Friday, January 8, 2016

SAD Lamps

Last year my doctor told me that in order for my body to manufacture Vitamin D I should get out in the sun for at least 30 minutes per day before 10.00am and expose my thighs and lower chest.  I only get sun on my balcony for a very few months in the year and having inspected the pool area I discovered that I would need to lie in the water to get any sun  -  the rest of the area is shaded.  So I have been getting up at about 7.00am and having my coffee on the balcony; the sun has gone by 8.00am and since glass cuts out Infrared rays there is only a narrow band of true sunlight.  And  -  I am developing a suntan.

For me, though, the main benefit is that after a lifetime of chronic insomnia, this regimen seems to have reset my body clock and I am sleeping much better than I have for years.  So I have ordered a SAD lamp to get me through the darker winter months.  It needs to be 10,000 lux and I was not able to get my first choice but the one I have ordered is probably better as it shines downwards a bit so it will be easier not to look directly at it.  It is coming from America.  Who in Australia really needs more light, after all.  SAD lamps are mainly used in countries where there is a long dark over winter and this causes Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), a type of depression.  So, as well as sleeping better I should be a very happy little vegemite.

I am over my vertigo and have started to get my apartment back in order.  The most outstanding problem is the build-up of black fur on all the carpets which, being a yucky fawn colour, really show the black furry deposits.  And next week I will try to get back to regular yoga but am not holding my breath that this will be possible yet.

The night before last D2 spent the night here after someone crazed with drugs climbed over to her balcony from the next apartment and attempted to break in.  When the police arrived he was on the balcony brandishing a chair to try to break the glass.  Luckily it was a very hot night and she had the air conditioning turned on so the doors to her balcony were all closed.  She was able to lock them before calling the police and has now got a Violence Restraining Order out against the man.  The trouble is that he lives in the next-door apartment and they share a lobby with the lift doors about one metre from her front door; the restraining order does not allow him within 5 metres of her apartment.

Anyway, she has blocked the part of the balcony where he climbed over with galvanised sheeting draped with barbed wire as a discouragement to try again.  Hopefully the body corporate can evict him and his brother as they are only tenants, not owners.

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