Chronic headache pain affects the daily lives of people across the United States and the world. Finding the causes that trigger a headache or make existing headaches worse is important when you are trying to discover ways to alleviate the pain.
At the New Jersey Headache Institute, we understand that knowing what causes headaches will give you the information you need to avoid those triggers in the future. Color and light sensitivity, also known as photophobia, is one of the most common triggers of a chronic headache and migraine pain.
Flashing Lights and Auras
It has been known for years that flashing, bright lights, such as those from a strobe light, can cause seizures. For individuals who aren’t prone to seizures, the result may be an intense migraine. When headaches are severe, many people report seeing auras or halos around certain objects. Others may see wavy lines that seem to move with whatever is being focused upon.
All of these reactions involve how light is perceived in the brain when a person is experiencing a migraine or other type of chronic headache.
The Effects of Blue Light
Blue has been proven to be one of the most stressful colors of lights on the spectrum. Most electronics emit blue light. With the vast majority of the population using computers, tablets, laptops, and cell phones on a regular basis, their exposure to blue light is astronomical.
Exposure to both blue and red forms of light can actually increase headache pain. If a person has a tendency to experience chronic headaches after working at their desk all day, the problem may not be their workload or stress from the day’s events. It may be the constant emission of blue light that they expose themselves to on a daily basis.
Learning to take frequent breaks and reduce the constant exposure to blue light emissions from your electronic devices may be a good start to reducing the frequency of chronic headaches.
Green Is a Healing Color
Green can be a healing color. Plants are green. It is soothing and relaxing. It is also the one color on the light spectrum that has been proven to reduce chronic headache pain.
Greenlight does not generate high volumes of signals for the eyes to deal with. It actually produces incredibly small amounts. This allows the cortex located in the brain and the retinas in the back of the eye to take a break from being bombarded with electrical light stimulation.
If you think about it, green is everywhere in nature. Spending time in the shade of a large tree, you are surrounded by green grass, green leaves, and a host of other shades of green. If you want to relax your eyes and your mind, the best way to do so is to return to the source. On your break or lunch, take a walk outside and let your eyes acclimate to the natural world for a short while.
New Jersey Headache Institute
At the New Jersey Headache Institute, it is our goal to diagnose the causes of our patients’ headaches and find solutions to help alleviate their pain. We want to be able to give them the tools they need to live a normal life, free of pain and discomfort. Our team of qualified health professionals understands the effect that color and light has on our lives. With that knowledge, we can create a treatment plan that helps our patients live as normal a life as possible without the hassle and frustration of chronic headache pain.
