Philips goLITE BLU Light Therapy Device

So I suffered from Sleep Apnea for at least a few years now undiagnosed. It seems to correlate mostly with me putting on a lot of weight quickly but it's very possible I had it most of my life when I was thin. In any case, bed time for me was around 4:30-5:30 AM assuming I went to bed around midnight and I could force myself up at 8:00-9:00 with the help of stimulants -otherwise it was noontime. I always felt off a little. Then i got a CPAP which seemed to fix most of my problems but made a few worse. Before, I could somehow accrue my sleep deficit and hold it off until Saturday, then I'd sleep all day Saturday and 1/2 of Sunday (A miserable and unproductive existence for a former compulsive over-achiever). Then came the CPAP and as long as I got my 8 hours, I was great.

The problem was, my sleep cycles (circadian rhythms I'm told) were way out of wack. Try as I may through herbs, relaxation techniques, extreme exercise and even prescription sleeping meds, my body wanted to sleep at 4:30 and wake up at noon - otherwise, I'd feel off all day. On a whim and out of desperation, I tried the goLite. I was less skeptical of doing a shot with Elvis than I was of this really working. Day 1, nothing. Slept right through it, didn't even notice it no. Day 2 same thing other than thistime, I heard the alarm. Day 3, heard the alarm, went to relieve myself and tried to stay up for a few before falling back to sleep and waking up 30 minutes later. FF 2 weeks, I had a ton of trouble sleeping last night, was up and down all night. I woke up 6 different times and didn't have a single complete hour of sleep. But it's 7:04, I've been up over an hour, I'm off to the gym after feeding the dogs and taking them for a walk. My wife is a early riser except for weekends, that's her self-permitted time to sleep in. I offered to make her favorite breakfast and she said "I'd love some, but not for another 2 hours if that's ok." And it is - so off I go to the gym, bright eyed and bushy tailed.

Make no mistake about it, the CPAP is the main thing that made the difference in my life. Without it, I'd still be a mess. The magic it worked on my body simply can't be overstated. But it left out the one vital component and that was the sleep cycles. This very inexpensive little device (which did take some getting used to) seems to have filled that void perfectly. If I am excessively sleepy one morning, I just turn it on for another 15 minutes, that's all it's taken so far. Each time I've woken up feeling very refreshed, very 'amped' and very ready to take on the world. Placebo effect? Possibly but I doubt it. And if it is, it's the cheapest effective delusion I've run across in a long time.

Cutting to the chase, if you have trouble waking up, this very well may be the magic bullet you need. If you have just started CPAP therapy - you may still have really whacked out sleep cycles so that even though you've fixed the apnea, now you want to sleep like a baby, the whole way until 1:00 PM each day - the docs didn't mention it to me and I found it on my own (actually , found it from a recommendation in the 4 hour body) but I've mentioned it to a few medical professionals and they all had very positive things to say about the therapy without commenting on this specific unit. for the price, it's pennies on the dollar IMHO, and if I had the money, I'd buy everyone who just got a CPAP one b/c it's helped make that much of a difference in my life. Rather, along with the CPAP, it gave me my life back. And for those that might think that this is only effective for Sleep Apnea sufferers- I'll let my wife, who isn't a morning person but didn't have apnea write her own review, she wants to sleep in on the weekends, but when she needs to get up, hers is right on too.
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Update: 6:24.13 - 7:15 AM I know this went live a few days ago but wanted to post an update. I mentioned before that if I didn't get my exact 8 hours even with the CPAP, that i was zombified and I really needed the full 8. I've been doing this therapy for around a week now. it's simply amazing and that's an understatement. I no longer need or use an alarm clock (prior to the Apnea, I never really needed one either but I let the radio run all night and would detect wake up time by the change in the DJ's voice. Whenever Art Bell, George Noory (don't immediately write me off as a nut, I like CoastToCoast for many reasons, one of which is the frequent off the wall topics you never hear covered elsewhere, but it's an entertaining show whatever you think of its merits). I didn't get to bed until close to 2:30 AM and I yesterday was a very tough day as I was out to set some new personal fitness records. I had some important stuff I needed to do by 9:00 AM at the latest and even begged the wife, please, turn all the other lights on if I'm not up, turn on the radio loudly (the obnoxious local hots and his callers will always give me a nice blood pressure rise whether wanted or not which awakens me). Well, her alarm was set for 7:15 - i woke up feeling great and quite energized and immediately looked over to make sure she did't sleep through her call - nope, it was 7:02. My GoLite was still on, only 17 minutes into the session and I bounced out of bed feeling like a million dollars, on very limited sleep and after a really physically demanding day. The best part is that even though there's a king side bed between us, the light actually helps my wife 'ease' into the morning, something she's never been able to do (she's always needed a loudly beeping alarm clock with a snooze bar which she'd hit over and over). The dogs even wake up less agitated to it and were calm at 7:05 until they say us get out of bed where they'd normally be bouncing all over the bed making their demands for an early breakfast, morning walk and run outside (and that time has gotten progressively earlier over the past few years where it's normally around 5:00 AM now). They were calm but awake waiting for us both to get up. My wife beat her alarm clock, I beat her alarm clock and needed no assistance and the same goes for the dogs. But what's really amazing is that the same thing happened yesterday, and the day before and the day before that. The day before these three I didn't use it, went to bed late and of course, needed her to get me up b/c I went to bed so late and had to drag myself out of bed.

