What colors are good for sleep LED light?
Are there colors that affect your ability to sleep?
Believe it or not, the kind of LED lights you choose to place in your bedroom can affect your ability to sleep well.
Interestingly, color experts found that certain color shades help put a person at ease while others bring about or elevate feelings of anxiety.
Read on to learn interesting facts on sleep psychology and which are the best LED light colors for sleeping.
Color Aspects That Affect Sleep
Brightness
Light is one of the most critical external factors that affect sleep.
That’s primarily because brightness levels regulate the body’s internal clock.
This “clock” signals when to stay awake and rest.
And the way it does that is by reading light as a time to stay awake and darkness as a signal to wind down and go to sleep.
Thus, the brighter the lights, the more awake you’ll likely be, and vice versa.
Also, bright lights help produce melatonin, a vital sleep-promoting hormone.
On the other hand, dimmer lights at night can help you sleep.
Hue
Generally, color experts define hue as a particular shade or color gradient.
And researchers have conducted studies that indicate that certain light hues are particularly beneficial to our sleep rhythm and overall health.
According to the study, suprachiasmatic nuclei in our brain (our circadian pacemaker that enables the generation of circadian rhythms) follow a 24-hour solar day in which light follows darkness.
(Caption: Image of the brain)
And to communicate this information, it uses a pathway in the retina.
In other words, some lights can influence this rhythm positively or negatively.
Saturation
Here, saturation refers to the amount of bright light mixed with a hue.
But another factor about saturation is how the light gets dispensed across various colors.
In other words, it’s how intense or dominant a hue is on a color.
An example of a very saturated light is one with high intensity and just one wavelength.
Interestingly, too much light saturation can hurt the quality of sleep.
That’s why we tend to feel more alert or tired depending on the time of day.
The Psychology of Color and Light’s Effect on Sleep
Below are some interesting insights on the psychology of color and light’s effect on sleep:
Types of Light and How They Impact Sleep
Now blue is the color with the most negative impact on a person’s sleep pattern. So does bright white light.
These two colors can make it very difficult to fall asleep.
And even if you manage to, remaining asleep will be a challenge.
But during the day, exposure to these lights, especially white, positively affects the body.
For example, they can boost your mood and alertness.
On the other hand, red light does not affect the internal clock (circadian rhythm).
So it won’t affect your sleep pattern by keeping you up longer.
For this reason, people use dim red LED lights in their bedrooms.
Also, a very dim orange or yellow is not a bad choice.
Colors to Avoid
Thankfully, the issue of colors to avoid is pretty clear.
Because most experts unanimously agree that blue light is one of the colors to avoid in your bedroom or sleeping area.
See, blue suppresses melatonin production and plays a role in disrupting one’s natural circadian rhythm.
Red Light and Sleep
Besides not affecting the body’s internal clock, there’s more to red light and sleep.
According to various sleep studies, red light wavelengths help stimulate the production of melatonin, a naturally occurring sleep hormone that helps you sleep.
So when you have dim red LED lights in your bedroom, it helps your brain release more of the hormone as darkness sets in.
Blue Light and Sleep
As mentioned, when you expose yourself to blue lights before your bedtime, it can affect your ability to sleep.
Because unlike red light, which aids in melatonin production, blue light suppresses the release or production of this hormone.
As a result, you tend not to feel drowsy.
Therefore, avoiding exposure to such light about an hour or two before sleep is best.
Even better, avoid altogether installing them in your sleeping area.
What Color Led Lights Help You Sleep?
See, red and colors that closely resemble red on the light spectrum are good for helping you sleep.
These colors include amber, yellow, and pink.
No wonder these colors are closely associated with the color of sunset and candlelight.
These colors make it easier to wind down, fall asleep, and even stay asleep.
(Caption: Image of the sunset)
What Is the Best LED Light Color for Sleeping?
Based on some deep research conducted by different light experts, red is the best LED light color that helps initiate and improve sleep.
Red light is warm and soothing, alleviating stress and soothing the nervous system.
Most importantly, it does not interfere with your body’s sleep pattern; it also helps promote melatonin secretion.
Further, red LED light has a lower color temperature making it an even better color for sleep.
What Color LED Lights Help You Relax
An interesting report published by the scientific journal PLOS ONE in 2017 revealed some interesting insights on the correlation between light color and stress.
While blue light suppresses the ability to fall asleep, compared to white light, blue light promotes post-stress relaxation.
Healthy but stressed volunteers underwent a relaxation session under both light types.
And the ones exposed to the blue light could relax three times faster.
FAQs
What Are the Best and Worst LED Colors for Sleep?
Generally, LED lights with a red or yellow hue are the best bedside lamps.
On the other hand, blue light is the worst for circadian rhythm because it disrupts melatonin production.
A person’s eyes also tend to be more sensitive to blue light.
Is Green LED Light Good For Sleep?
According to researchers, green LED lights are not good for the eyes and sleep.
As a result, placing them in your bedroom or sleeping area can
What Colors Are Good for Sleep LED Light: What Color Light Is Best for the Bedroom?
Interestingly, even while you’re asleep, the color of light you expose yourself to still affects sleep.
For example, it can suppress melatonin production and affect your sleep cycle.
Now LED lights with a red or amber color won’t affect your sleep-to-wake cycle.
This makes them the best color for LED lights in the bedroom.
That also includes circumstances where you need to sleep with the lights on for one reason or another.
Conclusion
So that’s it on what colors are good for sleep LED lighting and why.
Red dimmed lights help you relax and don’t mess up your internal clock.
Further, red lights help the body produce the sleep hormone melatonin.
When your LED lighting has these qualities, it helps you fall and remain asleep.