Exposure to short wavelength blue light can improve alertness at any time of the day
Short wavelength blue light has long been known to increase alertness at night. New work published in the journal Sleep shows that blue light can help increase alertness during the daytime as well. Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston compared the effects of blue and green light on alertness by exposing 16 participants to equal amounts of these lights for 6.5 hours per day. The scientists tested the participants' alertness both by asking how sleepy they felt and through objective measures of reaction times and brain wave activity. Those individuals exposed to blue light consistently rated themselves as feeling more alert, which was reflected both in their brain wave activity and their reaction times. Although exposure to natural light is thought to be ideal, altering the wavelengths of light in our environment may help us be more alert and productive during the day.
Source:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140203191841.htm
Journal article: Diurnal Spectral Sensitivity of the Acute Alerting Effects of Light. Sleep, 2014. doi: 10.5665/sleep.3396
Story via Neuroscience Research Techniques
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Corina Marinescu Wonderful! Now if someone can just build a widget to install on my desktop.
ReplyDeleteCall a friend ... ;P
ReplyDeleteWell, there is f.lux, which changes the color temp of your screen as a function of what time it is. It's intended to reduce blue in the evening to help people fall asleep faster, but it is configurable.
ReplyDeleteWhat? they could reduce it to minimum...still no sleep for me.
ReplyDeleteHmmm! Just turned one on to see if that helps me... Maybe. Guess what -- in other news, Germans are already using it in their offices - dynamic luminous ceiling brings the sky into office spaces by creating the effect of passing clouds.
ReplyDeleteAlert but dizzy. ;)
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what to say to that one Sean Walker , for me colors have other meaning ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the advice Perry J. Greenbaum =)
ReplyDeleteIs there any colour to make me sleepy? I have problem because I can't sleep well.
ReplyDeleteCorina Marinescu The dizzy was reference to the movement of those lights - well perhaps not dizzy, but mesmerizing.
ReplyDeleteSean Walker you are right. Every light that vibrates fast, makes the brain dizzy. This is a known method in interrogations.
ReplyDeletePerry J. Greenbaum thank you very very very much. I read this article and I found it most helpfull. I feel guilty. Why? Because I am writing now from my laptop, in my bedroom, on my bed. And I am asking why I can't sleep well !!. Thanks C.Marinescu for this post. It helped me to find a cause. We are humans and we should help each other.
ReplyDeleteSean Walker in an other post (Bukowski), I had been a little aggresive. I want to apologise.
ReplyDeleteDo you have blue lights where you work Corina Marinescu? Did you know the blue LED you see in use today was invented by a Japanese scientist (Nakamura), going into production in 1993? He also invented the blue laser diode used by Blu-Ray drives
ReplyDeleteSam Collett for me colors have tastes so doesn't matter...
ReplyDeleteOh and I knew about Nakamura :) thanks
What does blue taste like?
ReplyDeleteCorina Marinescu I have to congratulate you. Every post of yours is special, with a big number of comments. They keep me interested.
ReplyDeleteSam Collett like blue.
ReplyDeleteDo what I do Shane holgate, when cops stop me in N.Y....I speak French =))
ReplyDeleteThx mimis dog-us
ReplyDeleteSam Collett G+ is not the place to talk about my brain ;)
ReplyDeleteHow come? Will a black (blue) hole form and G+ collapse on itself?
ReplyDeleteNah is much more apocalyptic than that....I don't want to ;)
ReplyDeleteSomething that us mere mortals cannot comprehend then
ReplyDeleteTHAT explains the power K Mart had all those years, then. Before that other store bought the rights to and starting using the yellow smiley face...:D
ReplyDelete