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We have seen that one of the treatments for Seasonal Affective Diosrder (SAD) has been light therapy. Adding bright light to some individuals who become depressed during the winter months when the amount of availabe daylight during the day grows shorter improves their mood disorder. Science has also known for many years that exposure to light affects the way animals hibernate and seasonal changes in light control reproduction in rats and mice so they only mate during warmer months.
New research supported by the National Institutes of Health (published in Journal Neuroscience Letters), studied 11 healthy male volunteers, aged 19 to 30 to test whether light affects the body levels of luteinizing hormone (produced by the pituitary gland and assists in the production of other hormones, such as testosterone, in men). The men woke at 5 a.m. for five days and spent an hour in front of a light box which produced 1,000 lux, (brighter than typical indoor lighting.) Later, they spent five days in front of a light box that only gave out 10 lux.
Researchers found the body levels of luteinizing hormone grew by 69.5 percent in the men while they were exposed to the high levels of light. The researchers didn't study women because the rapidly cycling hormones in their bodies would make it difficult to study the effect of light. Next on the agenda for this group of researchers is to study light as a treatment for women who have ovulatory problems or long and irregular menstrual cycles since luteinizing hormone affects ovulation. Other possible areas where the value of light therapy can be evaluated include: boosting testosterone in men to increase sexual potency and muscle mass, as a treatment for low sex drives and as a way to enhance hormone levels in postmenopausal women.
While the number of subjects in this study was small, the impact of light on our hormone levels seems intriguing and much more research will hopefully shed some lumen on the impact on our physiology.
10:47:48 PM 
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