Life is obviously associated with light. Every living thing receives and transmits colour energy, even those preferring to reside in darkness. Your body, head and mind are no exception and are extremely tuned to colour. Our wellbeing can be positively or negatively affected by the electromagnetic vibrations of colour. It should be noted that people have the capability to distinguish over one million colours and are as attached to colour as they are to food.
The colours of nature have a positive impact on people, especially yellow as its energy is dominant into the visible spectrum of daylight, in addition the human eye is very sensitive to blue, red, and green. There are many different factors to determine the effect of a colour, such as the hue, saturation, surface texture and quality, plus the quality associated with the light (natural daylight or artificial lighting). Complementary colours, are not only opposite each other on the colour wheel, they also activate opposing effects in humans. However, it is important to know that everyone experiences colour differently depending on one’s age, gender, and ethnic background, as well as one’s individual colour preferences.
Hues of yellow, orange or red are warming colours that tend to be exciting. Hues of green, blue and violet are cooling colours that tend to be calming. According to studies by the British psychologist Hans Jurgen Eysenck, adults in the Western world exhibit colour preferences as follows: 1) Blue 2) Red 3) Green 4) Purple 5) Yellow 6) Orange. And yet, as we grow older, our relationship with colour changes. The founder of anthroposophy, Rudolf Steiner, developed colour schemes for rooms in elementary (or primary) schools: grade 1 – pink/red; grade 2 -pink/orange; grade 3 – orange/red; grades 4 and 5 – pale orange; grade 6 – orange/yellow; grade 7 – yellow/green; grade 8 – pale green. Dr. Heinrich Frieling, a German color psychologist, called the ubiquitous black blackboard “a poison for a child’s mind.”
The main gateway for colour is they eye, but we also retrieve colour information through the skin. There are photoactive molecules in almost all tissues of the body. The warming colors of red, orange and yellow, as well as infrared, have long wavelengths and are able to penetrate into deeper layers of tissue. The cooling colours of green, blue and violet, including UV radiation, have a shorter wavelength, they are absorbed at the skin’s surface. The effect on or body from colours is based on the mixture of frequencies, the amount of radiant energy carried by photons of a particular colour, and their conversion into heat and/or chemical as well as electrical energy.
As colours within our environment (work place, school, clothes) enter our sensory organs, they will have similar effects on our well-being. The perceived temperature of the room can change 3 degrees based of the colour blue or orange. We make countless colour choices consciously and frequently we actually choose them unconsciously and automatically. The National Cancer Institute and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention advise everyone to “Sample the Spectrum” in fruit and vegetables for maximum health. It is scientific fact that the plant pigments in our food naturally possess effective antioxidant and anticancer properties and the intensity of a given colour will guide us to the highest amount of nutrition.
