15 replies to this topic

[brendan1]

        Blue Light May Be Better Than Coffee for Boosting Brain Power


As you probably already know, caffeine, especially when taken at the right time, boosts alertness and can improve your focus. New research suggests, however, that you could get even better brain benefits and more energy from being exposed to blue light.    
    
    
Swedish researchers tested a group of 21 volunteers' psychomotor and cognitive functions under four different conditions: exposed to white light and taking 240 mg of caffeine, blue light and 240 mg of caffeine, white light and a placebo, and blue light and a placebo.
They found that both the caffeine-only group (under white light) and the blue light-only group (no caffeine) had better accuracy on a visual reaction test that required making a decision—and they also performed faster than the other two groups. Their overall psychomotor function was better than the other groups as well.
The blue light-only group, however, did even better than the caffeine group on staying focused and being accurate when faced with different distractions. They also had substantially better visual reaction.
Other research has linked blue light with being more alert during the dreaded mid-afternoon slump and even improvingbrain activity in blind patients.
So those blue lightbulbs not only look cool, they may help you work better too.
A Comparison of Blue Light and Caffeine Effects on Cognitive Function and Alertness in Humans (Abstract) | PLOS One via Natural News
Photo by Serge Saint.

http://lifehacker.co...rain-1472598981

[BlueCloud]

Most computer screens = blue light. Wich is why you should avoid being exposed to them a few hours before sleep ( or use something like f.lux on the Mac or equivalent on the pc to filter the blue at night). It reduces levels of melatonin. There are quite a few studies about that. Will link them later..


( warning : looking at my avatar for too long may make your brain explode )

Edited by BlueCloud, 04 December 2013 - 03:10 PM.

[Psionic]

Interesting, which wavelength is this blue light? Can be used blue lasers/diodes as with the LLLT (tulip) protocol?

[Dizzon]

470 nm LEDs at an intensity of ~40 lux for an hour.

2nd half of the experimental protocol:

After performing the PVT, the participants ingested a gelatine capsule containing either 240 mg of caffeine or a visually indistinguishable sugar placebo with a small glass of water. They then rated their level of alertness using the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS) before entering a separate room specifically set up to deliver either ~40 lx of blue light from a LED light source (Techlight® RGB, 3W, λmax = 470 nm) or a white light alternative (~100 lx) for 1 h. Thus there were four trial conditions administered in a random manner to avoid sequence effects: white light/placebo (PLA); white light/240 mg caffeine (CAF); blue light/placebo (BLU); blue light/240 mg caffeine (BCAF). Each trial was of equivalent duration and lasted 1 h during which the participants were consistently exposed to the light stimulus and were instructed to keep their eyes open while remaining comfortably seated and listening to relaxing music. Every 15 minutes a researcher entered the room to re-evaluate the level of alertness using the KSS and ensure subject compliance. At the end of the 1 h light exposure, the participants again completed the PVT.

Edited by Dizzon, 04 December 2013 - 03:52 PM.

[Sun]

@OP: This is really cool. Thanks for sharing and letting me know.

Edited by Sun, 04 December 2013 - 07:36 PM.

[ZHMike]

bump.. anyone have any experiences with this?


http://www.amazon.co...lips blue light

well reviewed on amazon

[Nobility]

To be honest, the "light" thing works, as in well placebo or not, if your facing your computer screen doing whatever, having a nice strip of LCD lights in the background or around your room really does effect you, in some what, maybe not the same way as drugs, in fact even a part of the brain that drugs as of all drugs today don't effect, you know, I'm just giving you an example, and i hope it helps you.

stay safe guys.

Edited by Nobility, 19 January 2014 - 10:41 PM.

[Sciencyst]

So much win in this thread. People really need to be more aware of blue wavelengths' power! It is especially applicable to disturbed sleep from electronics and fatigue from incandescent light.

Anybody ever notice how after coming inside from being in the bright sun (especially when there's a lot of snow to reflect it's light) and everything looks really orange? That's because your eyesight adjusted to the blueness of the sun's ray.. it's like an afterimage from all the blue

Edited by katuskoti, 19 January 2014 - 11:46 PM.

