How to Boost Your Mood: Sit by a Sunny Window

[ysabetwordsmith]

In a conversation with friends, dialecticdreamer recommended sitting by a sunny window as a way of lifting your mood.


This is a great recommendation for depression in general, or seasonal affective disorder in particular, and I've never seen it mentioned specifically. Reading corners are almost always in a quiet dim part of the house with a lamp. Full-spectrum lightboards are recommended but expensive. Going out is harrrrd, and much worse if people throw themselves at you.  For generally healthy people, it's a good way to maintain that health.  Sunny window = win.

This is something almost everyone could do, because most residences have at least one window that catches sunbeams at least part of the day. Sunlight helps the brain to wake up. Looking outside encourages interest without risk. Nature views improve mood. If setting up a seat by a sunny window seems like too much work, and you have people who are always asking what they can do to help you, consider inviting one of them to set it up.

And why has nobody ever recommended a sunroom or sunporch for persistent low mood or energy? Sure they're expensive, but so are lots of other medical treatments. Huh, maybe because that wouldn't go through a pharmacy and thus would make no money for the medical industry. I could just see some construction companies in Terramagne America putting up a display on the mood-boosting effects of sunlight beside their display of glass panels. :D

Sunny window seats are very popular in Terramagne.  They're a lot smaller than a quiet room, so they're quicker and easier to make, and more people have space for them.


So let's explore some simple and more complex ways of getting indoor sun ...

Consider a chair in a cheerful color. Putting a chair by a sunny window is a one-step project. Done!

Hang some prisms in the window to make rainbows. This prismatic table serves a similar purpose. If your view sucks, you can cover the whole window with prismatic film.  Shiny.

Add a plant for living energy and a textured afghan for tactile stimulation. The cream chair in that picture matches a more natural-toned decor.  Houseplants improve mood, especially in winter.

Put a birdfeeding station or birdhouse outside the window to attract motion.  This cozy reading corner has a birdfeeder outside and a book table inside.  Watching birds has mood-boosting effects too.

An open porch or a balcony makes a good place for birdfeeders too.

If you prefer cats, you could create a feral cat station with food, water, and shelter.  Watching cat videos is uplifting and energizing, so watching them through a window should also work.

For an enclosed porch, consider putting a desk by a window so you can get some sun while you work or relax on the computer.

If you have a sunroom, you can fill it with as many plants as you want.

Comments

[siliconshaman]

I note, there are a lot of lights available this time of year that use 'warm white' LEDs, which are quite close in spectra to daylight. A bright enough string of those makes a very good imitation sunlight, and adding a string of those in a window behind a curtain, so it looks like it's daylight outside, certainly helps.

It would be a good thing to pick up some of those in the Boxing Day or January sales.

Hmm ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Sunlight looks yellow, but actually has more blue light than most lightbulbs, which is why there are special full-spectrum lights to replace it. So the yellow-tone lights would resemble sunlight, but I'm not sure if they'd help otherwise. Pretty, though.

Other ways to fake a window:

Buy a window from a reclamation yard and put a painting or poster behind it. That's also a good place to look for painted windows.

Use curtains to frame your full-spectrum light panel.

Hang a viewscreen vertically on the wall and play slow TV nature shows. Oh hey, people make LCD windows and backlit sky panels now. Awesome.

Yours is likely the cheapest option, though, especially at this time of year when stores put all the Christmas stuff on sale.

Re: Hmm ...

[siliconshaman]

Easy way of fixing the spectral problem, buy two warm-white strands of LEDs and one Cool White [which has more blue] and twist them together. That should give the spectral spread need ed for noon sunlight.

Typically, each commercial LED output's 0.5 watts, and sunlight is usually in the 75 to 100 watt range... so three strings of 150 LEDS should produce about the same level of brightness.

Now.. picture a reclaimed window frame, with a shallow box behind it. Paint the inside of the box white, fill the frame with kitchen grease-proof paper or parchment.. and viola, one ertaz window! [or hang light muslin cloth over it, if you're more artsy than me!]

Re: Hmm ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Those are excellent ideas.

*ponder* If you wanted to mimic sunlight through leaves, you could mix green lights with yellow or warm-white lights.

Red, orange, yellow, pink, and/or warm-white would work for sunrise and sunset.

The blue tone would be nice for mimicking starlight or moonlight.

So another option would be to include different colors of light strings behind the window glass with a controller to select what you want -- or slave it to a computer and automate it, as lamps can be.

You know what would probably help depression? "Here is a prescription for $500 of mood-boosting equipment at participating mental-health stores, and a list of the products with the highest ratings of effectiveness. Go pick out whatever you think would work for you, try it for two months, then come back and we'll discuss your results."

That's actually cheaper than some medications. 0_o

Re: Hmm ...

[siliconshaman]

Yuppers, mixing pigments only with light in effect!

and while a prescription for mood-boosting equipment is a good idea, in theory, a lot of people in throes of depression just aren't capable of that sort of decision making, and to a lot of them that would feel like a brush-off combined with throwing money at problem.

When you're depressed, mustering the energy to just think is an uphill struggle. Doing anything is an impossible task.

But yeah.. it would be a cheaper, and probably more effective treatment.. but the doctors aren't getting kickbacks from the LED manufacturers are they.

Re: Hmm ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> Yuppers, mixing pigments only with light in effect! <<

Mixing colored light is fun.

