5 Tips for Making Bright Light Therapy Part of Your Daily Routine

You know bright light therapy is great for your seasonal affective disorder or depression. But it’s not always easy to ensure you get your daily session in, no matter how hard you try.

To help you have the best chances of success with bright light therapy, here are 5 ways you can make it part of your daily routine:

Get up Earlier

This is a difficult one, especially if you’re already having trouble getting enough sleep.

However, getting up just a little bit earlier each day, even 15 minutes, gives you some extra time in your morning before you have to get off to work or other commitments.

If the thought of waking up earlier fills you with dread, make the change incremental. 

Set your alarm for five minutes earlier for tomorrow, then set it back another five minutes a few days later. The slow change will make the earlier wake-up time less noticeable than if you do it all at once, and having a few days in between shifts gives you time to adjust fully before making another change.

Set an Alarm

If your mornings already are jam-packed, remembering something else that needs to be done can seem impossible.

An alarm is a great way to trigger you to sit down and take time for your morning bright light therapy session without relying solely on your memory. 

Thanks to smartphones and smart speakers, you can set recurring alarms to go off at the same time every single day. That way, you don’t have to remember to set an alarm every day, making it less likely that you’ll forget.

If you do use a smartphone or smart speaker to set an alarm, be sure to label it with the purpose so you don’t hear it chime and forget what it’s for!

Add Something Fun

Your bright light therapy time is time you’ve dedicated to your health and well-being. Why not turn it into a little self care session while you’re at it?

Brew a nice cup of coffee or tea and sit down with a good book to read for 30 minutes. Or, use the time to catch up on that podcast you love but can never find the time to listen to.

If you’re a crafter, use the time you’re spending under your light to work on a project. Pull out that jigsaw puzzle that’s been collecting dust and get working on it.

Journaling is another great way to pass the time you’re spending each morning. The practice itself can help you deal with negative emotions, clarify your goals, and process life events, meaning you’re kind of doing double-duty for your mental health by journaling under a light therapy box.

Link to Your Current Routine

For most people, adding bright light therapy into their day isn’t so much a matter of completely changing their routine. Instead, it’s about finding an easy way to add it into what they’re already doing each day.

Do you sit down to have breakfast each morning? Or catch up on the news? What about scrolling through social media?

Find something that’s already part of your morning routine, such as your cup of coffee, your breakfast, or the newspaper, and do that while sitting under your light therapy box. 

By connecting your bright light therapy session to something you already do each day, you’re more likely to keep up the practice, even when things get busy.

Make a List

Sometimes, it helps to be able to cross things off a list as a visual reminder.

If you’re a big fan of schedules and calendars, or even if you aren’t but having a list in front of you helps, writing down your morning routine so you can mentally or physically check things off each morning makes you less likely to forget steps.

Yes, this may mean you create a list that says “Shower” as well as “Light therapy,” but putting your routine in writing helps solidify it in your mind and gives you a quick reminder in the event that you skip a step.

High-Quality Bright Light Therapy Boxes Online

Bright light therapy can help you have a healthier, happier winter season, even if the “winter blues” rear their ugly heads. At the Sunbox Company, it’s our goal to ensure all our customers have the highest-quality bright light therapy boxes for improved health and wellness all year long. Check out our online catalogue or give us a call today!