By Michelle Lewis, Color Psychology Expert & Founder of The Color Institute™
Color is more than a visual accent or aesthetic choice. It’s a universal language that speaks directly to our brains and bodies. As a lifelong student of color psychology and author of Color Secrets, I’ve witnessed how shifting a single hue in an environment can transform mood, energy, and even health outcomes. Modern science is now catching up to what ancient Egyptians and Greeks intuited centuries ago: color profoundly affects our physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. In this blog, we’ll explore the science-backed influence of color in everyday life: from the calming blues of a bedroom to the uplifting tones in hospital corridors – and how harnessing color psychology can enhance wellness in homes, healthcare, therapy, meditation, and the management of chronic illness. Along the way, we’ll highlight key research (yes, even NIH-backed studies) and real-world case studies that illuminate color’s extraordinary impact on mood, stress, focus, recovery, sleep, and emotional resilience.
The Science of Color and Emotion: Why Colors Affect How You Feel
Color isn’t just seen – it’s felt. Research shows humans reliably associate certain colors with specific emotions across cultures. For example, yellow is often linked with joy and optimism, while black evokes sadness; in general, light colors tend to elicit positive emotions, whereas very dark colors can bring negative moods. A comprehensive 2025 review of 128 years of studies identified clear patterns in how basic colors map to emotional states. (NIH)
In summary:
- Red – Associated with high-arousal emotions, both positive and negative. Red can signal intense love and excitement or anger and danger. It tends to energize and grab attention (we’ll see it can even raise heart rate).
- Yellow & Orange – Linked to upbeat, high-energy positive emotions. People often report feelings of happiness, creativity, and warmth with these vibrant, sunny hues.
- Blue & Green (and Aqua/Turquoise) – Consistently tied to positive, low-arousal emotions. These cooler colors are universally seen as calming, peaceful, and stabilizing – think of a serene sky or a lush green forest bringing relaxation.
- Pink – Tends to evoke gentle positive emotions (affection, kindness). Softer pinks are nurturing and uplifting.
- Purple – Often described as empowering or spiritual. It can combine the energy of red and the stability of blue, giving a sense of creativity or dignity.
- White – Associated with purity and clarity, generally a positive low-arousal feel (though context matters; in healthcare white can feel sterile if overused).
- Gray – Commonly linked with negative, low-energy emotions like boredom or sadness. An excess of dull gray can dampen mood.
- Black – Linked with negative, high-arousal emotions (fear, mourning in many cultures). It’s powerful and dramatic, but too much black can induce anxiety or gloom.
What makes color so influential? Part of it is learned association – like learning to stop at red lights and feel soothed by blue water – but there’s also biology at play. Our visual and endocrine systems respond to color wavelength energy in measurable ways. Psychologists Andrew Elliot and others have shown that color affects cognition and behavior through both cultural conditioning and hard-wired responses. For instance, seeing red can trigger a subconscious alert (possibly rooted in evolution: red = fire or blood, requiring action). In fact, simply wearing red has been found to boost athletes’ competitive edge, presumably by enhancing perceptions of dominance. Conversely, exposure to green environments has a documented calming physiological effect – likely because green signals nature, safety, and growth. In one experimental study, people who walked on a treadmill surrounded by green scenery had significantly lower heart rates than those surrounded by red or white, confirming the calming, relaxing effect of green on the human organism. (NIH, NIH)
Crucially, colors also influence our autonomic nervous system – the unconscious control center for stress responses. Warm colors (reds, oranges, bright yellows) are generally stimulatory: they can raise blood pressure, heart rate, and adrenaline, increasing arousal. Cooler colors (blues, greens, purples) tend to have the opposite effect, activating our parasympathetic “rest and digest” system to lower heart rate and blood pressure, leading to relaxation. Even brightness matters: very saturated, intense colors can overstimulate or agitate, whereas muted or pastel tones are easier on our senses. One study found that office workers in vibrantly saturated color environments actually had a worsening mood if the colors were overdone – moderation was key. And a recent survey in healthcare design showed people prefer rooms with medium, neutral color saturation over spaces that are either too vivid or too drab, indicating that balance and intentionality in color use are essential. (Clinical Pain Advisor, NIH)
In short, color impacts us on both a psychological and physiological level. As a color psychologist who has poured over research from neuroscience, environmental psychology, and integrative medicine, I often explain to clients that color is essentially light – and light is a form of energy. Different color wavelengths penetrate our eyes (and even skin) and can trigger hormonal and neurological responses. We are, after all, “electromagnetic beings,” so it makes sense that light energy from colors interacts with our bodies. This isn’t New Age speculation; it’s observable science that underpins technologies like light therapy. With this foundation in mind, let’s explore how strategic use of color can enhance wellbeing in a variety of real-world contexts.
