Change Your Mood With Color Therapy

Picture the signs outside the fast-food places you pass every day. McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's. Something links them, and if the color scheme jumped to mind, you've already caught on to one of the tricks marketers lean on. Those logos run red, orange, and yellow for a reason. Studies have shown that particular colors can stir up appetite and even change how quickly people move through a space.

Red and yellow are loud. They pull the eye. People turn out to be hungrier in a room full of warm tones than in one wrapped in cool, dark shades. Imagine a Kentucky Fried Chicken decked out in black and purple. The thought kills the appetite, and that reaction says something about how color works on us below the level of conscious thought.

Objects, strictly speaking, carry no color at all. What happens is that your brain reads the light frequencies and electromagnetic wavelengths bouncing off a surface. You may recall ROY G BIV from an eighth-grade science class. Red, orange, and yellow sit at the frequencies our eyes pick up most readily, which is part of why they reach us first. White is every color present at once, a surface throwing back all light; black is the opposite, a surface swallowing it.

We read colors through feeling, and there's a decent case that the older, more primitive machinery of the brain treats color as a survival signal. The odd part: the same hues that whet the appetite can also warn us off. A burst of flame, or the red hourglass on a Black Widow, tells us trouble is near. Set against that, the greens and blues of the outdoors read as safe, almost maternal.

Given that color can nudge both what we spend and how we feel, there's reason to put it to work. That means paying attention to how we each read it. Interpretation shifts across cultures. White signals mourning in many parts of the East, while black carries that role in the West. Most people respond to a given color in broadly the same way, yet plenty of individuals have their own likes and dislikes. Noticing which colors lift you or drain you can tell you what to add to your surroundings and what to cut back on.

You can steer this through the clothes you choose, the paint on a wall, the way an office is arranged. Chromotherapy, or color therapy, is the practice of giving a person measured doses of specific colors. Whatever kind of boost you're after, taking stock of where colors sit in your daily life can do real good for how you feel.

Red: energy, excitement, aggression. It brings warmth and a jolt of vitality. Linked to the circulatory system, it may help people dealing with low blood pressure, anemia, or clotting trouble. Red sharpens the senses, which could explain why it suits anyone feeling flat or worn down. It's a sensual color too, one that stirs desire. On a practical level: a woman might wear it on a date to wake up a partner's attention, and a man in a red tie reads as confident and strong.

Orange: zest, ambition, regeneration. A color of release and fresh ideas, orange can loosen up the imagination when a creative task is sitting in front of you. It ties to the respiratory system, digestion, and the thyroid. Research has connected it with raised oxygen levels, which in turn wake up the brain. Paint a studio or home office in a warm orange, or pull it on before a workout. The effect is bracing.

Yellow: happiness, optimism, intensity. Yellow brings cheer, though a heavy hand with it can backfire. Too much, or shades that are too bright, can tip over into irritation; one set of studies found that infants cry more when surrounded by intense yellow. Used with some restraint, it settles the nerves and eases certain pains. Yellow is bound up with the mind and nervous system, so it may help with anxiety, jumpiness, or nerve-related aches. A little around the house can pull you out of a gray mood. Think of daffodils pushing up in spring.

Green: wealth, calmness, fertility. This is the color of living things and growth, the color most of nature wears. Money happens to be green as well, and it would be pleasant if it grew the way plants do. Green soothes. Its wavelength asks the least of the eyes, which may be why it relaxes us so readily. People tend to do their best work in green spaces, since it tends to lower anxiety and bring a feeling of balance. If your job runs you ragged, work some green into the room. Doctors and nurses can use it to settle patients, and anyone who spends hours at a screen might try it nearby.

Blue: productive, dependable, tranquil. When irritation or anger flares, blue can bring the temperature down. It reassures and puts people at ease. For anyone chasing more output at work or home, a touch of blue at the desk may be the nudge that helps, since the color is tied to focus. Research has found that people, weightlifters especially, train best in blue surroundings. Blue can also help with inflammation anywhere in the body, the throat in particular, and tends to ease headaches. Wear it when you want someone to feel they can trust you. Paint a bedroom in it for sleep that comes easier.

Purple and violet: royalty, insight, detoxification. If you need to recover and mend, purple is worth gathering around you. It calms while also waking up the mind. Leonardo da Vinci is credited with recommending meditation in the presence of violet; he had stained-glass windows in mind. Dress a meditation corner in purples and violets. And if you'd like to come across as wise while giving a talk, wear it.

Black: power, authority, intelligence. This is a grave color. When you're making a serious change, breaking a habit or bearing down on something, black suits the moment. People who meditate often say it helps them drop into deeper layers of the subconscious. It's neutral enough to avoid giving offense, yet it signals that you're not playing. Black is the safest choice for a job interview, though a red or blue accent doesn't hurt. If you're grieving a person or a loss, wearing it can be a quiet reminder that mourning is allowed.

White: purity, protection, cleanliness. White holds every color at once. It reads as clean, which is why it turns up in new homes and in hospitals. When fear has a grip on you, fill the space around you with white and white light; it can make you feel held. And if you want to clear out something negative, sitting inside a white room can bring the mind back to quiet.

Melissa Lavery, M.S.