Blue Glass and Sunlight Therapy

Some information on blue light therapy, link at bottom of page.

Using blue light for "light therapy"

As you probably know, there's a version of depression called "Seasonal Affective Disorder" (SAD), or "winter depression". This kind of depression -- which is very common in people with Bipolar II -- can be treated with light. Plain old light will do, but in some parts of the country in December plain old light is hard to come by So several decades ago researchers studied whether sitting in front of a bank of lights for 30-60 minutes might help reverse the seasonal sag in mood, and found that indeed some people seemed to respond very well. In the most recent study of "light therapy", sitting in front of a box of light every morning during a Canadian winter was as effective as fluoxetine (Prozac).

But the light needed for this, from a suitcase-sized "light box", was hard to get: insurance companies almost never pay for these boxes, which are expensive, usually around $250-300. They are not very portable.

However, now a very small light box is available for around $140 (e.g. from Costco last winter) that's much more portable, so you can use it where you happen to be in the morning. The key was finding just the right wavelength of light for this purpose, which allowed the box to be much smaller. I hope you already know, from the story above, what wavelength that is: blue light -- the striped peak in the graph above, which comes from the manufacturer's website (I have no financial connection to that manufacturer, and get no gain from telling you this story. I'm telling it here because I think it's a great story, and because understanding it may help people get an effective treatment they might not have considered otherwise).

This little light box has been tested for effectiveness just as the older bigger light boxes have, and shown to be superiorGlickman to the "control" condition -- a dim red light, admittedly not the greatest control condition, but this research has been hard to do, coming up with a plausible "placebo" treatment. A better test would be a comparison of the blue light versus white light, which might be more plausible as a placebo, as the older light boxes emit a white light. That study has been done, and the blue light was superior (not yet published, the manufacturer tells me, as of June 2006). The best test would be a head-to-head study of the little blue one versus one of the older big ones, which we know from years of research are truly better than a placebo. But the blue-light manufacturers have little incentive to do that study (what if theirs was not as good?), so we're not likely to see that research unless one of the manufacturers of the old light box pays for it!

link http://www.psycheducation.org/depression/BlueLight.htm

I just had a question as to how long and how often you were supposed to be exposed to the blue light. Like is it supposed to be for 30 minutes a day or 10 or at least an hour?

I would like to know, too, but I am going to try it out in 15 minute increments to start. I found some plastic tablecloths at my local dollar store. They are 54" X 154" and only cost $1 ea. I bought several colors so I can experiment.

I have to admit to being really excited about the results with this experiment. The first lemon stick is now becoming a tree again! Who knew this would work so well! There is growth developing all over it and this is only week 2. A week ago I put the 2nd lemon stick in with the first and as of yesterday there is new growth on that one as well. Not sure what the problem was with these, but they do LOVE the blue light. Yesterday I stuck another stick in there. This was once a beautiful houseplant. I will post as things progress... God bless! (in case you are wondering why I had the "sticks"... Once they had "died" I stuck the pots outside to have available when I needed pots. )

Does anyone happen to know where I may find the book on blue glass Therapy? Thanks

Regarding blue sunlight therapy, I don't know if this is the same thing but I can testify to using a blue light device for acne. They also have expensive treatments in dermatologists offices that use blue light. I think I may lay in the sun in the privacy of my back yard for 15 min a day with a blue veil over my face to see if it has any effect. Also I do plan to try this on some of my plants and maybe on my basement windows to keep bugs out.

I have tried both General A.J. Pleasanton's therapy recently, and the more modern Dinsha Ghadiali "Color Therapy" now used by Dr. William Campbell Douglass. (His booklet, Color Me Healthy available from Second Opinion).

After reading your online Gen. A.J. Pleasanton book, I immediately sought some blue glass but had to settle for painted glass and then blue transparent sheets wrapped around glass.

I am fighting a 2-1/2 year Zoster shingles PHN virus infection, and though there has been no immediate improvement in my condition, I am going to pursue this because of the extreme pain and the fact that pain medications do not stop pain, but do make me dizzy.

For explanation, Dr. Douglass (following Dinshah's method) uses different colors with light from either a flashlight or lamp, and uses different colors (and combinations) for different diseases.

I have used both methods, but have used Gen. Pleasonton's only twice, and will email you when I see some definite improvement.

It is not easy to find colored glass; such glass is all 1/4" thick, and of a rather small size. Only for Gen. Pleasanton's method have I used the sun for energy, but I think sunlight is necessary. (Both Dinshah and Dr. Douglass have had success, however, using flashlights and lamps.)

I WAS TOLD BY A NATURALPATH THAT MILK OF MAGNESIA USED TO COME IN BLUE GLASS CONTAINERS, AND IF I COULD FIND AN OLD BOTTLE, THAT WOULD WORK. I FOUND A PIECE OF BLUE GLASS IN THE OCEAN (IT WAS NICE AND SMOOTH COMPLIMENTS OF THE SAND AND WATER). RECENTLY, I BOUGHT A SET OF BLUE GLASS PLATES AT WALMART AND TRIED IT (BLUE GLASS PLATE) AND IT WORKED AS WELL AS MY LITTLE PIECE OF BLUE GLASS FROM THE OCEAN.

