Course No. 240113

Explain why modern people get less light and how light is properly measured
Identify and discuss how to treat depression with the use of enhanced light
Explain the differences between advanced and delayed sleep phase and how bright light treatment can benefit patients with depression disorders

WE WILT IN THE DARK

Think about the dark dungeons of despair, the heart of darkness, the gloominess of a funereal mood. This language tells us what people have always known. Sadness rules where it is dark.

Think about a person who has Seen the Light. Think about brilliance. Think how we describe the scintillating joy of love by singing, “You are my sunshine.” We know that light makes us happier.

Take a rose or a petunia indoors and it will wilt. Bring a peach or an apple tree indoors, and you will get no fruit. Only a few houseplants will flourish indoors. People are similar.

People were designed to be outside. It is part of what makes us human. Perhaps somewhere back in evolution, our ancestors may have resembled monkeys or chimpanzees who climbed trees and lived in dark forests. For example, the “Gorillas In The Mist” lived in a gloomy rainforest. In contrast, as our ancestors became human, they moved out more into equatorial fields and savannahs, became able to run further, and started looking about further for food. Some seasons had clear bright sun every day and some had rain, but it was always bright near the equator where they lived. Much of the time, there was hardly even partial shade. Our modern human ancestors became intelligent in places which were indeed very sunny. It is for such a life that our bodies are adapted.

When people settled down, about the time that recorded history began, our ancestors were still outdoors people. The men were outdoors hunting, fishing, farming, and fighting. The women were outdoors farming also, when they were not gathering food, grinding grains, weaving, cooking, or doing other things done mostly outside. Humans still spend much of their time outdoors where most people live: in China, in India and in many of the tropical developing countries. Indoors, we may wilt.