Light therapy is often associated with treating seasonal affective disorder. However, light can affect more than the winter blues, says Marla Ahlgrimm. Keep reading for insight on how scheduled exposure to certain types of light can affect your hormones.

Q: What is light therapy?

Marla Ahlgrimm: Light therapy is the use of special lights that mimic the rays of the sun. It utilizes what is known as blue light to have a positive impact on the brain. The brain is affected by light in many ways and releases chemicals in response to daylight as well as dark. Light therapy triggers the production of serotonin, a hormone that lends to positive feelings.

Q: How does light therapy help treat sleeping disorders?

Marla Ahlgrimm: The body is designed to work on an internal clock. This circadian rhythm follows cycle of the sun, where we are more awake during the day and ready to sleep as the sun goes down. People with sleeping disorders such as delayed sleep phase syndrome have difficulty regulating their internal clock. Using light therapy can help control the body’s release of melatonin, a chemical associated with falling – and staying – sleep.

Q: When this light therapy most beneficial?

Marla Ahlgrimm: For people with sleeping disorders, light therapy is most useful first thing in the morning, within an hour of rising. This saturates the eyes, and thus the brain, with the type of light it needs to regulate the body’s sleep-wake cycle. Most sleep therapist recommend between 30 minutes and three hours of light therapy daily.

Q: What are the side effects of light therapy?

Marla Ahlgrimm: There are no known negative side effects to light therapy when done correctly. However, if you sit too close to the light emitting device, your pupils can constrict, which allows less light to enter your eye and will essentially render therapy useless.

There are hundreds of educational establishments that cater to pharmaceuticals. But, according to Marla Ahlgrimm, it was not always that way. The first pharmacy school in the United States was founded in 1821. The Philadelphia College of Pharmacy (now the University of the Sciences) offers more than 30 degree-granting academic programs.

According to Marla Ahlgrimm, the early 1800s saw an increased need for medical knowledge. And as doctors began to get away from providing medicine directly, there was an even greater need for people who understood drugs and drug interactions. The Philadelphia College of Pharmacy was established after a meeting by more than five dozen Philadelphia apothecaries. Their goal was to create and improve upon scientific standards.

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Women, according to Marla Ahlgrimm, are not only the backbone of the familial unit, but of the business world as well. The author and entrepreneur touches on a few of her favorite woman-founded companies in the following brief post.

Birchbox

Birchbox is a monthly subscription service originally launched in 2010. It was founded by two Harvard Business School graduates, Hayley Barna and Katia Beauchamp. The two women, says Marla Ahlgrimm, thought there must be an easier way for women to experience new beauty products without spending a fortune. In 2012, this customer-centric company catapulted the two ladies onto Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list.

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Vacation is a novel idea for many Americans, says women’s health expert Marla Ahlgrimm. However, taking time off is one of the best things you can do for yourself, your health, and your career.

Vacationing is not simply a way to get away from the grind of your work week. It is a time to relax, unwind, and connect with the things – and people – that are important to you. Spending a short amount of time away from your everyday life can help you mentally reboot and tackle your responsibilities with a fresh set of eyes and clear head.

From a health standpoint, vacationing is also an opportunity to work on your physical fitness. Many vacations require walking, hiking, swimming, or other exercises that you may not do in a typical day. It’s a time to give your body all the things it normally doesn’t receive, says Marla Ahlgrimm.

It may be difficult to step away for a week, but doing so will have a positive impact on your career, too. Marla Ahlgrimm asserts that there are many ways leaving the office can actually benefit you. First, it gives your employees and coworkers an opportunity to handle problems that you would normally undertake. This may, in the end, relieve some of your professional burdens and work-related stress. Further, Marla Ahlgrimm says, leaving work lets you shift your thought processes temporarily. This will give you a chance to look at your work without the tunnel vision that you’ve no doubt become accustomed to.

There is no right way or wrong way to vacation. Marla Ahlgrimm explains that any outing that gives you a change of scenery can have long-lasting positive benefits.

A few vacations that Marla Ahlgrimm enjoys include camping, hiking, and simply lounging around at the lake or beach.

The endocrine system is tasked with keeping our hormones in check. However, there are a few hormones that everyone can control. Here, Marla Ahlgrimm takes a look at four of these.

Epinephrine

According to Marla Ahlgrimm, epinephrine is best known as the “fight-or-flight” hormone.  You may know it by its common name, adrenaline. Epinephrine/adrenaline is released in response to danger. For example, you are driving down the road when an oncoming vehicle suddenly swerves into your lane. They correct their position and you continue driving unharmed. But your heart is racing, your body tingling, and you experience a surge of energy and heightened awareness of the road around you. This is epinephrine at work. Controlled breathing is the best way to regulate secretion of this hormone and help you regain control of your body.

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Thanks to modern medicine, we understand how the endocrine system works, says Marla Ahlgrimm. We know that the brain stimulates the production of different hormones in response to physical and emotional situations. For example, we know that menopause is triggered by a reduction in the female sex hormones estrogen and progesterone and that PMS is also controlled by hormones. But it wasn’t always that way. It wasn’t until the mid-1800s that doctors started to seriously consider that something other than God controlled the human body.

According to Marla Ahlgrimm, in 1848 Dr. Arnold Berthold performed what many consider the first scientific experiment relating to hormones. In this simple study, the good doctor castrated a pair of roosters. Soon, their bright red combs, a sign of fertility in the species, became faded and dull.

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