With the clocks now back to standard time, many Canadians are bemoaning the loss of the summer sun as the country descends into the dreary mid-autumn skies. No wonder Canadians are among the biggest travellers to the Caribbean every winter.
But for those who can't travel -- the frail and the elderly among them – there's a new alternative that brings the beach and the summer heat inside.
It's called a Soleira sun simulator system. Briton House, a privately-owned retirement home in Toronto, has one. There, residents can escape on a tropical break without ever leaving home.
The room is equipped with a simulated beach, with sand, the sound of surf, and plenty of warmth and sunshine thanks to a light system that simulates the summer sun.
Jack Litchfield, 83, loves heading into the room for some 30-degree-Celsius heat.
"It's wonderful. You just sit and relax. It reminds me of St. Maarten," he says.
Bill Milne, 87, enjoys the room too.
"It transports you to another world. I've been down once a day since it opened," he says.
The sun simulator system at Briton House is only the second system of this kind in North America.
Eric Pflanzer runs the Canadian office of the Swedish-based Soleira Sun. He says the system's computer and light system reproduce the sun's full-light spectrum, but it also reduces the harmful effects of UV rays.
Theoretically, the lights allow the skin to produce vitamin D, but without the damaging effects of tanning.
The owners of the Briton retirement home decided to dedicate an unused room on the first floor to the project. Setting up the simulated beach cost nearly $100,000. But the owners say they are "pushing the envelope" to improve lifestyles of their home's residents.
"We certainly hope it improves quality of life. Many of our residents are unable to travel; they don't get out into the sun enough."
The technology for the system was initially developed in Sweden, where parts of the country are in near darkness for months at a time during the winter. Simulated sun rooms are now in some 40 government-funded retirement homes and community centres.
The company says the Swedish experience has suggested that the system can help with the symptoms of dementia, in particular "sun downing," a form of agitation that can occur at the end of the day for those with dementia.
There isn't much research on the benefits of the system yet, but some studies have shown that bright light therapy, particularly in the morning, can help with depression, seasonal affective disorder (SAD), and improve the quality of sleep.
The sun rooms make perfect sense to researcher Prof Richard Horner, who studies the neurobiology of sleep regulation at the University of Toronto.
"Yes, in theory, it is a very good idea and it could benefit many," he told CTV News when shown the system.
"There is a biological basis that light does strongly influence the brains of humans," he says, which is why people with seasonal affective disorder are told to spend time under bright lights.
Homer says it would be interesting to study the health outcomes of these simulated sun rooms. In fact, the managers of Briton House hope to interest doctors and researchers to conduct a study with a group of residents over a period of months to track their wellbeing and medication usage with regular use of the sun room.
Two more sun simulation rooms are being built in Canada, one in a nursing home in Quebec City and one at a spa in Niagara Falls, giving "light therapy" a whole new meaning.
With a report from CTV medical specialist Avis Favaro and producer Elizabeth St. Philip
