The pioneering light boxes helping Orkney islanders avoid seasonal affective disorder

Key Highlights

• intering Well“With only six hours of daylight in wintertime there’s a growing awareness there are some very positive things you can do for yourself,” says House, who talks through the constituent parts of the box – a therapeutic lamp to help counteract the negative effects of low light levels on mental health and a guidebook with tips on simple indoor and outdoor activities to develop a new winter routine, as well as access to free online resources. House especially likes the sky frame that comes with the kit: “You hold it up to the clouds and it helps you focus on what light is available.”The Wintering Well boxes contain lamps and a guidebook with tips on a new winter routine.
• intering WellSunset is expected at 3.30pm on the day that Erika Copland, a community link practitioner with Orkney GPs, speaks to the Guardian.
• While the Orkney Islands enjoy extended daylight during the summer months, winter brings grey, wet and miserable weather, she says.
• “It’s that feeling of being enveloped by the darkness, especially when the rain is battering against the window.
• You don’t feel like going out, and it does bring your mood down.”There’s a waiting list for the boxes, which are also available in more remote areas from the mobile library van, known locally as Booky McBookface.