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Article: Light Therapy
- Article from:
- Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 The Gale Group, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Light therapy
Definition
Light therapy, or phototherapy, is the administration of doses of bright light in order to treat a variety of sleep and mood disorders. It is most commonly used to re-regulate the body's internal clock and/or relieve
depression
.
Origins
Light, both natural and artificial, has been prescribed throughout the ages for healing purposes. Sunlight has been used medicinally since the time of the ancient Greeks; Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, prescribed exposure to sunlight for a number of illnesses. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, bright light and fresh air were frequently prescribed for a number of mood and stress related ...