HACK YOUR BRAIN WITH ORANGE LIGHT
Orange is a beautiful color that warms you up and wakes you up. It’s a color we see more of in October, with autumn leaves, pumpkins, and fires. It’s a color that has meaning for both body and mind. It’s the color of second (Swadhisthana) sacral chakra. It is a key color in a number of ancient religious and spiritual traditions, from the saffron robes of Hinduism and Buddhism, to the orange fifth ray in the New Age system of Seven Rays which classifies humans into seven different metaphysical psychological types.
And now, according to a recent study conducted by Gilles Vandewalle and his team of researchers from the University of Liège, Belgium, and INSERM Stem Cell and Brain Research Institute, France, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), there’s scientific evidence that orange light helps us think better.
Orange radiates between yellow and red on the spectrum of visible light. Our eyes perceive orange when observing light with a dominant wavelength between roughly 585 and 620 nanometres. It has been found to have a marked effect on our circadian rhythms, causing greater alertness.
The findings are exciting! Check them out! You may want to think about installing “smart” orange light in your home and office!
The new evidence suggests that exposure to orange light can increase your brain activity, making you more alert. Perhaps the fact that orange is a predominant color of dawn is purposeful?
The researchers studied the group of photoreceptor cells in the eyeball that control melanopsin, a recently discovered light-sensing pigment which is linked to the human body's circadian rhythm -- its internal clock.
The research team exposed their subjects to orange, white, green, and blue light, then asked them to perform simple detection and memory tasks after each exposure, and conducted functional MRI scans to observe their reactions.
Prior exposure to the longer wavelength orange light enhanced the subsequent impact of the test light – the subjects showed greater brain activity in several regions of the frontal lobes related to alertness and cognition – while prior exposure to the shorter wavelength blue light had the reverse outcome.
After they finished the test, the subjects were blindfolded for 70 minutes and then asked to rest under green light.
They measured executive brain responses – cognitive brain functions such as anticipation, working memory, sequencing (breaking tasks into smaller units and ordering them), problem-solving, decision-making, and alertness.
The subjects exposed to orange light showed greater brain activity on the scans, indicating greater cognitive alertness than those exposed to blue light. Scientists theorize that orange light is beneficial because its longer wavelength causes melanopsin to send specific kinds of signals to the brain that cause it to wake up and smell the coffee -- and to stay awake.
“This wavelength-dependent impact of prior light exposure is consistent with recent theories of the light-driven melanopsin dual states. Our results emphasize the critical role of light for cognitive brain responses and are, to date, the strongest evidence in favour of a cognitive role for melanopsin, which may confer a form of ‘photic memory’ to human cognitive brain function,” write the researchers in their published paper.
Just a 10-minute shot of orange light can make a big difference in reducing drowsiness and increasing attention. Imagine what orange light could do in schools, offices, or simply in your own home as you greet the dawn of a new day.
Read more about Opulent Orange all this week on BeautifulNow. Including, The Most Beautiful Pumpkin Festivals to Visit Now. And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Wellness, Impact, Nature/Science, Food, Arts/Design, and Travel, Daily Fix posts.
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