ORANGE WAKES UP YOUR MIND NOW

Orange is a beautiful color that warms you up and wakes you up. It’s the color of fire and of the sacral chakra -- ancient observations.

However, 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?

A team of scientists from the University of Liege, Belgium, studied the group of photoreceptor cells in the eyeball that control melanopsin, a light-sensing pigment which is linked to the human body's circadian rhythm -- its internal clock.

The researchers, led by Gilles Vandewalle, exposed their subjects to orange and blue light, asked them to perform simple detection and memory tasks, and conducted functional MRI scans to observe their reactions.

After they finished the test, the subjects were blindfolded for 70 minutes and then asked to rest under green light.

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.

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 how orange light can wake you up in this paper recently published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Read more about Beautiful Orange, as it relates to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact including 10 Beautiful Fast Orange Cars Now, Spectacular Orange Pyrotechnics From Below & Above Now, Heirloom Orange is Beautiful Now, The Art of Orange Light Now and Awesome Orange Pumpkin Festivals Happening Now!

Enter your own images and ideas about Beautiful Orange in this week’s creative Photo Competition. Open for entries now until 11:59 p.m. PT on 11.02.14. If you are reading this after that date, check out the current BN Creative Competition, and enter!

PHOTO CREDITS:

1. Photo: by Jody Roberts. Late August Sunrise; Waterville, Maine.  
2. Photo: by Kenneth Spencer. Sunrise on the 2nd Day of Fall at the Barn and Crib.
3. Photo: by Paul Bates. Sunrise.
4. Photo: by Guy Zipory. Israel Sunrise.
5. Photo: Courtesy of Opening Lines. Iceland Sunrise.
6. Photo: by Geoff Livingston. Sunrise.
7. Photo: by Chris Parmeter. Sunrise from English Boom - Camano Island, WA.
8. Photo: Courtesy of JWD Publishing Blog. Sunrise.
9. Photo: by Evilspoon7. Clermont-Ferrand sunrise.
10. Photo: by Robert Du Bois. Sunrise.