[Jeoshua]

I can sleep perfectly fine in a room lit up with red light, but even a small blue diode, unshielded and pointing at me, will keep me awake at night. I use Redshift on my Linux computer, which automatically shifts the color temperature between ~8000K during the day (fairly bluish) to ~4500K once the sun goes down (completely red). It makes websites look a little funny, but really helps my sleep when using the computer before bed.

The brain seems to ignore red light for the purposes of light adaptation and hormonal production (probably because that is the wavelength of light you are guaranteed to see when you close your eyes), and blue light means daytime which means that the hormones and brain as a whole shift into "alert" mode.

[Nobility]

Yes, Police did tests regarding this.

They put prisoners in a cell that was fully painted i


Cell 1:
- Fully Painted in Red.
- Only red. no other colour/etc.
Result: The people that were in the red cell went nuts/crazy. It was driving them insane.


Cell 2:
- Fully Painted in Green.
- Only green. no other colour/etc.
Result: It calmed them down/relaxed/etc.

[Jeoshua]

And I've seen studies on that that showed that pinkish purple had a soothing effect. And Yellow made people agitated. But those studies all have big problems: The sample population, and the setting. These are criminals they are testing, prone to violence, in a situation where they are incarcerated and do not have freedom of movement. Also, that doesn't tell me exactly which shade of red, if it was blood red, burnt umber, pink, bright red, or what. I had my room painted dark crimson when I was a kid... turn out the lights and your eyes just return the color black, to your brain, but with the lights on it was very deep and vivid. Never had any problems sleeping, never got agitated.

Overall, the reaction one has to any particular color is a moot point, this is about "high frequency" colors and "low frequency" colors, with high frequency like blue having an overall stimulating effect, and low frequency colors like red having generally a null effect. This is assuming, of course, that all other color values than frequency are equal, like brightness and contrast with the environment.

[Nobility]

Oh well yes of course,

but what I'm saying is, if you enter a room that is painted all red and filled with LED red bright lights. you're not going to feel very warm or cozy??

[ZHMike]

thanks for the input, I am leaning towards buying that light I linked too, I will post any success/failure in this thread. Lets keep this one going, there is too much research to suggest this light works, if this is equal to ~240 mg of caffeine that's an amazing response. Lets keep this thread alive in hopes other members will post any personal experiences.

[Sciencyst]

I can sleep perfectly fine in a room lit up with red light, but even a small blue diode, unshielded and pointing at me, will keep me awake at night. I use Redshift on my Linux computer, which automatically shifts the color temperature between ~8000K during the day (fairly bluish) to ~4500K once the sun goes down (completely red). It makes websites look a little funny, but really helps my sleep when using the computer before bed.

The brain seems to ignore red light for the purposes of light adaptation and hormonal production (probably because that is the wavelength of light you are guaranteed to see when you close your eyes), and blue light means daytime which means that the hormones and brain as a whole shift into "alert" mode.

Redshift is awesome. There is also a similar app for android called Twilight that I use.

[Jeoshua]

I can sleep perfectly fine in a room lit up with red light, but even a small blue diode, unshielded and pointing at me, will keep me awake at night. I use Redshift on my Linux computer, which automatically shifts the color temperature between ~8000K during the day (fairly bluish) to ~4500K once the sun goes down (completely red). It makes websites look a little funny, but really helps my sleep when using the computer before bed.

The brain seems to ignore red light for the purposes of light adaptation and hormonal production (probably because that is the wavelength of light you are guaranteed to see when you close your eyes), and blue light means daytime which means that the hormones and brain as a whole shift into "alert" mode.

Redshift is awesome. There is also a similar app for android called Twilight that I use.

As do I!

I basically installed a similar device on everything I could get my hands on, and am looking into getting a pair of red filters for my glasses as well.

When you really break it down, this is very similar to an inverse of the more common and well tested seasonal light therapy. Both work by shifting the spectrums of light that we are exposed to, and giving a spectrum of more blue during the day, and more red during the night time.

[tritium]

Anybody try blue light blocking lamps in their room to help with melatonin production before sleep such as this:

 

www.amazon.com/Definity-Digital-Night-Improved-Natural/dp/B00HQ0JCTW