For me the CPAP stopped the APNEA which fixed several health problems I started to suffer from (the least of which was always waking up really late, especially if I went to bed late) and crashing all day on Saturday and most of Sunday. I described it too as magic b/c of the impact it had on my life. But the CPAP couldn't get my sleep cycles adjusted and I was stuck, no matter how hard I tried, with a sleep cycle of someone who worked late 3rd shift (something which did not work well for me as a software consultant that travels constantly). In what seems to be about a week, the circadian rhythm adjustment I couldn't ever seem to get my arms around (well, I could but it would only be for a few days and was very delicate and completely dependent on my sleep time) just got fixed. Perhaps it's too early to call complete victory but i've not woken up without intervention this easily this many days in a row and now, neither the wife or myself have any need for the alarm clock.

I don't know if you'll hvae the same results although i have every reason to believe you will. But this thing has been life changing and it's not just that we get up earlier, we get up earlier on our own, feeling great and energized about it. You always have to grant the placebo effect - but if that's it, it happened on both of us and the dogs, and whatever it is, it's making life a lot easier for us , especially now that I can get up and go to the gym before work. I don't play the lottery but if I for some reason buy a ticket and win, honestly, I'm donating a few thousand of these machines to anyone I know that has trouble waking up in the mornings along with a CPAP for anyone I know who may have APNEA. It's been that life changing.

I get depressed seasonally and last year was the first time I tried using light therapy. I had some success using the NatureBright SunTouch Plus Light http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000W8Y7FY/ref=cm_cr_ryp_prd_ttl_sol_36 (although part of my approach was to put my face right in that when it got warm, eyes closed, and imagine being somewhere in the tropical sun for a few minutes each morning).

So far, I've definitely noticed the goLite helps my level of energy on gray days like we often have during Seattle's non-summer season. We'll see how it goes using this over the course of winter, but I'll probably revisit the other light if I notice myself slipping.

This light's portability is its best feature--I've used it as an alarm, in the car, in the shower (tip on that below) and you can pretty much take it anywhere. Battery life depends on the brightness you use, I suspect the figures they give in the product info are at a low brightness setting, but the lower two are what I use most, anyway.

The price is a bit steep, but if it can help improve your mood, it's probably worth it, assuming you don't want to build your own: http://www.instructables.com/id/Blue-LED-Light-Box-in-an-Altoids-like-Tin/

Tip: put it in a Ziploc freezer bag, use a bag clip to attach it to a clothes hanger, and you can hang this from your shower curtain rod for use while showering.

I love the size of this blue light. I think it helps SAD. I like this product as it's very portable. My complaint is two fold: 1. Working with the control panel directly below the LED panel you have the very bright blue LED light directly in your face. 2. The battery just doesn't seem to hold a charge. I do the recommended 15 minutes but then the battery goes low and needs to be charged again. It also takes a while for the battery to re-charge. What attracted me to the product was its portability. I had hoped I would be able to charge it up, go away for a couple of days and not need to bring the large recharging cord. Because the battery life is so brief I need to make sure I lug the cord with me. If Phillips could possibly iron out those two things they'd have a real winner on their hands!!

Okay, all of this is very subjective, but, that being said, I think this little machine is working. It is subtle. I think that is good. I live in the North, winter keeps me from going outside, I also work in a windowless office. The two together have caused me to get very tired and weepy during the long Northern winter. A friend recommended this to me, it seemed kind of expensive, but, I bought it as a Holiday present to myself. I am about six weeks into using it and it does work, it makes a difference. It is subtle. I have energy to go to the gym before and after work. I also had problems sleeping during the winter, and this little machine, so far seems to be helping me to sleep. I am by nature a skeptic, but actually, I think this little machine is helping me.

This light has changed my life. I have chronic clinical depression. I got my first light in 2007 & it was stunning how much my depression improved. I realized that the depression was back because the lights only have a 10 year life span. I got my new light box last week & it is a miracle! I feel peaceful, hopeful, normal. I recommend this box to anyone who suffers from depression. No side effects, easy to use worth every penny. The batteries last about 2 years but you can take it to the Battery Store & they will build you a new battery pack for $25.