Homes and Havens: Color in Residential Design for Wellbeing
Our home is our sanctuary – and its colors can either soothe us or stress us. Think about how you feel coming home to a light-filled room painted in a soft sage green, versus a windowless room with dark gray walls. Most of us intuitively crave certain colors in certain spaces: a tranquil blue bedroom, a cheerful yellow kitchen, a crisp, clean white bathroom. There’s solid reasoning behind these instincts. Interior environment studies have found color significantly shapes mood, comfort, and even behavior at home. (RockFon)
For example, a recent study noted that people exposed to very dark colors in an interior felt less happy than those in environments without any darkness. In practice, this means that an overly dark-painted room can dampen your mood, especially if there’s insufficient lighting. On the flip side, lighter and more vibrant colors correlate with higher happiness and energy levels in home settings. Even subtle shifts matter: simply repainting a drab living room a warmer tone can make it feel “warmer” emotionally. I experienced this firsthand – during a gloomy winter I added a SAD light to my office space to see if it would increase my alertness, energy and mood. There was a huge shift that made getting through six months of long, gray, dark days tolerable. Time and time again, we consult with families, corporations and individuals who start to integrate color in a therapeutic way and see massive changes. (Healthline)
Color for Calm vs. Color for Energy
Different rooms serve different purposes, and color can help cue our mindset accordingly. In spaces meant for relaxation or sleep, such as bedrooms or cozy nooks, cooler and muted colors reign supreme. Soft blues and greens are popular bedroom choices because they genuinely help our bodies unwind. Studies show blue environments can reduce heart rate and blood pressure, promoting physical calm – one reason blue is known to “lower stress” and even improve sleep quality. In fact, blue light has a complicated double-role: during the day, exposure to blue (like daylight) boosts alertness and mood, but at night blue light can disrupt sleep by suppressing melatonin (our sleep hormone) twice as powerfully as green light. Thus, while a sky-blue wall by day is calming, using warm-toned, dim lighting in the evening (think orange or amber hues) is wiser for good sleep hygiene, whereas harsh blue-white LEDs at night might keep you too alert. I often advise clients to incorporate soft amber lamps or salt lamps in bedrooms for this reason, echoing what chronobiology experts say about minimizing blue light at night. (Harvard)
In spaces where you want to be energized or social – kitchens, home offices, living areas – a bit of warmth or brightness can be uplifting. Sunny yellow or orange accents in a kitchen can indeed spark appetite and conviviality (ever notice how many restaurants use warm colors?). Yellow is literally the color of energy in many ways: research in nursing homes found that warm colors, especially yellow, produced higher arousal levels (measured by heart rate variability) in activity rooms, meaning residents were more alert and engaged in yellow rooms. If your home office needs a jolt of focus, a splash of a vibrant hue might help: I recall a design client who painted one accent wall in her study a goldenrod yellow. She reported feeling a little “lift” of motivation each time she looked up from her desk. This aligns with the idea of using color as a stimulus for the brain. Even small “pops” of a lively color can provide a burst of energy – one strategy I suggest is keeping a vase of bright fresh flowers or a bold piece of artwork in view for a quick mood and energy boost during the workday. As a warning, however, people who have high amounts of stress, nerve disorders or neurodivergence can be easily agitated by yellow especially; proving that color is a diagnostic tool that will be different for every person. (Clinical Pain Advisor)
However, balance and intentionality are key. Too much vivid color in a workspace can backfire. A fascinating in vivo study in a student residence hall compared identical dorm buildings painted different colors – violet, blue, green, yellow, orange, red – to see how it affected students’ mood and study habits. The results confirmed students preferred blue interiors most and felt those were best for their mood and studying, while red and orange interiors were rated worst for studying and concentration. The likely reason: red and orange walls (long-wavelength colors) increased physiological arousal and distractibility, which isn’t ideal for tasks requiring focus. Blue, on the other hand, is frequently associated with tranquility, openness, and the kind of calm focus that aids concentration. This dovetails with other research showing red can impair analytical thinking on complex tasks, whereas blue can enhance creative thinking – useful to remember when choosing your home office palette. (NIH)
Lightness is also crucial in home design. Dark, cave-like rooms can induce lethargy or even low-grade depression in some individuals, whereas well-lit spaces with light-colored walls feel open and uplifting. One new study noted that when people had “no access” to any light or bright colors (essentially a very dark environment) they reported feeling significantly less happy. If you love that trendy charcoal paint, balance it with plenty of light and some bright accents to avoid a gloom effect. Neutral colors (whites, beiges, grays) can provide a calming backdrop, but on their own they may not evoke strong positive emotions. I often treat neutrals as supporting actors – important for balance – while the main color characters set the emotional tone.
