Green LED light color have been found to reduce headaches. While most of the other prominent light rays such as white, blue, and amber tend to trigger a headache or increase the intensity of a headache, Green light helps to reduce it.
Not every headache is affected by the light rays. Chronic headaches like migraines often get triggered by the intense light rays.
Some experts even suggest that green light therapy helps to reduce the frequency of migraine episodes and its intensity. But, there are not enough studies to prove it.
However, if you have migraines or simply have photophobia, you might need to learn which lights may trigger your nerves and which may soothe it down, even one bit.
What is Photophobia?
Photophobia refers to a condition where a person has sensitivity to light. Although some people refer to it as a phobia of light, that’s not the correct meaning of photophobia.
However, it’s not actually any severe medical condition itself, rather it’s a symptom of an actual condition that you should be concerned about. Light sensitivity often indicates that you might have a chronic headache like migraine, dry eyes, or swelling inside of your eyes.
People with this condition may feel extreme discomfort when exposed to bright sunlight, intense flush lights and any type of bright lights. It may make the person want to blink or shut their eyes off to avoid the light.
Is Your Headache Normal or a Sign of Migraine?
A headache is a pain in the head, face or upper neck. There are various different types of headaches which are usually categorized under two types— primary and secondary.
Primary headaches are independent conditions, whereas secondary headaches are some kind of side effects or symptoms of other medical conditions. The frequency and intensity of these primary and secondary headaches differ from one another.
The most common form of headache is the regular headache which is often caused by lack of sleep, anxiety, stress, poor posture, and so on. This is also known as a tension headache since it’s caused by emotional, physical, and mental stress.
If you have such a regular type of headache, you may experience a band of pain along the forehead area or pressure on either side of your head. The pain of a regular headache is tiring but bearable, unlike a migraine.
Migraine, on the other hand, is another primary headache. But, the intensity and pain are severe. If you have migraine and experience migraine episodes, you may have experienced a sharp pain either on one side of the forehead or inside of one of your eyes.
This shooting pain starts from one point and slowly expands. People who have migraines often experience photophobia and migraine aura where they see bright lines or dots in their vision.
Tension headaches usually go away on their own when you relax or have some rest. On the contrary, migraine episodes may last for hours, days, and even weeks. So, if you experience aura or photophobia with shooting pain in one side of your head, you might wanna take it more seriously.
Different Light Rays effect Migraines Differently
We all know the fact that white light or sunlight consists of 7 light rays which are— Red, Orage, Indigo, Violet, Blue, Green, and Yellow. These light colors are also common in LED lights.
Migraine gets triggered when the migraineur is exposed to light, meaning all lights in general. But not many people know that different light rays affect migraine differently.
Researchers have found that photoreceptors of human beings are most sensitive to blue light among all the other lights. Blue light is a large component of white light and has a short wavelength.
The sources of blue light are widely available, such as sunlight, computer screen, cell phones, LED TV, LED lights, and so on. That’s why migraineurs often get triggered and start to have an episode without realizing the actual reason for their trigger point.
If you also have signs of photophobia or other symptoms of migraine, our recommendation is to take the lighting of your surroundings seriously. In that case, trry to avoid LED strip lights that change color automatically.
Red, orange, and amber light rays also trigger migraine or increase its intensity. But they are a little less debilitating than the blue light. Only, green light has shown less impact on migraine pain.
So, while choosing LED lights for your room, try to choose a light that comes with a remote allowing you to choose the color you want. Lights with dimmer will help you adjust the brightness suitable for you during a migraine attack.
How Does Green Light Therapy Help with Migraines?
According to experts, Green light doesn’t affect photoreceptors as much as blue or red light rays. Against 18% triggering effects of other color light rays, Green light has only 3% triggering effect. So, it’s less likely to trigger or increase migraine intensity.
A more recent study in 2016 revealed that Green light in fact helps to relieve the pain of migraine by 20% and reduce the sensitivity to lights. Although there is not enough research and data, some experiments were performed on a group of migraineurs.
Some migraineurs were asked to spend at least one or two hours in green light while doing their chores or workout on a daily basis for 10 weeks. By the end of the experimental period, the patients noticed a significant decrease in their migraine frequency and intensity.
Although more information and research are required for more proof, green light therapy is a popular and helpful therapy for migraine. In this therapy, a special type of LED lamp emits a narrow band of green light. It is also known as the “migraine lamps”.
The lamp is lit during a migraine attack and it slowly activates the regions of the brain involved in pain processing. Slowly it helps to manage the pain and get relief from migraine faster.
Conclusion
Although there is no scientific evidence of the specialty of this type of lamp. Researchers mostly suggested any random green light will have the same impact on your brain and help you to process the pain better.
So, primarily, you can try out the easily available green LED lights. But try to choose one that comes with a dimmer and a remote control, that helps you adjust the light for your comfort.
Related Post:
White Light vs Yellow Light: Which is Best for Reading & Studying?
