Until recent times it was believed that humans do not respond to the seasonal change in day-length, as other mammals do. However, in 1980, Dr. A. J. Lewy and co-workers at the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH) demonstrated that high-intensity light affects the natural release of melatonin by the pineal gland in the brain in people. This finding determined that human physiology is influenced by light.

In 1981 a depressed engineer named Herbert Kern noticed the publication of Dr. Lewy's study.  He approached Dr. Lewy to see if it be feasible to use light to treat his depression, which appeared at almost the same time each fall and remitted each spring. Dr. Lewy arranged to treat Mr. Kern's depression by extending his day length and creating an artificial summer. Mr Kern was exposed to two extra hours of bright light in the morning and in the evening. 

The treatment worked. Within a short period the patient's depression lifted, and the practice of "light therapy" or phototherapy for the treatment of a seasonal pattern depression was born. Dr. Lewy termed this seasonal depression "Seasonal Affective Disorder", and coined the acronym "SAD", which is commonly used to this day. A milder, sub-clinical condition is known as "The Winter Blues" or "Cabin Fever".

Light therapy has become the recommended treatment of choice for seasonal depression (SAD) by the American Psychiatric Association.  Articles recommending its use to general practitioners have been published by leading researchers from the National Institutes of Health in publications such as the Journal of the American Medical Association.  

In the early 1990's Sunnex Biotechnologies approached Dr. Lewy to test a new low intensity green light technology based on the precept that wavelength as well as intensity was a fundamental aspect of light therapy. After agreeing that tests conducted by Sunnex Biotechnologies indicated that nocturnal melatonin levels could be dramatically suppressed by low intensity of this green light Dr. Lewy, agreed to test the phase shifting ability of this new  low intensity green light on patients with Seasonal Depression (SAD).  Dr. Lewy presented the impressive results of these studies to the Society for Light Treatment and Biological Rhythms and to the annual meetings of the Sleep Research Society and the American Sleep Disorders Association.

The patented low-intensity green light therapy technology used in Lo-LIGHT therapy lamps safely provides the same benefits as bright light without the discomfort, headaches and eyestrain many people experience from "Bright Light" therapy.    The GreenLIGHT technology has been validated in numerous studies in laboratories and medical centers around the world.   Click for Studies on the treatment of depression with Lo-LIGHT lamps

In addition to over ten years of successful use for relief of Seasonal Affective Disorder, Sunnex Biotechnologies GreenLIGHT technology has been found highly effective for the treatment of non-seasonal major depression and bipolar depression. In February 2007, in the prestigious Archives of General Psychiatry it was claimed that a  one week protocol with properly timed GreenLIGHT provides rapid and sustained relief of bipolar depression.  This followed up studies showing dramatic benefits from GreenLIGHT in the treatment of major depression and bipolar depression. 

In July 2007, the Canadian Defence Department's R&D Centre compared the Lo-LIGHT tower with other light therapy devices.  The purpose of the study was to select the best device for a night work adaptation program. This independent study confirmed the Lo-LIGHT tower incorporating the GreenLIGHT technology was the "best phototherapeutic [light therapy] device".  

Click to see why 400 lux of Sunnex light is as effective as 6-10,000 lux of "Bright Light"