Minimum health is like living paycheck to paycheck - just getting by, just barely having enough money to pay bills each month. Minimum health is like Darling we have a little extra this month - would you like to go out to eat at McDonalds and get a Big Mac?

Maximum health is sailing away on a cruise ship to Caribbean with one you love while dining in elegance each evening!

Sure above minimum health situations aren't going to kill you (or at least not immediately), but is this way you want to live your life? Do you really want to just scrape by when there is an option? Let's examine statement ...aren't going to kill you or at least not immediately.

Minimum health is simply current absence of real illness or disease. Often people in minimum health are often too tired or sluggish to do things, they are overweight, etc. They don't feel real bad but they sure don't feel terrific. And what about our statement, some would argue that above minimum health scenarios lead to premature and even a slow death!

Actually attitude of minimum health is like too many other attitudes we have. We are always too willing to sell ourselves short. We are too willing to settle for second best even when we don't have to. Too often this attitude can flow over into our jobs and relationships. This over course of a lifetime can cause us much unhappiness and cost us a lot of money.

But real issue here is minimum versus maximum health and what are we doing to strive toward maximum health? For example do you take high quality nutritional supplements or are you depending on fast and processed foods to get all your nutrients? I would encourage you to take high quality vitamin and nutritional supplements with enzymes, antioxidants and dietary fiber along with exercise and weight management on a daily basis to strive toward maximum health.

Since sunlight is thought to be missing element, subjects were flooded with an artificial light that most closely resembles full broad spectrum of sun. At 20 times intensity of normal indoor lighting, light approximated sensation of sitting on a shady porch or under a tree in mid-summer. Fluorescent lamps are roughly three times more intense than ordinary light bulbs. A bank of eight 4-watt fluorescent bulbs at eye level lit participants' rooms as they read, worked, or moved around. Within days this group responded with measurable mood changes, says Rosenthal. Their symptoms eased and energy levels rose, while a control group with a different threshold of light showed no change in behavior.

"Something in external environment caused these changes," says Wehr, "but we are not prepared to say exactly what it is at this point. It is true, though, that waking up these people and exposing them to this light treated their symptoms. Whether it is break in sleep pattern, wavelengths or intensity of light, or some other factor we can't say at this point. The intensity of light used in study may be well in excess of what is necessary to effect changes, stress researchers. So they will continue to experiment with varieties of light therapy to determine crucial element. The subjects themselves feel that sunlight is missing ingredient.

One said that she felt as if she were in a "lower state of evolution since I function by photosynthesis." Although these winter depressives showed an abnormal response to light, each of us responds to it in varying degrees. External light travels on a direct pathway from retina to part of hypothalamus believed to be involved in running our biologic clock, suprachiasmatic nuclei. The path continues to tiny, cone-shaped pineal gland, which secretes hormone melatonin. It is thought that melatonin affects regulation of behavioral changes in animals, but this has not been clearly shown in humans. Sufficiently intense light suppresses secretion of this chemical, making it a useful marker in determining light's physical effect on behavior. The secretion of melatonin reflects light's effect on hypothalamus, itself highly sensitive to light. This complex part of brain regulates a multitude of body functions, playing a vital role in reproduction, thirst, hunger, satiation, temperature, emotions, and sleep patterns. Depression is associated with disturbances in hypothalamus.

"By stimulating hypothalamus with light we may be correcting these disturbances in this group," explains Rosenthal. Most artificial light differs from natural sunlight in wavelength (color) and intensity. Sunlight is very intense electromagnetic energy in a continuous spectrum of colors ranging from short wavelengths of invisible ultraviolet light (UV) through blue, green, yellow, and into infrared waves. Incandescent bulbs that light through heat light majority of our homes. They lack intensity of sunlight and produce light that is heavily infrared. "We don't like incandescent lights," says Wehr. "It's conceivable for this purpose that they are not safest. You can get burned from heat and infrared radiation."

Although some fluorescent lamps are described as "broad spectrum," they do not have same distribution of colors as sunlight. Widely used fluorescent lights peak in yellow-green portion of spectrum, wavelengths to which eye is most sensitive. That makes them energy efficient but different from natural sunlight, notably in blue-green spectrum where sun's emission or radiant energy is strongest. Additionally, conventional indoor lighting lacks proper proportion of near-UV radiation of sun that advocates claim to be vital to health and well being. Just as overexposure can be unhealthy, regulated doses of sun and UV can be therapeutic. UV is currently used to treat psoriasis and, experimentally, genital herpes and some forms of cancer in early stages of illness. Full-spectrum artificial light is widely used to cure potentially fatal type of infant jaundice. We need sunlight with its UV rays to metabolize vitamin D, necessary for absorption of calcium, especially in growing children and elderly.

Some studies show that working under true full-spectrum lights enhances productivity and reduces fatigue. Even critics concede that many people who are deprived of natural light, such as night or shift workers, suffer undue emotional stress. Whether or just how we should alter our indoor lighting is a question being raised by these studies. As Dr. Richard Wurtman, professor of endocrinology and metabolism at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been saying for years, we should not take artificial lighting for granted. Lined up in pro-sunlight camp, he has written, "Light is potentially too useful an agency of human health not to be more effectively examined and exploited." As researchers isolate specific part of sun's spectrum that is related to health and well-being, we could eventually create perfect indoor environment with artificial lighting, says E. Woody Bickford, environmental engineer with Duro-Test, manufacturers of Vita-Lite. "Until we know," he points out, "Vita Lite, with its complete range of visible and invisible light, is what we have to work with."

For ordinary indoor lighting, two to four 40-watt lamps would provide some health benefits, he says. "The benefits seem to be proportional to amount of light," he adds. "We may need higher intensity in all our work levels. Perhaps cutoff point is what you can afford," Vita-Lite tubes are expensive, and most of our homes are not equipped with fixtures that can accommodate them.

Although many lighting experts are skeptical of entire concept of light affecting our health, some light manufacturers are beginning to support research in field, and one trade association has just established a new branch devoted to light and health. As relationship between light and health becomes publicized, NIHM's Rosenthal worries that people will try to treat themselves. "With winter depressives it's a matter of risks out-weighing benefits. Bright light can damage retina; UV can be dangerous. But depression can be dangerous for them, too!"

Rather than attempting to cure themselves, people who think that they are winter depressives should contact NIMH, Bethesda, Maryland 20205, for literature and specific recommendations as they become available.

As Dr. Wehr puts it, "we are not telling people to hurry and turn lights - not yet." M.D. Magazine, January 1984, by Patricia McManus.