STUDY SHOWS. . .
Wed, November 12 2008
Though not well understood, SAD is often treated with “light therapy”, where a patient spends time before a bank of bright lights in an effort to trick his brain.
“These individuals may require brighter light levels to maintain normal functioning during the winter months,” said Ignacio Provencio, a University of Virginia biology professor who studies the genetics of the body’s biological clock.
Provencio and his colleagues have discovered that melanopsin, a photopigment gene in the eye, may play a role in causing SAD in people with a recently discovered mutation.
“We believe that the mutation could contribute to increasing the amount of light needed for normal functioning during winter for people with SAD,” Provencio said. “Lack of adequate light may be a trigger for SAD, but not the only explanation for the disorder.”
-IANS
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