Have you been feeling blue lately? Or feeling down more than often? If this is so, then do not straight-away start blaming your professional or personal life.
Scientists have found out that perhaps the reason for your blues is the ‘blue’ light itself. Researchers stated that your mood swings could be due to your exposure to the blue light at night.
The study published in The Journal of Neuroscience comes from Ohio State University, and all the researchers gave different colors of light for hamsters to live under. The scientists wanted to determine the effects that certain colors would have on the mind of the mammals, giving clues to the effects of the same lighting on us.
The results were as follows:
1. Blue light exhibited the worst response against mood-related measures
2. White light had similar effects but were somehow less severe
3. Red light produced visibly fewer signs of depression.
Not only this, the researchers also noted that total darkness was the only light scenario that produced better mood measures in the hamsters than red light.
The above stated results are said to be valid for humans as well. Where red light or dark surroundings were termed to be the best scenario for human mood swings, light colors such as white and blue showed depression causing signs.
Prof. Randy Nelson, co-author of the study, noted that depression has been linked to dendritic spines with a lowered density.
The hamsters who were exposed to blue or white light had ‘dendritic’ spines that were much less dense than the hamsters who stayed in complete darkness or were exposed to red light.
Study has proved that even artificial lighting at night can be very harmful for humans and hence should be avoided as much as possible.
Scientists strongly recommend for us to sleep in dark room rather than keeping a dim light on, as it can result in depressive mood swings.
