Pimp our brains !

[olav]

Sorry I didn´t find proper subthread to attach this. Please move it to other place if needed - All in all this has something to do with headliamps

Here is a Finnish company VALKEE which has a device to decrease your seasonal affective depression. This symptome is familiar in northern hemisphere during winter season as darkness last almost whole day. Please use some translator to find out the features of the device.

 

[MichaelW]

I just take out the screens from the windows for about five months of the year.

One usually doesn't open them from November - March.

 

[DM51]

olav, please explain what this thing is in a little more detail. We don't all have the time to find a translation program and then attempt to interpret the gibberish it offers in place of the original version.

 

[NonSenCe]

umm.. it feels and sounds gibberish even that i do speak finnish.

its a device. a flashlight device. 6lumens. that you turn on. and plug them earpieces into your ears. and leave the light shine for maximum 12minutes. so that light shines thru earcanals into the brain. and this is supposed to releave the seasonal symptoms of living without much natural light.

bright light treatment/light therapy. thru your earcanals!

hoax. must be. (remind me to test this next winter ..i will plug couple itp eos into my ears for 10minutes and see if there is any help.. except feeling like a moron and keeping my ears warm)

 

[PhotonWrangler]

So if I aim my HID light into my ear, I should be able to cure seasonal depression in about 3 milliseconds?

 

[olav]

I suppose we hear some results next winter. There has been some studies in Oulu (Finland) University, but i did not find proper proof that this thing works. They claim that you would see real affects within 4 weeks of use. I suppose we just have to wait for some experiences ?

 

[swrdply400mrelay]

I find this very hard to believe.

There are no light sensors in your ear. If you look at the anatomy of the ear, your canal is already a dead end that ends with the tympanic membrane, which is semi-opaque. Right behind it are your ear bones, your semi-circular canals, etc.

Seasonal affective disorder is thought to be caused by lack of sunlight. Sunlight hits our eyes, and sends signals to the brain which regulate serotonin and melatonin, which are neurotransmitters. Lack of serotonin is the cause of most major depression, which is why most anti-depressants increase the amount of serotonin in your brain.

 

[Cataract]

Gotta be a hoax... the only remedy I've heard of is spending over an hour per day sitting at arm's reach in front of a light panel about 4 feet tall by 4 feet wide, and the thing I saw was so bright it looked like it must hurt the eyes! And the neon tubes in there cost a fortune, because they had to emit a very wide spectrum, otherwise it won't be very effective.

 

[dodge_911]

umm.. it feels and sounds gibberish even that i do speak finnish.

its a device. a flashlight device. 6lumens. that you turn on. and plug them earpieces into your ears. and leave the light shine for maximum 12minutes.

So, if we take 2 IPT A3's on low, and stuff those in our ears, and leave them in for about 12 minutes, we're golden?

If you look at the anatomy of the ear, your canal is already a dead end that ends with the tympanic membrane, which is semi-opaque.

And id that's true, we got built-in diffusers in our ears as well

Only thing we need to figure out now if it's a warm white or not

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Seasonal affective disorder is thought to be caused by lack of sunlight. Sunlight hits our eyes, and sends signals to the brain which regulate serotonin and melatonin, which are neurotransmitters. Lack of serotonin is the cause of most major depression, which is why most anti-depressants increase the amount of serotonin in your brain.

Correct - the light hits the retinas and signals the pineal gland, which is what is thought to modulate seasonal affective disorder.

 

[jhc37013]

hemisphere during winter season as darkness last almost whole day. Please use some translator to find out the features of the device.

If I ever lived anywhere else other than the country I live in now it would be somewhere like this. I know I can't be the only flashaholic that would consider going there a vacation.

 

[kaichu dento]

I have always felt the seasonal light deficiency to be nothing more than not being able to cope with having things the way you'd like them to be.

For the last couple decades it has actually bummed me out to see the days getting longer, because it meant the snowmachine season was coming to an end.

It's more in what you expect from life than what it actually delivers that determines if you're happy or not. Next time you're in Alaska ask an Eskimo what they used to do to deal with the lack of sunlight and they'll think you're nuts. Besides, we get it all back in spades come summer!

 

[NonSenCe]

i go into flashlight byung spree come fall. and keep buying them till spring arrives.. but now. in summer. when sun sets after 11pm and gets up around 4am with no darkness in between (only dusk) i hardly buy any.

darkness in winter is counter balanced by endless sun in summer. bi-polar kind of living

i once was working in such hours one winter that it took me 3 months until i saw sun. (if i was up during day it snowed.. or i was working underground with artificial lights.) when the bright yellow thing appeared in the sky i was like "what is that.. it hurts my eyes.. its bright..too bright..need to run back inside" hahahha.

that is a way to get the symptoms.. not getting enough sunlight. i didnt really notice it. i like darkness and i was born in november.. child of darkness hhaha.

 

[olav]

So - they finally did some research with this HEADLIGHT at University of Oulu (Finland). According to the research the light could help :tired: ...?

http://www.valkee.com/uk/science.html#navigation

 

[B0wz3r]

This idea is pure bull. Our internal circadian and circannual rhythms are set via a set of specialized ganglion cells in the retina that signal directly to a structure called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in the midbrain. The SCN connects to a number of other structures there including the thalamus, hypothalamus, and adrenal cortex. It not only responds to the daily changes of the day/night cycle, but also to the proportion of day/night in the cycle which is what causes our circannual rhythm. The associated changes in other areas of the brain, such as the hypothalamus and adrenal cortex that are associated with seasonal affective disorder (are by products of the change in the ratio of the day/night cycle).

That said, no, there are no receptors of any type in the ear canal or middle or inner ear that transmit light to the brain. A powerful enough light to actually penetrate all that tissue and make it through to the eyes would have to be so bright the heat from it, even an LED, would most likely cook all the intervening tissues.

 

[Bolster]

There are no light sensors in your ear. If you look at the anatomy of the ear, your canal is already a dead end that ends with the tympanic membrane, which is semi-opaque.

What? WHAT? I couldn't hear you because it was dark. Let me go turn on a light so I can hear you better!!

 

[Bolster]

This thread is so depressing it makes me just want to stick a flashlight in my ear and end it all.

 

[Gregozedobe]

This thread is so depressing it makes me just want to stick a flashlight in my ear and end it all.

Maybe it would help if you put a really bright flashlight in your mouth(pointing it upwards) and turned it on - at least some light might get through to your eyes that way .....