Researchers of a new study found that the color of a person's night light may directly affect his mood; with the color blue having the worst effect.
Previous studies have established that night lights are bad for health resulting in weight gain, depression, forgetfulness, impaired immune system and increased risk of diabetes. A new study found that the color of this night light also influences a person's mood.
The study conducted on hamsters found that blue has the worst effect on mood-related issues, followed by white. Researchers found hamsters exposed to red light at night showed lesser depression-like symptoms and brain activity that could lead to depression.
Red was concluded to the best alternative if a night light was required, coming second only to total darkness at night.
"Our findings suggest that if we could use red light when appropriate for night-shift workers, it may not have some of the negative effects on their health that white light does," Randy Nelson, co-author of the study and professor of neuroscience and psychology at The Ohio State University said in a press release.
For the study, researchers analyzed how specialized photosensitive cells in the retina, called ipRGC, responded to different colors of light. These cells don't play any role in a person's vision but are responsible for detecting light and sending messages to the brain. These messages help the brain regulate the body's circadian clock as well as control moods and emotions.
The researchers conducted several tests on the hamsters that were used to check for depression-like symptoms.
"In nearly every measure we had, hamsters exposed to blue light were the worst off, followed by those exposed to white light," he said. "While total darkness was best, red light was not nearly as bad as the other wavelengths we studied."