For designing healthy homes or environments we spend long periods of time in: cool and muted hues bring serenity for rest, while warm and brighter hues add energy and sociability. An overall balanced, well-lit color scheme will nurture a positive mood. Our homes should be havens, and with mindful color choices we can make them not just look beautiful but also feel emotionally nourishing.
Healing Environments: Color in Hospitals and Healthcare Design
Hospitals and clinics are places where stress and anxiety run high, but thoughtful use of color can make these environments markedly more soothing and supportive for patients and staff alike. Unfortunately, many healthcare facilities in the past stuck to stark white or dull institutional palettes, overlooking color’s therapeutic potential. This is starting to change. As a consultant, I’ve seen a growing movement toward “evidence-based design” in healthcare, including strategic color choices to improve patient outcomes and experiences. In fact, several recent studies suggest that the mindful use of color in hospitals can reduce patient stress, improve wayfinding, and even enhance recovery metrics. (Clinical Pain Advisor)
Soothing Patients, Reducing Stress
One of the simplest ways color helps in healthcare is by creating a less clinical, more welcoming atmosphere. Pediatric hospitals have led the charge! Walk into almost any modern children’s hospital and you’ll be met with a rainbow of playful colors instead of grim gray corridors. This isn’t just to amuse kids; it’s to reassure them (and their parents) on a subconscious level. Color can spark emotions of joy, safety, and hope in an otherwise scary setting. For example, the new Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital in Australia features brightly colored façades and interiors that look more like an art museum or a fantastical treehouse than a hospital. The idea, according to its architects, was to avoid that foreboding hospital feel and instead create a space that “kids could actually enjoy”. Similarly, Bendigo Hospital in Victoria uses nature-inspired greens and earth tones with bursts of color and artwork to make the environment feel caring and positive rather than sterile. In my own interviews with healthcare design teams, I often hear that they want hospitals to feel “less like a hospital” and more “like a community space” – color plays a huge role in achieving that. (Health Care Design Magazine)
Scientific research backs up that these design choices aren’t just aesthetic – they have real impacts on patient psychology. A 2023 study in the Health Environments Research & Design journal found that implementing a new color scheme in a Swedish emergency department improved patients perceived safety and orientation in the space. Common areas were painted neutral shades while staff-only zones used a bold red, and flooring colors were tweaked. These changes led patients to report feeling more aware of their surroundings and safer, likely because the color cues reduced confusion and stress in a chaotic ER setting. Another trial published in 2022 took postoperative patients recovering from hip or knee surgery and put half in rooms enhanced with a range of lighter colors and matching artwork, and half in standard drab rooms. The patients in the color-enriched rooms had significantly higher postoperative quality-of-life scores than those in plain rooms. In other words, simply surrounding patients with uplifting colors and art helped improve their recovery experience and well-being. It’s pretty amazing…a low-cost, non-pharmacological intervention like color can measurably boost patient outcomes. (Clinical Pain Advisor)
Physiological Effects: Avoiding Red, Embracing Blue and Green
Earlier we noted how red can raise heart rate and blood pressure, while blue can lower them. In a hospital, this takes on critical importance. The last thing an anxious ER patient needs is environmental stimuli that push their physiology in the wrong direction. This is why I often caution hospitals to use high-arousal colors sparingly (or very intentionally) in clinical areas. As I explained to one interviewer, “because red may increase heart rate, blood pressure, and even pupil dilation, it’s a color to avoid in most healthcare settings where patients are already stressed or in trauma”. The research literature supports this: multiple studies have documented that red environments or even seeing red before a task can elevate stress responses. There’s a reason we associate red with alarms and emergencies – our bodies react to it as a warning. Appropriately, you’ll often see red reserved for emergency signage, exit signs, and medical alert labels in hospitals, where grabbing attention is paramount. But for walls, linens, and lighting in patient areas, softer is better. Instead of a bright red waiting room, a healthcare designer might opt for a calming blue-green scheme.
***To be clear, context matters. Someone with low heart rate, low blood pressure or depression may benefit from the immediate use of red in an emergency setting.
