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Morning sunlight reduces length of hospitalization in bipolar depression
F Benedetti1, C Colombo, B Barbini
1Istituto Scientifico Ospedale San Raffaele, Department of Neuropsychiatric Sciences, University of Milan, School of Medicine, Via Prinetti 29, 20127 Milan, Italy. benedetti.francesco@hsr.it
Background:
Bright artificial light improves non-seasonal depression. Preliminary observations suggest that sunlight could share this effect.
Methods:
Length of hospitalization was recorded for a sample of 415 unipolar and 187 bipolar depressed inpatients, assigned to rooms with eastern (E) or western (W) windows.
Results:
Bipolar inpatients in E rooms (exposed to direct sunlight in the morning) had a mean 3.67-day shorter hospital stay than patients in W rooms. No effect was found in unipolar inpatients.
Conclusions:
Natural sunlight can be an underestimated and uncontrolled light therapy for bipolar depression.
Limitations:
This is a naturalistic retrospective observation, which needs to be confirmed by prospective studies.