Colour adds beauty to life, which is why you pay close attention to it when picking an outfit or decorating a room.
In addition to its beauty, colour can shape your experiences and influence your moods. That’s why companies invest so much money in choosing the right colours for their brands and campaigns.
Colour therapy – known as chromotherapy – seeks to harness colour’s effect on your body and brain to improve your health and wellbeing.
What is colour?
Colours are wavelengths of light that interact with your brain in complex ways. The colour wheel shows the relationships between colours and helps interior designers and marketers to evoke emotional responses by using certain colours. That’s why you might feel energised by red or calmed by green.
How does colour therapy work?
Chromotherapy (colour therapy) is based on the idea that colour and coloured lights can trigger subtle changes in your body or mood that can improve your health.
Established benefits of colour therapy
Some aspects of colour therapy have been well-researched and are being incorporated into mainstream practice.
Colour therapy for jaundice
Blue light, for example, is often used in hospitals to help newborn babies recover from jaundice. The baby lies under blue light, often wearing only a nappy. Their skin and blood absorb the light waves, which helps remove excess bilirubin from their systems.
Colour therapy for anxiety
Colour therapy for anxiety was explored in a 2022 study of dental anxiety. Patients were divided into 3 groups – blue, pink and control.
Before their dental treatment, the blue and pink groups spent about 20 minutes sitting in a chromotherapy room, where blue or pink drapes covered the walls and ceiling. They were asked to wear blue or pink glasses and told to breathe deeply, look at the colours and relax. When it was time for their treatment, the colour scheme continued as far as possible – the dentists used blue or pink scrubs and blue or pink instrument trays etc.
The control group meanwhile sat in the usual waiting room and had treatment in the usual way.
Before and after the study, researchers assessed the dental patients’ anxiety levels, through questionnaires and measurements of their heart rate and blood pressure. They found that colour therapy led to a statistically significant reduction in dental anxiety.
Colour therapy for improving attention and memory
A 2013 review of the evidence found that colour influenced memory performance by increasing alertness and attention, especially if the colours were high-contrast and were used consistently.
Colour therapy for sleep
We all need good sleep but it’s especially important – and can be especially challenging – for neurodiverse children.
If you think about natural light through a typical day, you’ll see a bright blue sky turn yellow, orange or red as the sun sets. The changing colours are a powerful sleep signal.
Ongoing exposure to blue light (from screens, for example) can delay the release of melatonin, the hormone that helps you sleep. Putting the screens away at least 30 minutes before bedtime and using warm light in the evenings can help to promote good sleep.
Practical applications of colour therapy
There are many ways to incorporate colour therapy into daily life. You could try:
- Having a blue lamp on your desk for focused periods of work
- Using an orange salt lamp or a red night light to help you or your child sleep
- Placing (real!) green plants around your home to improve your wellbeing
- Using colourful throws or cushions to calm your body or stimulate your mind, depending on the purpose of each room
- Grabbing attention in a red outfit or creating calm in a blue one
- Practising meditation and visualisation techniques that incorporate specific colours – imagine a blue light enveloping you for calmness or a yellow light for mental clarity and focus.
Benefits of red light therapy
Red light therapy works by repeatedly exposing your skin to low levels of red and near-infrared light. The light sinks into your skin by 1-2 mm and may improve cell function.
Though more research is needed, red light therapy may help to:
- Improve skin conditions like acne
- Reduce inflammation and swelling
- Repair muscles
- Promote healthy ageing.
Colour as part of brain-based therapy
At Neurofit, we provide brain-based therapies to support people with neurodiversity, neurodevelopmental, and neurodegenerative conditions. We emphasise that the brain works best when its two sides (hemispheres) are working well together.
So, where does colour therapy fit in?
The brain is quite amazing. It’s constantly changing in response to the stimulus it receives. At Neurofit, we use a range of different therapies to stimulate the right areas of the brain to ease your symptoms. One of those therapies is colour.
Red or blue glasses with lights on the side can be used to try and target certain areas of your brain. Blue lenses and a left-sided light are used to stimulate the right side of the brain, while red lenses and a right-sided light are used to stimulate the left side.
How can Neurofit Brain Centre help?
At Neurofit Brain Centre, we’re excited by the potential applications of colour and light therapy in helping to support your cognitive function, emotional balance and overall wellbeing.
We rarely rely on only one method. Instead, we combine several different therapies in a process known as co-activation, stimulating your brain in many ways as part of your therapy.
If you’d like to learn more about colour therapy at Neurofit Brain Centre, please book an appointment.
Disclaimer
All information is general and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice. Neurofit Brain Centre can consult with you to confirm if a particular treatment approach is right for you.
References
- Canva, colour wheel, https://www.canva.com/colours/colour-wheel/, [Accessed 2 November 2023]
- Healthline, How does colour therapy improve your mood? https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/the-mood-boosting-benefits-of-color-therapy, [Accessed 2 November 2023]
- Science Daily, Effect of colours: blue boosts creativity, while red enhances attention to detail, https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090205142143.htm, [2 November 2023]
- Saklecha P, Kishan KV, Savaliya K. Effect of chromotherapy on the anxiety level in the patients undergoing endodontic treatment: A randomized clinical study. J Conserv Dent. 2022 Jul-Aug;25(4):398-402. doi: 10.4103/jcd.jcd_381_21. Epub 2022 Aug 2. PMID: 36187850; PMCID: PMC9520646.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9520646/, [Accessed 18 June 2024]
- The Conversation, Getting a good night’s sleep is vital for neurodiverse children – pediatric sleep experts explain why, https://theconversation.com/getting-a-good-nights-rest-is-vital-for-neurodiverse-children-pediatric-sleep-experts-explain-why-222478, [Accessed 18 June 2024]
- Sleep Foundation, What colour light helps you sleep? https://www.sleepfoundation.org/bedroom-environment/what-color-light-helps-you-sleep, [Accessed 18 June 2024]
- Healthline, 7 science-backed benefits of indoor plants, https://www.healthline.com/health/healthy-home-guide/benefits-of-indoor-plants#7-benefits, [Accessed 18 June 2024]
- Healthline, What is red light therapy and how does it work? https://www.healthline.com/health/red-light-therapy, [Accessed 18 June 2024]
- Dzulkifli MA, Mustafar MF. The influence of colour on memory performance: a review. Malays J Med Sci. 2013 Mar;20(2):3-9. PMID: 23983571; PMCID: PMC3743993. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3743993/, [Accessed 2 November 2023]
