4 ms·

Could wandering virtual sunny landscapes in something like Oculus Rift be a reasonable substitute for a light box?

• viggity 12y ago
  IIRC, no. You need to get/see UV in order for your pineal gland to stop producing melatonin (what makes you sleepy). That is why most light therapy boxes say that they're "full spectrum" - they emit UV in addition to visible light.
  • blackbagboys 12y ago
    Do you have a source for this? I'm just curious because while it sounds reasonable, a quick inspection of the light boxes on Amazon shows that many of them advertise that they filter out nearly all UV light.
    • viggity 12y ago
      my guess is that you're looking at general "light boxes" (for photo shoots). Look on amazon for "happy lamps". http://www.amazon.com/Verilux-VT01WW1-HappyLight-Compact-Energy/dp/B00761HREI http://www.amazon.com/Verilux-VT01WW1-HappyLight-Compact-Ene...
  • nsajko 12y ago
    Even green light suppresses melatonin production: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11763987 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11763987
• wsc981 12y ago
  Maybe it's Vitamin D [0] that's important, which you'd likely won't get from the Oculus, but you do get from sunlight and fatty fish (like Salmon). [0]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_D http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_D