Editorial Page

Light Therapy?
Tom Torrance

For as long as I can remember, one of the pleasures of the Christmas season has been driving through town to see the light displays on homes and businesses. In recent years, however, many of the displays have gotten out of hand, and the competitive nature of some people has become outrageous. The neighbourhood contests to see whose house will have more colours, animations, and lights than anyone else’s have grown to Olympic proportion. They draw crowds and attract media attention that would be the envy of some sporting events.

Call me old fashioned, but I prefer simplicity. A single candle shining in a dark world is far more attractive to me than the most spectacular light show. And when it comes to Christmas, that single light has much more brilliance and so much more meaning.

Light is more than a decoration. It is a necessary element of life. Medical studies suggest that being deprived of light can lead to mental illnesses like depression; for some people, it can lead to clinical depression.

During the winter months, some people have severe bouts of feeling down all the time, low energy, problems with sleep and appetite, and reduced concen-tration to the point that they have difficulty functioning at work or in the home. They suffer from what is called seasonal affective disorder (affective is a psychiatric term for mood), or SAD. A study in British Columbia indicates that between 2% and 5% of people in that province (as many as 200,000 people) suffer from SAD during the winter.

Remedies for seasonal affective disorder vary. Research has found patients improve with exposure to bright, artificial light, called light therapy, or phototherapy. As little as 30 minutes a day sitting under a lightbox can result in significant improvements to between 60% and 80% of SAD sufferers.

Imagine a constant winter or a place that is always night—total isolation from the light that is necessary for life. It may sound far-fetched, but it isn’t. There is more to life than our physical existence. Our spiritual lives also need light to live. They need the light of Jesus Christ, the single Christmas light shining in a world of darkness.

We come into a world in which the darkness is constant, a spiritual winter. But God sent a single light into the world, and through the grace of Jesus Christ, His people do not live in the darkness of a constant winter.

Light therapy helps those who suffer from seasonal affective disorder. Christmas lights lift our spirits. The single light of Jesus Christ is our salvation from the eternal darkness of sin. Praise Him for the gift of light.