Blue is something of a champion in healthcare design. The color blue has been shown to measurably reduce heart rate and blood pressure, inducing calm in viewers. It’s no coincidence that many hospital logos and nurse uniforms are blue – it telegraphs trust and tranquility. One review report on healthcare environments concluded that while definitive evidence is still emerging, cool colors like blue and green are generally preferred by patients and help reduce anxiety, whereas very warm, intense colors can exacerbate agitation. In my consultations, I often recommend “safe” color choices for general healthcare spaces: cool-toned blues, teals, and greens that tend to produce consistent positive, calming reactions. Blue, for instance, has the double benefit of being mentally soothing and gently stimulating cognitively (helpful for keeping patients alert but calm), while green is thought to encourage balance and healing – it’s stabilizing, perhaps because it reminds us of nature’s restorative presence.
Green’s power in healthcare is also evidenced by the famous 1984 study by Roger Ulrich which found that surgical patients with a view of green trees recovered faster and with fewer complications than those facing a brick wall. That study sparked the whole field of evidence-based healthcare design, highlighting how crucial visual environment is to healing. Today, virtually every new hospital tries to maximize views of greenery or incorporates indoor gardens and green walls. When actual nature isn’t always a realistic addition, using green colors indoors can mimic some of that stress-reduction effect. A 2020 experiment using virtual reality showed that elderly patients exposed to virtual rooms painted green (versus white or red) felt more relaxed and had lower physiological arousal. Green light exposure has even been tested as a treatment for pain (more on that later in chronic illness), indicating the broad potential of this color. (NIH)
Color Zoning and Wayfinding
Hospitals are complex mazes, and few things spike anxiety like feeling lost in one or not being able to find your loved one. Color can be a clever tool for navigation and reducing cognitive load on patients and visitors. The Swedish ER study already hinted at this – painting certain areas in distinct colors improved people’s orientation. Another approach is color-coding different hospital wings or floors. For example, the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne famously used a color-coded system where each floor has a dominant color theme (one level is predominantly orange, another green, etc.), incorporated into walls and signage, to help families remember where they are. Research suggests that such color cues enhance memory and wayfinding, especially for children or those with memory impairments. I often cite the adage “create a hospital that a grandmother with mild cognitive impairment or a young child can navigate alone”. Color is one of the simplest memory aids. A patient might not recall “Cardiology is on Level 3,” but they’ll remember “Follow the blue line” or “the walls turned green on my way to the lab.”
Designing for Different Populations
Color strategies can also be tailored to specific patient populations. In pediatrics, as mentioned, it’s common to go bold and bright as a variety of colors can elicit emotions of joy, curiosity, and play which help distract children from pain or fear. The New Lady Cilento and Bendigo hospitals I mentioned are great examples, using a spectrum of rainbow colors in child-friendly ways to make kids feel more at home. In pediatric settings I advise keeping tones somewhat light or pastel (not overly saturated) to avoid overwhelming young, sensitive eyes, and to use whimsical, multicolor palettes that suggest fun and hope. “Growth and positivity” are the feelings we aim to elicit, hence murals, cartoons, and bright art are abundant.
In mental health facilities or psychotherapy offices, the approach is quite different. Here, the goal is to create a stable, safe, and non-triggering environment. I strongly recommend avoiding fire-engine reds or intense yellows in psychiatric rooms, because those colors can provoke too much physiological reaction (like increased adrenaline) in people who may already be dealing with anxiety or emotional volatility. It’s interesting: many assume yellow = happy, so shouldn’t we use yellow on the walls of a depression clinic? But a pure saturated yellow might actually amp up a patient’s heart rate or irritability. To use yellow in mental health settings, it should be a very pale, white-tinted or gray-toned yellow – essentially a creamy or butter shade – so that it’s softened and won’t spike the nervous system. Likewise, I avoid very dark blues or purples in such settings; although they’re cool, a deep navy can sometimes nudge a person toward introspection or sadness (“retreating into their thoughts,” as I describe it) which might not be therapeutic during a session. Instead, uplifting but gentle tones are preferred: sage greens, light blues, lavender, soft pink, beige. These create a neutral, calming canvas that supports the therapy process. Anxious patients tend to breathe a little easier in a room that feels open, light, and grounded by nature-inspired colors. Even neutral colors have a role – warm greys or taupes can provide a sense of stability and safety as a background, as long as they’re complemented by a few touches of color so the space doesn’t feel bleak.
