reactions of the body
the influence of colors and light on the human organism was investigated in the space of numerous medical studies and also test series. according to that, colors seem to be very important for the balance of the body functions. colored light is in many ways psychologically effective, depending on its frequency and color. colors are also effecting experimental subjects even if the expertimental subject does not see them at the same time with his/her eyes.
the body reacts on light by hormone release:
the light activates among other things the pituitary and the epiphysis which are reacting by hormone release. this points to that the whole body is seen as a light recipient. this is similar to the primitive ability to see of caterpillars and worms.
light and nature:
- nature gives us the most illustrative materials itself: in the extreme northern based latitudes eskimo women have no menstruation during the darkest months of the year. that is why they are temporarily infertile.
- contrast to this phenomenon are women who live in tropical areas and who are very fertile for the whole year and that despite hunger and deprivations.
- in the western hemisphere blind girls tend to get their menstruation later than girls who have the ability to see.
all these phenomena show that light and color can directly influence human fertility.
diseases and colors:
the optical perception of human beings can be dominated because of illnesses by one particular color.
- alcoholics actually perceive their environment blue-colored,
- whereas people who have a cornea disease perceive everything red-colored.
- a person who suffers from jaundice sees the world yellow-colored.
- snow blindness and retinal disorders are causing a red-colored mist.
however, many of these tests to explore color reactions were conducted with healthy people and the results show a relatively high degree of agreement.
what are the causes of the color red?
- red stimulates and activates and the human organism reacts to colors very sensitively. you reach dramatical effects when you irradiate people with red-colored light. red activates the immune system of the body and increases the blood sugar content. red also pushes the blood pressure upwards. it activates breathing as well as the nervous system by stimulating the adrenal medulla to increase its adrenaline release. red and infrared light are incorporated above all by hemoglobin and are thereby causing a feeling of heat. other body tissues are relaively permeable for the red-colored and infrared light. red light accelerates the reactions of muscles.
lars sivik, a swedish color researcher:
lars sivik, a swedish color researcher mentions for example that the speed of motor reactions is on average 12 % higher when it is illuminated with red-colored light than as with white light.
therefore we can say in summary that red activates the behaviour patterns of fight and escape. aggressiveness and quick reflexes are increasing the chances to survive among simple situations of danger and therefore they are very old. the humanity learned in earlier times that the color red also stands for blood and that red is therefore connected to danger of one´s life. these instincts are still characterizing our behaviour.
colors and the strenghth of muscles:
you can experimentically measure the strenghth of a person´s muscle by giving someone your handshake. at the same time while doing so you can find out that the strenghth of a muscle is stimulated most through red.
the strength of the hands is reduced by changing the colors corresponding to the scale of the rainbow like of orange, yellow, green and blue.
kurt goldstein, a german-american doctor noticed due to his studies that red negatively affects the relaxation of the body muscles most.
colors and eyes:
not only muscles and sex hormons are stimulated by red but also the frequency of blinking with the eyes which increses per minute.
at the same time you can observe a strong effect on the visual center in the human brain. it seems that our eyes have a see-threshold of one one-hundreth second which means that we do not see anything if an object is shown to us in an any faster moment.
if we have some more time available than we are able to see contours and colors in a weak way.
- we need at least 0.02 seconds in order to recognize red light.
- if we have longer intervals we are able to see (bit by bit) the remaining colors of the color spectrum.
blue and its vision:
- blue is seen by us at last because blue-colored light needs 0.06 seconds to be perceived.
- therefore red is three times faster. we are now able to understand it in a better way, why red is preferential used for warning signs and also for hazard warnings.
- blue has a calming and curbing effect on red. with reference to body reactions the colors red and blue are in contrast to each other.
the effcet of blue:
- among blue light people or animals do not blink so often and the visual center within the brain remains to be passive. instead of this phenomenon the parasympathicus is activated and the adrenal cortex absorbes cortisone. the blood pressure, the pulse and also the production of adrenaline are reduced which have a calming down effect. blue light slows down the musclereaction. the well coordinated abilities are being improved through the relaxation of muscles and nerves. blue colored light supportes the body tissue takeover of oxygen and reduces simultaneously the hormone release which explains well why blue colored light has relaxing and even sometimes go to sleep effects. consequently the color blue is the ideal color for the bedroom. experiments with other colors like red and blue gave the most interessting testing results based on the far reaching effect on the human organism.
other colors and their effects:
other colors have also been investigated. the art professor johannes itten has fiddled himself in particular with these colors. among other things, he reported that
- the watching on warm orange shades encourages the circulation. on the other hand,
- turquoise, however, dampens and cools down the blood circulation.
- yellow light keeps us awake and stimulates us emotionally. that´s why libraries and classrooms are being preferably held in yellow shades.
- green seems to be a neutral color in relation to our organism.
has the skin the ability to see colors?
in addition these experiments have revealed to us that the organism reacts diffententy to the diverse influences of colors which the human being gains through the watching of colored fields or through colored light. what is also interessting is that you are able to observe the effect of light on the muscles even if the person who is illuminted is not consciously aware of the irradiation.
in each case infrared light increases the muscle tensions whereas ultraviolet light reduces them.
however, both frequencies are for the eye of human beings totally invisible. even if the test person was irradiated at its backfront she or he reacted in the same way like was mentioned above. the same phenomenon happened when the test person was irradiated on his or her skin with extremly short light impulses below the subliminal. it has been found out that illumination with colored light also has the effect that motor reactions are triggered, even if the person who was irradiated was a blind person. apparently it is about a phenomenon beyond the visual perception.
it is fact that the colors have an effect on the human organism due to their vibration. like it was mentioned before only primitive organisms have simple light receptors.
vision through the skin instead of the eyes:
researchers from russia, the czech republic and also from the us confirm that the human being also has remains of the simple light receptions. this means in practice that colors can be recognized with the palm or the fingertips. elbows, toes or the nose tip seem to be sensitive for colors and they are also able to identify patterns or simple texts but this only in extreme cases. it is in particular an interest of people who are blind to train this ability, however, the people who are able to see can learn them too.
the color choice is limited to the primary colors and the normal rules of color mixing take place. that means that yellow mixed with blue equals green. however, among the so-called seeing through the skin means that seeing is characterised through an completely other way of seeing namely in words which are sinking in the tactual matter.
blind people perceive colors as rough, smoothy or sticky. the fumble sensitivity of the fingers is the same like the photopic vision of the eye. this does not work with ultraviolet light or with infrared light because we perceive these colors like darkness. anyway, what is crucial is that the skin is able to feel much more than only temperature, pressure and pain. the overlap or cooperation of multiple senses is said to be synesthesia.
we can also find a strange relationship between color vision and hearing. noises are reducing the activity of the rods in the eye but they are increasing the activity of the cones that means the color ceptors. in general hearing music increases, according to the phenomenon mentioned above, the color sensitivity of the eye. it seems in addition to this that noises or music are emphasising the luminosity of green and blue shades whereas orange and red accordingly appear in a more pale way.
color therapy of karl ryberg verlag 1992 page 53-58
