Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 8, 1994 TAG: 9405070013
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MARY PEMBERTON ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: GAITHERSBURG, MD. LENGTH: Medium
In his office, Owens works bathed in bright light emanating from the company's best-selling product - SunRay, a 23-inch-by-151/2-inch metal box containing four feet of fluorescent tubing. The office has no windows, but Owens' brain doesn't know that.
SunRay tricks Owens' body into thinking he's catching a few rays on a beautiful, sunny day.
SunBox, headquartered in this Washington suburb, sells SunRay and other products to people suffering from a condition called Seasonal Affective Disorder, which researchers say affects about 35 million Americans.
During the fall and winter months - when the daytime is shorter - SAD sufferers become lethargic. They withdraw socially and gain weight.
Exposure of 15 minutes to a half hour a day of bright full-spectrum fluorescent lighting makes them feel better, Owens says.
That's where SunBox comes in.
Owens first became interested in light boxes in the winter of 1984, when he saw a television program on light therapy research at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda.
At the time, Owens was at risk of losing his job as a salesman for the Chesapeake Petroleum Co. He would fall from first place to last place in sales during the fall and winter months. His marriage collapsed.
``I could clearly see my life was crumbling before me and I was desperate to do something,'' Owens said.
He volunteered for a medical study into SAD, but was rejected because he was taking antidepressant medication. After he protested, researchers allowed him to take one of their sunlight boxes home for a week's tryout. Owens was hooked.
``All of a sudden, using this stupid light box for a few days, I felt better,'' he said.
Owens began making the boxes in the back of a friend's electrical supply store in 1985. Two years later, Owens and friend Marc Zitelman founded SunBox with an investment of $500 apiece.
Sales have grown by 30 percent to 40 percent a year since then and topped $1 million in fiscal 1993.
Early on, though, it wasn't easy going. When Owens attended the American Psychiatric Association's annual meeting in 1987, he set up his light boxes on a display table. The doctors weren't impressed. ``I got laughed at quite a bit,'' he said.
Now he sells his boxes to about 200 research and clinical centers worldwide, and SunBox offers a variety of products to the public.
SunRay at 12 inches provides 10,000 lux, a unit of illumination. That level of light is the equivalent of sitting in front of a window on a sunny day during the mid-morning hours.
SunBox also produces SunSquare, its newest product, which is a 2-foot-by-2-foot light box that sits on a stand. It is intended for people who don't require portable units.
For sufferers on the go, Bio-Brite Inc. of Bethesda offers the Bio-Brite Light Visor and other lighting products.
SunBox distributes the visor for Bio-Brite.The 8-ounce battery-powered unit rests on the wearer's head and can be adjusted to deliver up to 3,000 lux.
It was featured on of CBS' ``Northern Exposure'' recently. A number of characters used it to battle the winter blues.
Kirk Renaud, Bio-Brite's chief executive officer, says the visor is a better choice than light boxes for people too busy to stay in one place. ``It's just a lot more convenient,'' he said.
Dr. Norman E. Rosenthal, a researcher at the National Institute of Mental Health and author of ``Winter Blues,'' says the biochemical mystery behind SAD is just now beginning to unravel.
Light boxes used to treat SAD early on measured 2 feet by 4 feet, had eight fluorescent tubes and weighed 70 pounds.
by CNB