Finally, in long-term care facilities (nursing homes or hospices), color choices can improve quality of life in subtle ways. A study in Spain found that seniors preferred warm colors in activity areas (communal dining or recreation rooms) and cool colors in bedrooms, which makes perfect sense: warm hues stimulated their engagement when active, while a cool palette in private rooms helped with rest and calm. The same study measured heart responses and confirmed that the highest arousal was in a yellow room (great for keeping folks awake and lively during day activities), while the lowest arousal was in a blue room (ideal for relaxation). These insights now inform many elder-care design guidelines. Additionally, special attention is paid to contrast and color for those with visual or cognitive impairments – for example, patients with Alzheimer’s may benefit from bright color cues to identify objects. In one remarkable case, researchers discovered that Alzheimer’s patients ate 25% more food when served on bright red plates instead of white plates. The red color created a strong contrast with the food, making it easier for them to see and stimulating enough to “wake up” their appetite. This simple color intervention has since been adopted by numerous nursing homes to help prevent weight loss in dementia patients. It’s a beautiful example of using color not just for ambiance, but as a practical tool to improve health outcomes (in this case, nutritional intake). (BU)
From uplifting murals that reduce pediatric pain perception, to color-coded hallways that lower a family’s stress as they navigate the ICU, the applications of color psychology in healthcare are vast. We’re really only beginning to systematically study these effects. As I told a Psychiatry Advisor reporter recently, color is a relatively untapped resource in healthcare, largely because decision-makers haven’t become aware of its scientific efficacy. But that is rapidly changing with each new study and successful project. My strongest advice to hospitals and clinics is this: don’t leave this powerful tool on the table unused. Color can be one of the most cost-effective ways to make patients feel better. As I often say, “Color can be the most powerful way to make someone feel something. To not focus on color when creating a space that patients, practitioners, and staff spend so much time in is like leaving a crucial tool unused”.
The bottom line: A well-designed healthcare space uses color deliberately to convey comfort, hope, and humanity. When we infuse medical spaces with calming blues and greens, cheerful accents, and empowering colors, we create environments that not only treat illness but truly support healing.
The Therapy Room: Color in Psychotherapy and Mental Health Settings
Therapists know that creating the right atmosphere in a counseling or therapy room can make a world of difference for clients. Color is an essential part of that therapeutic milieu. Whether it’s a psychologist’s office, a support group room, or even a psychiatric hospital wing, the colors on the walls and furnishings silently communicate messages of safety, empathy, or stimulation to those within. In my work, I’ve collaborated with mental health professionals to fine-tune their office colors to better serve their patients’ emotional needs. Let’s delve into how specific colors can influence mental and emotional health in these settings, and some fascinating case studies where color was used as a therapeutic aid.
Safe Spaces and Soothed Nerves
In therapy, the primary goal is often to make the client feel safe, comfortable, and open. The environment should ideally “disappear” into the background of the therapeutic conversation – it must not be distracting or anxiety-provoking. That’s why many therapy offices favor soft, muted color schemes. Pale blues, gentle greens, lavenders, or earth-toned neutrals are common. These hues create a soothing, non-threatening ambiance that can help lower a client’s guardedness and physiological stress. A client walking into a psychologist’s office painted in a calm sage green, with cream-colored furniture and maybe a few lilac accents, is likely to subconsciously relax, compared to walking into an office with bright red walls or stark white fluorescents. In fact, mental health practitioners often joke that “institutional beige” is overused – but there’s a rationale there: a neutral beige or taupe can serve as a warm, grounding backdrop that doesn’t overstimulate. The trick is to avoid letting it become dull or depressing; hence adding artwork or pillows with soft blues/greens can bring that gentle life into the space.
We’ve touched on what to avoid: Fire-engine reds and vivid yellows are usually off the table for therapy rooms. They simply cause too much involuntary arousal. A person dealing with panic disorder does not need an environment that nudges their heart rate upward! There’s even guidance emerging from color design research: I often reference Sarah Babin’s study “Color Theory: Effects of Color in Medical Environments,” which noted that nearly half of people prefer cooler colors in healthcare settings and that those tend to evoke calmer reactions. In a mental health context, that means lean toward blues, greens, and cool purples. If using warm colors, tone them way down (a pastel peach instead of bright orange). I recall helping designing a small counseling room for a trauma therapy practice – we chose purple as the main color she would wear to pull the client as far out of their body as possible to focus on processing and healing. The therapists reported that clients frequently complimented how “calming” the room felt and how safe they felt with her. That’s success to me: the environment became a co-therapist of sorts, easing clients into a state where healing work could happen.
