Issue date: Nov. 6-8, 1998

Why so sad? Find relief with the flick of a switch

Light boxes can beat the winter blues of SAD: seasonal affective disorder.

Keith Hansen says a light box lifts his mood.

very year around this time, Keith Hansen began craving dark beers and pasta, a sure sign of his descent into a lethargic state known as seasonal affective disorder, or SAD. That all changed the day Hansen, 38, walked into the showroom of a light-device manufacturer.

"There I was, surrounded by beautiful, comforting and uplifting light," says Hansen, an economist in Washington, D.C. "I said, 'Yeah, I've got to have one of these.' "

More and more of the 10 million Americans afflicted by SAD - or its milder sister, the winter blues - have come to the same conclusion. Since light therapy was discovered nearly 20 years ago, the treatment has come to be regarded as first-line management for SAD, says Norman Rosenthal, M.D., a pioneering light therapy researcher at the National Institute of Mental Health. His pointers:

• What SAD is. Seasonal affective disorder is a form of depression marked by its seasonality as well as sluggishness and a craving for sweets and starches. SAD responds especially well to light treatment - three or four out of every five sufferers benefit.

• Variety of devices. There are now 10 times more light therapy manufacturers than five years ago. Consumers can select from an array of light boxes, light visors and dawn simulators of various shapes and sizes, along with more dubious gadgets.

• Best bet. The best treatment for most light-starved people is a light box. In choosing among the various styles, consider how far you'll sit from the box, as well as the size of your room.

• How to use a light box. Routine use is 20-90 minutes in front of the box; morning is best. The time and brightness (lux) vary according to how sensitive the user is to light. Lux range: 2,500-10,000.

• Buy the right light. Light therapy devices
  are not regulated. Stick with name brands that have been around for a while, such as SunBox, Apollo and Enviro-Med.

• Ask your insurer. Good news: Some insurance companies will cover the cost of the devices - $200 to $550 for a typical light box.

• Light in your eyes. Recent news reports based on a Cornell University study suggested light therapy can be successfully administered to the back of the knee or other areas of the body. The jury is still out. For now, assume you need to see the light to benefit.

• Greet the dawn. Keith Hansen supplements his light boxes with a dawn simulator, a rheostat device that attaches to his ordinary bedside lamp and slowly grows brighter in the morning, simulating a summer dawn.

• Under your hat. There's not yet good scientific evidence of the effectiveness of the light visor - a kind of baseball cap with lights embedded in the brim. Yet, the anecdotal and clinical feedback has been encouraging. The visor may be a good choice if you don't have a desk job and move around a lot.

• Beware of a buzz. One advantage of light therapy over antidepressants is the low incidence of side effects. But consult your doctor if you feel unduly jazzed-up or suffer headaches or eyestrain.