First Great Western collaborated with charity SADA, the Seasonal Affective Disorder Association, to see how they could brighten passenger’s journeys as the winter blues take their toll.
The carriage was decked out with special, bright SAD Lumie lights, which are used to help treat SAD – a type of winter depression that affects an estimated half a million people every winter between September and April, in particular during January and February. SAD is caused by a chemical imbalance due to the shortening of daylight hours, and the lack of sunlight in winter.
The 7.06am service runs daily to Cornwall, a region which has, on average, over ten hours more sunshine in January than the UK as a whole, according to Met Office figures[1]. Cornwall averages 58 hours of sunshine in January, compared with an average of just 47 hours across the UK as a whole.
First Great Western Campaigns Manager, Jamie Anderson said: “With the dark winter mornings and evenings, and post-Christmas blues, the first few months of the year are traditionally a time when people look to book a summer holiday, or a long weekend away, often taking advantage of the longer daylight hours on the south coast.
“Until then, we are trying to shine a ray of light on people’s journeys, and help them arrive at work and travel home again without the ‘winter blues’.”
Jenny Scott-Thompson from SADA said,“With the continual lack of light and a long, cold January after the Christmas celebrations, this time of year is the peak time people suffer symptoms of SAD. We’re pleased First Great Western is taking this step to help alleviate passengers’ suffering with SAD Lumie lights on board.”
SAD Lumie lights help alleviate symptoms of depression during the dark winter days by reproducing daylight and providing bright light which immediately increases levels of alertness, boosts mood and improves overall day-to-day performance.
The lights offer high levels of light intensity as they each deliver 10,000 Lux – the method in which the intensity of visible light is measured – which provides enough bright light to get the body clock back on track. During a bright day, the level of brightness ranges from 10,000 to 25,000 Lux.
[1] Official statistics from the MET Office (working on a 30 year average between 1981 -2010)
About First Great Western:
First Great Western provides high speed, commuter, regional and branch line train services, carrying more than 99 million passengers every year across the Great Western rail franchise area, which includes South Wales, the Westcountry, the Cotswolds, and large parts of Southern England.
FirstGroup plc is the leading transport operator in the UK and North America with revenues of more than £6.7 billion a year. FirstGroup employs approximately 117,000 employees and transports around 2.5 billion passengers a year.
The group’s vision is to provide solutions for an increasingly congested world… keeping people moving and communities prospering.
About SADA:
SADA (The Seasonal Affective Disorder Association) is the UK's only non-commercial support organisation for SAD. It is a voluntary organisation, a registered charity and an information source for the public and for health professionals, dedicated to informing and supporting SAD sufferers throughout the UK and beyond. SADA helps these individuals to get appropriate treatment, manage their condition, understand its causes and effects and share their experiences. The Association is run by volunteers, most of whom have the condition themselves and it receives no government funding.
About Lumie:
Since 1991 Lumie has been researching and designing bright lights to treat seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and other conditions. Our first Bodyclock dawn simulator – an alarm that wakes you up with increasing levels of light – was the world’s first wake-up light and brought light therapy into the mainstream. Over the years Lumie has worked closely with the scientific community. All of our products – the broadest range in Europe – are based on published research and designed by us from our base in Cambridge and are medical devices, certified to the Medical Devices Directive (93/42EEC). In the UK our products are available through www.lumie.com as well as major retailers like John Lewis, Boots, amazon, Selfridges and wiggle.co.uk and we have an expanding network of distributors across Europe and in North America. For consumers buying through www.lumie.com we provide a home trial on all products.
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For further information please contact:
1) FirstGreatWestern@3-Monkeys.co.uk or Emma Pritchard at 3 Monkeys Communications on 020 7009 3100.
2) Ruth Jackson, Lumie: PR@lumie.com 09154 786115 07914 812261