>> and while a prescription for mood-boosting equipment is a good idea, in theory, a lot of people in throes of depression just aren't capable of that sort of decision making,<<

Hence the list of highest-rated products: if you don't feel up to making your own selections, you hand the prescription and the list to the shopkeeper just like you would a pharmacist and they hand you $500 of stuff to try.

>> and to a lot of them that would feel like a brush-off combined with throwing money at problem.<<

Like "take these pills and go away" isn't? In local-America, psychiatrists have been reduced to writing prescriptions in 15-minute appointments, instead of actually listening to patients and treating mental illness, because insurance companies won't pay for talk therapy anymore. Psychiatrists hate it, patients feel abandoned, and surprise surprise few people want to spend years in medical school for that job. >_<

>>But yeah.. it would be a cheaper, and probably more effective treatment.. but the doctors aren't getting kickbacks from the LED manufacturers are they.<<

There are stores that sell medical and adaptive equipment, some of which are associated with hospitals, and some even stock SAD lightpanels. It shouldn't be impossible ... if anyone cared enough about depressed people to bother, which is admittedly a barrier.

Re: Hmm ...

[gatheringrivers]

Ooooooo sneaky! I like that!

you can find lights

[dialecticdreamer]

in surprising places. Daylight bulb for plants fit into regular lightes, or fluorescent tubes, which is what we used in the kitchen. They're way cheaper than the SAD-advertised lights, so it's something to look for when wide-scale sales happen.

Re: you can find lights

[siliconshaman]

You want to be careful with them. Some sorts have wicked peaks in their emission spectra up in the blue and UV range which can produce migraine like effects.

Re: you can find lights

[dialecticdreamer]

This is why I do research on purchases before opening my wallet.

Re: you can find lights

[ysabetwordsmith]

You are very wise.

I don't always do it, but the bigger or more unfamiliar the product, the more likely I am to do it. I have become very fond of using BoardGameGeek to research games before purchasing, although I'll still gamble on a $10-15 card game.

Re: you can find lights

[ysabetwordsmith]

Also the supposedly "ultrasonic" noise made by fluorescent bulbs is aggravating to many people who can hear it. I probably wouldn't want them in my office, but they're fine in the laundry room.

Re: you can find lights

[siliconshaman]

I know! I live with a wife and daughter, both of whom have hearing that puts bats to shame! They can hear MOSFET chips working... aka tiny, tiny sounds in the Ghz range.

Re: you can find lights

[ysabetwordsmith]

I don't know anything with MOFSET chips.

I can hear fluorescent lights, bats, and owls other than barn owls. I could not hear a barn owl swooping six inches above my head during a show, and that freaked me out. I can hear if my computer is on. One time I tried an online hearing test, and I could hear something at ever level ... except it claimed the last level had no sound. I hypothesize that I heard my computer speaker activating.

I can hear somewhat of elephants talking, which extends into the subsonic range, but I think I'm only getting an extra layer or two beyond what humans typically hear.

Re: you can find lights

[siliconshaman]

That tiny sound you hear with a CF light bulb, that's a MOSFET chip, they're the power transformers. ordinary Fluorescent tubes it's probably the coil in the choke you can hear humming, and computer speaker would produce a tiny amount of 50 or 60hz sound from mains induction.

But yeah, Barn owls produce sound at <0.5 db... a whisper is around 15db. The original stealth fighters.

Re: you can find lights

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> That tiny sound you hear with a CF light bulb, that's a MOSFET chip, they're the power transformers.<<

Ah, okay. I can hear that.

>> ordinary Fluorescent tubes it's probably the coil in the choke you can hear humming, and computer speaker would produce a tiny amount of 50 or 60hz sound from mains induction.<<

Computers make all kinds of sounds for me. Hum, buzz, whir, fan, etc. Most distinctive is a very high whine that a majority of electronics emit. Some machines are quiet, others quite loud. I can't go into an electronics department in a store if they have a lot of machines on, the racket from the whine gives me a headache almost immediately.

>>But yeah, Barn owls produce sound at <0.5 db... a whisper is around 15db. The original stealth fighters.<<

I was surprised because to me great-horned owls are loud, and I've been able to hear others. But not barn owls. They're like ghosts. O_O I still like them. They're just a little creepy.

Re: you can find lights

[zeeth_kyrah]

Can't be hearing in the GHz, it's probably a sympathetic resonance. Still, I grew up able to tell when a CRT was on because I could hear it.

Re: you can find lights

[ysabetwordsmith]

We found daylight bulbs at a home improvement store, only somewhat more expensive than regular fluorescent ones, when we had to replace a light rig.

On the much more expensive, intensively natural side, there are aquarium lights made with rare minerals for growing corals. These usually have a blue, white, or faintly pinkish-purple tone. Some of them make everything look aquatic and would be very soothing under a rippler film. Others just make all the colors pop.

[kellan_the_tabby]

I have ... pretty much what you're talking about set up in my bedroom. It faces south, so plenty of sun. Feel free to use this photo as you wish!

Wow!

[ysabetwordsmith]

That is awesome. :D

What about using this for Keras and his therapy cat?

Me, I have a southern bay window filled with houseplants and crystals. I rarely sit there, but often look at it from across the room and sometimes walk over to stand by it.

Re: Wow!

[kellan_the_tabby]

> What about using this for Keras and his therapy cat?

Oh heck yeah. I gotta remember to prompt for him & his family more often.

Re: Wow!

[ysabetwordsmith]

Yay! :D

Next theme is "short forms" for January, but after that I'll be calling for theme ideas.