One extreme but illuminating example of color’s effect on emotional regulation comes from outside the therapy office: the case of Baker-Miller Pink, infamously known as “Drunk Tank Pink.” In the late 1970s, researchers experimented with painting jail holding cells a bubblegum-pink color to see if it would calm aggressive inmates. Astonishingly, it did – at least temporarily. Psychologist Alexander Schauss found that inmates exposed to this specific pink for even 15 minutes experienced a dramatic decrease in hostile and agitated behavior. He reported that “Even if a person tries to be angry or aggressive in the presence of pink, he can’t. The heart muscles can’t race fast enough. It’s a tranquilizing color that saps your energy.” Indeed, physical strength was measurably reduced in that environment. This shade was dubbed Baker-Miller Pink after the naval correctional facility directors who tried it, and for a time it was hailed as a miracle de-escalation tool – some psychiatric wards and police stations started using it in holding rooms. It’s a vivid demonstration of a color actually subduing aggressive emotional states, essentially by biologically blunting the stress response. However, follow-up studies found the calming effects were short-lived (wearing off after about 30 minutes) and that once inmates adapted, they could even rebound to greater agitation later. So, it’s not a cure-all, but it proves the point: color can have tangible impacts on emotional regulation. In therapeutic design, we can take a note from this – while we’re not painting every room neon pink, it underscores how something as simple as wall color can influence a person’s psychological state in the moment. Interestingly, some mental health facilities still use a gentle pink or peach tone in seclusion rooms to leverage that calming effect, albeit in a more sustainable way. (Color Secrets: Understanding The One Universal Language We Were Never Taught)
Beyond wall color, therapists use color in creative therapeutic techniques. Art therapy is a prime example where patients express feelings through choosing and applying colors in drawings or paintings. Often, the colors chosen by a client can give insight into their emotional state (dark, jagged black strokes might signal despair or anger, whereas the appearance of hopeful yellow sun in a child’s drawing might indicate resilience). Art therapists sometimes encourage patients to “draw your anger in red” or “find a color that represents how you feel right now” as a way to externalize and process emotions. The act of coloring itself can be meditative. In clinical settings, I’ve also seen the use of color visualization techniques: for instance, a therapist might guide a client in a relaxation exercise to “imagine breathing in a soft blue light, filling your body with calm, and exhaling out red tension”. This kind of guided imagery leverages the common emotional associations of colors to facilitate emotional regulation. Blue = calm, red = stress or anger, green = healing, etc., and clients often report these visualizations do help shift their mood.
Another application is using color cues to help patients with certain conditions. For example, individuals with dementia or autism sometimes have particular color sensitivities or preferences. One autism therapy center had a multi-sensory room with adjustable colored lighting – they found that some autistic children calmed down under blue or purple light, whereas red light could sometimes trigger sensory overload. So during meltdown episodes, they’d dim the room and bathe it in a cool blue glow. This is anecdotal, but it aligns with broader observations about color’s sensory impact. (MyWellnessHub, Covey)
Therapeutic environments should use color as a subtle ally: cultivating safety, reducing anxiety, and occasionally providing a gentle stimulus when needed (as in using a bit of warm tone to uplift a severely depressed client). It’s about intentionality. As I emphasize to healthcare and therapy providers, don’t just slap some paint on the wall because it’s trendy; really consider what emotional state do we want to encourage? For a meditation room in a psychiatric unit, the answer might be “serenity”: so perhaps a misty blue-green scheme with nature murals. For a family therapy playroom, the goal might be “warmth and hope”: so soft yellows and peaches could be appropriate. Getting these details right can truly enhance the therapeutic alliance. When the environment “feels right,” clients often find it easier to open up, and the space itself becomes part of the healing process.
Mindfulness and Meditation: Harnessing Color for Inner Balance
Mindfulness practices and meditation are all about cultivating a certain state of mind – calm, focused, present, and often positively tuned. Can color assist in reaching these states? Absolutely. Both ancient wisdom and modern stress-reduction techniques point to color as a useful tool for guiding the mind and body toward relaxation or concentration. Whether it’s the serene greens of a Zen garden or a guided meditation that asks you to envision healing light, color sneaks into many mindfulness practices. Let’s explore how color influences meditation and stress relief, and some practical ways it’s being used today.
