Bright light improves vitality and alleviates distress in healthy people
Journal of Affective DisordersPublished 1 January 2000
Timo Partonen, Jouko Lönnqvist
Citations214
SJR quartileQ1
SJR score2.12
SNIP1.65
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TL;DR
Bright-light exposure during winter appears to be effective at improving the health-related quality of life and alleviating distress in healthy subjects and among subjects working indoors in wintertime.
Abstract
Administration of bright light is a useful option to improve vitality and mood among subjects working indoors in wintertime. LIMITATIONS OF STUDY: Our field setting used self-reports, not interviews, for the assessment of outcome.
Keywords
NeuroscienceEnvironmental Science
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