I suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder, and this year I’m looking into light therapy… anyway, I’ve discovered that buying LEDs sold as “light therapy boxes” costs, at a minimum, EIGHT TIMES more than buying ones sold as generic “LED Outdoor Floodlights,” despite zero difference in the light itself. It’s horrific and these companies should be ashamed of themselves for deceiving and preying on the wallets of people who suffer from depression.

An example: you see tons of light therapy boxes advertise “10,000 lux brightness!” – the gold standard for SAD treatment. But lux is a measure of intensity; the further you get from a light source the less lux you get. So when you read the fine print on these boxes, you’ll see stuff like, “10,000 lux measured 6″ from box.” So yeah, just strap the thing to your face for a few hours. It’s horribly misleading.

Might make a full-blown blog post on this once I’ve done a bit more research.