Visual Cues in Meditation Spaces
If you’ve ever visited a meditation center, yoga studio, or even looked at mindfulness app graphics, you might notice a common palette: earthy tones, soft neutrals, and cool colors dominate. There’s a reason you don’t see, say, a bright red yoga studio very often. Environments for meditation are carefully designed to avoid triggering the fight-or-flight response. Instead, they aim for neutrality or signals of nature which our brains find reassuring. For instance, Vipassana meditation halls are often painted white or cream, creating a blank canvas for the mind. Other studios use gentle greens and browns to evoke the grounding feeling of being in nature. Think of the iconic imagery of a person meditating by a turquoise ocean or in a green field…those colors of sky, water, and foliage are inherently relaxing and conducive to turning inward.
There’s also a tradition in some Eastern practices of associating specific colors with chakras or mental states. In chakra meditation (from yogic philosophy), each of the seven main chakras corresponds to a color (red for the root chakra, orange for sacral, yellow for solar plexus, green for heart, blue for throat, indigo for third eye, violet for crown). Practitioners might focus on those colors during meditation to balance energies. Whether or not one subscribes to the chakra system, the act of focusing on a particular color in the mind’s eye can have psychological effects. For example, visualizing a warm golden light filling your body might induce a sense of joy or divine presence (gold/yellow being uplifting), whereas visualizing a deep indigo blue at your forehead might help stimulate insight and a calm mind (blue/violet often linked with wisdom and tranquility). This is essentially a form of color visualization meditation, and some therapists and meditation teachers integrate it into guided sessions. It’s a gentle, non-invasive way to direct one’s mental focus using color as the anchor. (Calm)
***We do not align to a specific chakra system as it varies so much between cultures. We have found with clients dealing with traumatic emotions and physical states that people need certain colors and can have color excesses, but not specific colors to specific places of the body. It varies person to person.
Mindful Coloring and Art as Meditation
In recent years, adult coloring books – especially mandalas and intricate patterns – have surged in popularity as a form of mindfulness practice. What’s fascinating is that this trend is backed by psychological research. Coloring itself can induce a meditative, flow state that reduces anxiety and improves mindfulness. A study in 2018 examined college students who colored complex geometric mandalas versus those who sat quietly, and found the coloring group had significantly lower anxiety and entered a quasi-meditative state. Similarly, a 2020 randomized study found that university students who engaged in 15–20 minutes of mindful coloring (focusing on filling a mandala with colors) had lower test anxiety and higher mindfulness scores right before an exam, compared to students who did a different activity. In fact, the coloring participants’ anxiety decreased, while the control group’s anxiety increased as the exam neared. These findings suggest that coloring – choosing colors, applying them methodically – helps shift the brain into a calmer gear, much like conventional meditation.
Why does this work? Psychologists say it’s because coloring occupies our attention just enough to quiet rumination. As one Cleveland Clinic psychologist explained, it engages the brain in a simple, repetitive task that takes us out of our own anxious thoughts and into the present moment (much like focusing on the breath). It’s essentially a form of active mindfulness: attention flows away from worries and into the coloring; “the present-moment event” as he put it. There’s also the pleasure of colors themselves. Playing with harmonious colors can spark joy and satisfy a creative urge, releasing tension.
Many people find that different colors they use while coloring affect their mood: filling in a mandala section with blues and greens can feel calming, while adding touches of bright yellow or pink can feel gently uplifting. It’s a personal, intuitive use of color psychology. The key is that it’s low-stakes as there’s no “wrong” way to color. It becomes a relaxing escape rather than a task. Therapists have successfully used mindfulness-based coloring as a tool for patients with depression and anxiety, as it combines the benefits of art therapy and meditation. Given its success, I sometimes recommend adult coloring books to clients who struggle with traditional meditation. It’s an easy entry point to mindfulness. As one researcher noted, coloring might yield similar therapeutic benefits to listening to your favorite calming music – it’s not cure-all, but it definitely soothes the mind and can be a steppingstone to deeper meditative practice. (Cleveland Clinic, NIH)
Color and Breath: Simple Techniques
Even without a coloring book, you can incorporate color into a basic mindfulness routine. Color breathing is one technique where you visualize breathing in a color and breathing out a color. For example, inhale and imagine a cool blue light filling your lungs – exhale and imagine grey or black color leaving, symbolizing stress leaving your body. This pairs deep breathing (which physiologically calms the nervous system) with visualization (which occupies and centers the mind). The chosen colors usually align with the intended effect: blue or lavender to breathe in calm, or perhaps golden sunlight to breathe in positive energy; and often a murky dark color to exhale negativity. It’s a gentle visualization that many find helpful for focusing the breath practice.