Here is an inexpensive way to get all the Blue Glass you will ever need!

(1). Go to your nearest fabric store and purchase the sheerest (light in weight) cotton fabric in the appropriate color (Cobalt Blue?)
(2). At your local Walmart or other grocery store, purchase a bottle of liquid starch.
(3). Cut the fabric to fit your window pane/panes.
(4). Completely wet the fabric with the starch.
(5). Apply the starched fabric to window pane/panes.
(6). Use a sponge to apply more liquid starch as needed to spread the fabric seamlessly over the window pane/panes.
(7). Bubbles and creases can be burnished (pressed)out by applying pressure to the wet fabric with the sponge and stretching it out completely flat.

The fabric will dry and stay in place indefinitely! If it starts to detatch, just apply more starch to that area that is detatching and wa-lah, good as new! When dirty, just remove, wash and reattatch the same way. Hope this helps. You can use this technique to cover just about anything with fabric.

I found the perfect fabric tonight at Walmart. It isn't cotton though. It is 100% polyester. I am pretty sure this will still work. It has a better sheen to it and more transparency than the cotton did. I am also trying "cobalt blue"
acrylic paint. I will thin it out a bit to get more transparency. Also, you can liquify powdered cornstarch which is much cheaper than the ready-made liquid starch. Same stuff. I am looking forward to seeing benefits from this. I have been having a "healing crisis". My skin is bright red and scaly from detoxing the wrong way. I will let people here know if it helps.

For the blue window glass, I might try the car window tinting kit. It is supposed to repel heat, and you can cut it with an exacto knife to fit a window pane. It is about $30 a roll (for one car) but that could be for 2 windows of a midsize.

Common, plastic woven blue tarps can be useful.

Google "stained glass suppliers" and you will find hundreds of companies that will ship blue glass. Appears to be quite cheap to buy a decent sized piece of glass. Cobalt blue is the color of the glass that our family used in the mid-1900s for the blue glass and sunlight therapy.

I rent, so would this remedy using the blue glass work if I build a frame to put the blue glass in and then sit it in front of the window?

I have never heard of this. What is it and where can I read about it. Also, would the paint-on faux stain glass kits work? You can buy the individual colors and they come in all shades of blue. This sounds very interesting!

Use the gels that theaters use with their lights. They come in many different colors - great for color therapy

I have been unable to find any blue glass. Tried using a blue pyrex oblong dish, but it was too hard to handle. I'm trying this on my two small dogs with health issues. I ended up taping a blue silk blouse on the sliding door where the sun comes in. The silk is thin enough so some sun light comes through. Only used it 2 times and I feel there should be results, but too soon to tell for sure.

My friend had shingles and started taking coconut oil and it went away.

SKY alcohol use to come in blue bottles and might still do. Google and also check at package shops ( liquor stores ) Most liquor stores can order what you want. They use to sell this in 6 packs, like beer , but it was in blue bottles also I believe there is a big blue bottle that is maybe liquor called SKY also. Check also into SKY BLUE alcohol.

Hello! I did find a dark cobalt blue pane at an art supply for stained window, here is the link: http://www.dlstainedglass.com/AdditionalInformation.cfm?ProductNumber=4402&PhotoLrg=False. I didn't order yet . But maybe somebody is interested. PEACE!

Blue Glass & sun Therapy: I'm not familiar with this particular one but I think it may be a spin off from something in one of Mary Summer Rain's books (I think the title is "Earthway" and is called color therapy. which mentions filling different colored bottles, (color depending on the problem you want to treat) sitting the bottled water in the sunlight all day and drinking it. I think she also mentioned that it would be next to impossible to commercialize because it had to be drunk immediately since the healing properties of the water didn't last long (don't remember the exact timing but think it was probably 30 minutes to l hour after preparation).

Found this page on blue glass/sunlight a while back and then had to move shortly after and forgot about it. Just came across the roll of blue cellophane I bought to see if it would work. Found out the roll isn't as long as I thought so just placed it on window over some plants in various degrees of health to see what happens.

Joyce, thanks for mentioning the bottles of water in sunlight. I have blue medicine bottles I saved from artic fish oil and before I moved had also intended to start experiments with them. Because of some of the new discoveries about water that have recently been made available, besides using color I will be writing on the bottle or taping a note to it regarding what results I wish to create with the water.

Thanks to Dr. Emoto's now well-known work with water chrystals, we have known for some time that water can read and can be programmed - in essence it can communicate. New discoveries lead me to believe this may have to do with the hydrogen in the water. There is an amazing 9-part video available on youtube called Water-The Great Mystery in which are detailed research being conducted by scientists around the world and their findings. I highly recommend it and gives much to contemplate on exactly what is happening as we learn to use these tools, as well as generating new things to try. I have done some experimenting with water in areas besides health and have been astounded at what can be accomplished. Happy Pioneering!

I don't know about the blue light therapy you mentioned. Ray Peat PhD told me that fluorescent light has light in the blue range which is somewhat toxic. He said incandescent bulbs have light in the red range which is healing. I had changed my lights to fluorescent and then switched them back to incandescent.