Let there be light (therapy)

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This article was published 09/12/2019 (1599 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As daylight hours shrink and parts of the province heed extreme cold warnings, more Winnipeggers are turning to artificial sunshine to get through dark days.

Light-therapy lamps at local libraries are seeing steady use, and a non-profit that rents out such equipment has seen its stock dwindle as the devices become more popular heading into winter.

“Definitely, in the last two weeks, we’ve had a lot more calls and a lot more people coming in to buy and rent,” said Pamela Mann, board chairwoman for the Mood Disorders Association of Manitoba.

The organization has stocked lamps meant to treat seasonal affective disorder (SAD) for the past five years, but had to order more due to high demand. From what was once a three-dozen-strong supply, only seven lamps remained Tuesday.

“I just hope we have enough to go around for the winter,” Mann said.

The non-profit rents the lamps for $20 per month to its members (who pay a $15 annual membership fee, plus $20 damage deposit) or sells them for $200 each. Light therapy has been studied as an effective way to boost the mood of people who suffer from seasonal depression.

“A lot of people feel better when the sunshine is out, and this gives you the same kind of feeling, so to me, I think it’s an important part of what we can offer,” Mann said.

“It’s a big expense for a charity to carry these, so we could always use more, put it that way. Whatever we have, we could always use more, because there’s such a great need.”

For the past four years, SAD lamps have also been available through the Winnipeg Public Library. They’re used year-round at the downtown Millennium Library, as well as at the St. James-Assiniboia, Harvey Smith and St. Boniface branches, said youth services librarian Megan O’Brien.

Library users like to try out the lamps even in summer, but they’re most popular starting in November, O’Brien said. It’s part of modern libraries’ mission to “help people live their lives to the fullest,” she said.

“Libraries really have an ability to enhance the well-being of the community, and that can look like a lot of different things to a lot of different people. So this is just one of the ways that we’re able to contribute in a positive manner to the communities that these libraries are in.”

A large supplier of light therapy lamps in Canada and the United States said it has seen about a 45 per cent spike in Canadian sales since last year via the online seller Amazon.

Since 2018, sales have increased about 75 per cent in northern parts of the U.S., said David Jones, vice-president of e-commerce and digital for Compass Health, which owns the Carex brand of light therapy lamps.

“It seems like there’s been more awareness lately, just because you see so many articles now about the effects of the lack of sun and people having the winter blues,” Jones said.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay