Thank you for this. I have shared with my medical team and will try this myself. I suffer from terrible insomina in a manic phase. I am hopeful this approach can help me.
Good video. Blue blockers can certainly help. But it's not just about melatonin, it's also about dopamine metabolism. Ever wondered why dopamine agonists can produce the same symptoms as mania/hypomania? Light triggers dopamine release. Even longer-wavelength light in the warmer spectrum. The problem in bipolar is that there is a mismatch between their external light environment and their internal photo-transduction pathways. This is almost exclusively caused by chronic artificial light use after the sun goes down. Even fire or candlelight throughout the night is enough to disrupt dopamine signalling. So imagine what the body does when it detects too much light? It triggers a negative feedback loop and down-regulates the dopamine circuits to prevent over-stimulation- this may be through altering receptor sites, number of TH-neurons, firing rate, retinal photoreceptors, or a combination. The body then requires more light to produce the same effects on dopamine. So what happens in the winter? Less light = feels down, because there isn't enough light to stimulate the down-regulated dopaminergic system. Over the winter months the body tries to re-upregulate the dopaminergic system to become sensitive to light again, except it doesn't do this in a healthy cohesive way because everyone stays up late in front of screens or around artificial light. So then what happens? The solar flux of spring and summer - where mania incidence increases because the eye and brain are now getting lots more light and the unevenly unregulated dopamine circuits can't handle it, triggering the highs. And so the cycle continues.
This is amazing! I wish more people knew about this.
I just got my glasses today. It's the ones with amber tint. Thanks for telling everyone about this. I am so excited to get started.
Thank you for this information Dr. Phelps! I am going to give dark therapy a try.
Thank you for this. I have shared with my medical team and will try this myself. I suffer from terrible insomina in a manic phase. I am hopeful this approach can help me.
Good video. Blue blockers can certainly help. But it's not just about melatonin, it's also about dopamine metabolism. Ever wondered why dopamine agonists can produce the same symptoms as mania/hypomania? Light triggers dopamine release. Even longer-wavelength light in the warmer spectrum. The problem in bipolar is that there is a mismatch between their external light environment and their internal photo-transduction pathways. This is almost exclusively caused by chronic artificial light use after the sun goes down. Even fire or candlelight throughout the night is enough to disrupt dopamine signalling.
So imagine what the body does when it detects too much light? It triggers a negative feedback loop and down-regulates the dopamine circuits to prevent over-stimulation- this may be through altering receptor sites, number of TH-neurons, firing rate, retinal photoreceptors, or a combination. The body then requires more light to produce the same effects on dopamine. So what happens in the winter? Less light = feels down, because there isn't enough light to stimulate the down-regulated dopaminergic system. Over the winter months the body tries to re-upregulate the dopaminergic system to become sensitive to light again, except it doesn't do this in a healthy cohesive way because everyone stays up late in front of screens or around artificial light. So then what happens? The solar flux of spring and summer - where mania incidence increases because the eye and brain are now getting lots more light and the unevenly unregulated dopamine circuits can't handle it, triggering the highs. And so the cycle continues.
Where can I get the glasses pictured