for you, consult with your doctor,
and find out what clinics are accredited and certified in your area. If
you fear needles and scalpels, but want to get cured and get better,
then light therapy might just be the answer you are looking for.
Lee Dobbins writes for
http://www.herbs-home-remedies.com
where you can explore other methods of alternative treatments.
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