The human body produces the melatonin hormone, which is responsible for supporting the circadian rhythms.
[2] A form of dark therapy is to block blue wavelength lights to stop the disintegration of melatonin.
[4] Original studies enforced 14 hours of darkness to bipolar patients for three nights straight.
[5] Participation in this study became unrealistic, as patients did not want to participate in treatment of total darkness from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m.[6] More recently, with the discovery of intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells, it has been hypothesized that similar results could be achieved by blocking blue light, as a potential treatment for bipolar disorder.
[9] Another study consisting of healthy females and males suggested that a single exposure to blue light after being kept in a dim setting could reduce sleepiness.