Personal experiences from 4 different people
Recently my sister-in-law mentioned sitting with her Happy Lite in a joking email about our winter weather.  I didn't have a clue what she was talking about, so decided to search Amazon just to see if anything would come up to help me understand what she meant.  I started reading customer reviews, and two or three hours later I was both informed and intrigued.  By the time I decided to try the Happy Lite, I knew a lot about the different kinds of disorders and complaints that people found it helpful for, the pros and cons for getting &#34;low end&#34; versus more expensive models, full spectrum versus &#34;blue&#34;, etc.  I also had an overview of the technology and theory behind it.  Thank you to all of you who took the time to share your knowledge and experiences.<br />  One of the things I'd learned from reviewers is that the light has to enter through your iris.  But the main reason I was initially interested in the light was for my husband who's totally blind.  He has no iris.  His eyes are scarred shut.  But isn't sunliight absorbed by the skin, too?  I didn't know.  But even knowing that it was a long shot, I took the chance and ordered this model because it was more powerful than others in the less expenive group of lights.  And I thought if I was going to take a chance, I was't going to risk top dollar on it.  I also thought that it might help ME be less angry at the 4 AM alarm clock, something I haven't adapted to in 25 years of having to get up in the dark to go to work.  After the first week I was so excited by the results my husband and I were getting from the lamp, I got another one for my daughter for her birthday.  My grandson decided he &#34;liked&#34; it, too, and started moving it to his desk. Now my 90 year old mother is about to be the recipient of the compact model, since she has more time to sit for the required 1-2 hrs it requires.  Since all of us describe the benefits of sitting with this lamp in different ways, I'll try to do a brief individual summary of our experiences.<br />  My sister-in-Law:  She lives in northern Idaho, in a place that is overcast, cold, and dreary for much of the long winter.  She started using the lamp for SAD.  She says she had &#34;instant results&#34;, feeling better after the first use.  I don't know what model she uses, but the results are for her Happy Lite.  She reports she's been able to totally get off the anti-depressants during the winter, and feels good year round.  She's the one who inadvertantly started the rest of us down the Happy Lite path.<br />  Me:  My goal was to reset my internal clock to wake up willingly in the dark at 4 AM.  I sit with the Happy Lite for half an hour right after getting up (and pouring that all-important first cup of coffee!).  That's all the time I have to give it before having to get dressed and out the door.  After two days with the light, I started waking up spontaneously at 4 AM.  I continue to sit with the lamp every morning.  I'm poping awake regularly between 3:30 and 4, unfortunately even on weekends!  But I can roll over and go back to sleep within half an hour if I remind myself it's not a work day.  When I do roll out of bed after sleeping in, I still sit with the lamp later in the morning.  The later time on weekends doesn't seem to undo the earlier sessions with the light during the week.  I hadn't thought ahead to what would happen on the weekends, but even with that slight inconvenience, I'm much more able to roll out of bed, and have decided it's a small price to pay for feeling more ready to face the day when I need to.  I've also received an unexpected benefit that I don't think any reviewer I read mentioned,  My eyes are becoming less light-sensitive.  By that I mean that I'm no longer blinded by those awful blueish headlights on pickup trucks heading toward me in the dark on the drive to work, or by driver's who forget to dim their headlights on country roads, and I can drive in full sunlight without having to pop on my shades!  I can't tell when this change took place, since it's one of those things that just sort of crept up on me and I suddenly became aware of the difference.  This is a terrific help, especially when driving, both in the dark in the mornings, and &#34;into the sun&#34; in the late afternoons heading home.<br />  Joe:  My husband lost his eyes from a chemical burn in his early 20s.  He has no iris, no optic nerve in one eye, and his eye lids are held shut by scar tissue.  He can't even blink.  He suffers from chronic depressions, that have gone untreated for the most part, because he's always assumed they were related to the frustrations of living blind in a sighted world.  So how can this light help him?  I don't know the answer to that, but I do know it does.  He sits with the light 1-1 1/2 hours each morning.  He warms a small siting room with a space heater, takes off his bathrobe and sits with just his tank-tee shirt.  The light bathes his face, shoulders, arms, and to a lesser extent his thighs.  In three days his depression started to lift.  Now, after three weeks, he's better able to handle the life challenges, large and small, that come his way without feeling &#34;in a fog&#34; of depression.  He's more outgoing and responsive.  Yes, these are subjective assessments.  But it's a huge change for the better, and he credits the light for lifting the depression he's struggled to overcome for over 40 years.<br />  Terra:  My daughter lives with DSPS.  She works from home.  I gave her the light hoping it would help her reset her own sleep clock.  She's still trying to learn how to best go about that, but sits with the lamp when she does pull herself out of bed in the mornings.  She calls it &#34;instant energy&#34; and is excited by how quickly she's ready to jump into work with enthusiasm she'd lost along the way.  She was very skeptical about using the light...thought there was an element of &#34;wishful thinking&#34; on my sister-in-law's part, and was quite uncertain about my results.  She had that &#34;Yeh, yeh&#34; attitude about it.  I had to push her to try it, so her immediate response to it came as a surprise to everyone.<br />  The bottom line for me is simple...the Happy Lite has worked wonders for each of us in different ways.  We all love it and I'm sure that we'll each be passing it on to others in our lives who might need a boost.  It hasn't fixed every problem, or changed the circumstances we live in, but it's improved the quality of life we experience and it's a worthy addition to our coping arsenal.  It's definitely worth a try.
Rating: 5 stars