The Atlantispa experience is effective treatment for SAD. The Atlantispa SG-2000 spa machine emits far infrared light rays, thereby warming the interior of the body. In addition, negative ions are generated by the ozone and ultrasonic bubbles. The feeling is quite like a summer rainfall in the forest - this is a happy place to be.

Current research seems to support this theory. Dr. Norman E. Rosenthal, a native of South Africa who discovered his own serious problem with SAD while a resident in psychiatry at the New York State Psychiatric Institute in 1976, has become an expert in diagnosing and treating the problem. His knowledge and experience in helping himself and countless patients afflicted with SAD are summarized in “Winter Blues: Everything You Need to Know to Beat Seasonal Affective Disorder,” whose revised edition the Guilford Press published this year.

Dr. Rosenthal aptly describes SAD as “an energy crisis.” Patients are not depressed in the usual emotional sense, but rather feel as if their batteries have run down.

The symptoms of SAD do mimic those of serious depression. Patients say they have to drag themselves out of bed in the morning, even after 10 hours of sleep, and force themselves to perform necessary chores. They feel leaden and would just as soon not see anybody or do anything. They find it difficult to concentrate and think clearly and quickly.

Sex drive often dwindles markedly but is often replaced by an insatiable appetite for carbohydrates — breads, pasta, potatoes, rice and sweets — that results in weight gain. Many people with SAD have two wardrobes, the one for winter being two sizes larger. Dr. Rosenthal's best remedy to treat SAD is light therapy.

Michael and Jiuan Su Terman of the New York State Psychiatric Institute at Columbia University, who have conducted pioneering studies of SAD remedies, suggest using a negative-ion generator. They showed that sitting in front of a machine that emits negative ions at a high rate for 30 minutes every morning was as effective as sitting in front of a light box for the same time.

The Atlantispa SG-2000 spa machine has both light therapy and negative ion therapy built in  the machine. But more importantly is the means in how these therapies are delivered: in a water medium that emulates ancient thalassotherapy methods. The SG-2000 provides an integrated and holistic effect and one of the primary and more immediate maladies it effects is Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Combined with a Jupiter Melody filtered drinking water ionizer, symptoms of the common cold may also be alleviated for Northerners during the winter. A lack of sweating during cold weather causes an overly acidic body, thereby creating a condition in the body which attempts to discharge acidic wastes via coughing and mucous. A combination of the thalassotherapeutic effect of the SG-2000 and the ionizing, alkalinizing effect on water that the Jupiter machine produces may help reduce or eliminate typical winter maladies such as the common cold or SAD.

For decades, millions of Americans have given up on living in northern latitudes. California, Arizona, Florida, Texas, New Mexico and Nevada among other states have increased their populations by many tens of millions as many Northerners transplanted entire families to these locales. This can all change now with the introduction of new technologies for society and homes. Many people living in the North- and entire municipalities - can be relieved to know that they they can stay where they are and enjoy the winters as never before! Perhaps now, with today's holistic technologies, millions may return to their original northern habitats as the states mentioned are becoming needlessly overcrowded, especially if future predictions of lack of water supplies hold true in some of these areas.