<p>I’d like to get my son a light of some sort to reduce any seasonal affective disorder (SAD) symptoms he may face this winter. (He was in therapy for depression last spring, and the counselor said this couldn’t hurt, come winter.) In browsing around the internet I see products can be large or small, $60 - $600, white or blue light.</p>
<p>Can anyone recommend a product brand or model? This will be a light to use in his dorm room, probably at his desk. So, a smaller table-top version is probably best. That, plus the fact he may not even use it, keeps my budget at $100 or less. </p>
<p>I got the same one for my S toward the end of last winter. He keeps it on his desk and turns it on while he checks his email and has breakfast. It is a great size for a dorm room. I just purchased one for myself.</p>
<p>Vitamin D deficiency is associated with SAD symptoms, and supplementation has been shown in studies to ease symptoms in those who are deficient.</p>
<p>We got the Northern Lights one a while ago and would growl at each other over who should be the one to haul it out, turn it on, turn it off, put it away safely, etc. Lots and lots of early morning dysfunctional tension. It’s somewhere down in the basement among the boxes we haven’t opened yet after moving a year ago. For us, we all were made miserable by the darn thing.</p>
<p>I bought one and then took it back. Two suggestions:</p>
<p>1) smaller is better because these boxes can take up a fair amount of room</p>
<p>2) if your son has have any sensitivity to light, he might not be able to use it. Light has always bothered my eyes (it’s rare for me to be outside without sunglasses) and I found the light therapy box was too intense and left me with aching eyes no matter how far away I put it. I was very careful not to look directly at it.</p>
<p>If I was going to try another one, I would definitely go with the goLite blu box. I’ve read that the blue light is gentler on the eyes and you can adjust the light intensity. It has lots of good reviews on Amazon.</p>