The color blue is known to have a calming effect and can spark creativity. Now, let’s add hunger to that list.
According to a new study, blue-enriched light exposure was associated with an increase in hunger 15 minutes after light onset and still lingered two hours after the meal. Blue light also decreased sleepiness and contributed to higher measures of insulin resistance.
“It was very interesting to observe that a single three-hour exposure to blue-enriched light in the evening acutely impacted hunger and glucose metabolism,” said study co-author Ivy Cheung, a doctoral candidate in the Interdepartmental Neuroscience program at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. “These results are important because they suggest that manipulating environmental light exposure for humans may represent a novel approach of influencing food intake patterns and metabolism.”
So, the next time you have an event and there is some leftover food you’d like to have eaten, just wash the room with some blue light.
(photo credit: On Stage Lighting via photopin cc)
Blue also makes you feel cooler, so you can turn down the air-conditioning a notch.