Another approach is to meditate on a colored object or light – a practice akin to Trataka (yogic gazing technique). For instance, lighting a candle and softly gazing at the flame, which is usually a warm golden color, can be a form of meditation that also brings in color therapy; some people use colored candles for this reason (a green candle when seeking healing or balance, a blue candle for peace, etc.). Alternatively, one might hang a softly colored mandala or a piece of art at eye level and use it as a visual focus point during meditation. Having a focal point with a calming color can help tether a wandering mind.
Spa and Wellness Uses
Beyond formal meditation, many mindfulness-oriented wellness practices incorporate color through lighting. You may have encountered chromotherapy in spa settings – for example, an infrared sauna or float tank that lets you pick a colored light during your session. Spas like Sunlighten offer “chromotherapy saunas” where clients can choose, say, blue light if they want to relax or feel calm, or red light if they want invigoration. While some claims outpace the evidence, users do report that basking in a soft, blue-lit sauna can deepen their relaxation, whereas a red light setting feels stimulating and warm. This aligns well with what we know: blue light triggers calm, and red light – particularly in a context of warmth – can feel rejuvenating and activating. There’s also a long history of contemplative practices using stained-glass light (think of how cathedrals create a serene atmosphere with colored sunlight filtering through stained glass windows). Modern meditation rooms sometimes use LED lighting that slowly shifts through gentle colors, to facilitate different stages of a guided meditation: perhaps starting with energizing sunrise colors and ending with deep indigo to prepare for sleep. (Heathline)
All these techniques, whether ancient or modern, recognize that color is a sensory input that can guide our mental state. While the effects can be subtle, they are cumulative. A person who regularly engages with calming colors in their mindfulness practice may find over time that simply visualizing that “blue sky mind” can lower their heart rate and center their thoughts, because they’ve trained a positive association. It’s biofeedback in a sense: the color becomes a cue for the body to relax.
Color and mindfulness make a natural pair. By mindfully choosing the colors in our surroundings and even in our imagination, we can enhance our ability to reach inner calm and clarity. Whether it’s by sitting in a softly green garden, coloring an elaborate mandala, or picturing a healing violet light in meditation, we tap into color’s gentle power to shift awareness. In a world where our senses are often overwhelmed, consciously simplifying our visual input to calming colors is like giving the mind a soft place to rest. It’s a beautiful, accessible way to support mental wellbeing.
Managing Chronic Illness with Color: From Pain Relief to Emotional Support
Chronic illnesses – conditions like persistent pain, fatigue syndromes, neurodegenerative diseases, or long-term mental health disorders – require holistic care strategies. Alongside medications and therapy, the environment and sensory inputs can profoundly affect day-to-day wellbeing for those managing chronic conditions. Color, as a constant presence in one’s surroundings, can be leveraged to improve comfort, adherence, and even certain symptoms in chronic illness management. This is a burgeoning and exciting area where research and practical innovation meet. I’ve had the privilege of working with individuals facing chronic challenges as well as helping myself – from children on the autism spectrum to adults with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and multiple sclerosis (MS); using color as a complementary support tool in their care. Let’s look at how different colors influence aspects of chronic illness like energy levels, pain perception, sleep, and emotional regulation, and highlight some pioneering examples. (Clinical Pain Advisor)
Energizing the Fatigued, Calming the Anxious
Fatigue and low energy are common denominators in many chronic conditions (CFS, MS, depression, Lyme, etc.). Interestingly, color can play a psychological role in boosting energy or mitigating fatigue. For instance, a person with chronic fatigue might benefit from having more energizing colors in their immediate environment. I don’t mean painting their entire room neon orange – that could be overwhelming. But strategically incorporating pops of stimulating color can help on tough days. In one case, I consulted for an individual with MS who experienced significant fatigue and low mood. We introduced bright warm hues in small doses around her: specifically pink. Beforehand, all she wore was black and gray. That’s always a quick sign that the body is very much shut down – both physically and emotionally. By slowly encouraging her to wear pinks, she felt more and more of an uplifted spirit. On days she felt drained, seeing those colors would spark a tiny bit of energy or at least lift her mood, much like stepping into sunlight might. This anecdote aligns with broader principles: yellow and orange are colors that tend to evoke warmth, positivity, and activation; they can counter feelings of sluggishness or gloom. In fact, as noted earlier, warm colors literally increase physiological arousal. For someone dealing with chronic fatigue, even a mild arousal bump – feeling a tad more alert – is welcome, especially if their climate is gray most of the year.
On the flip side, chronic illness often comes with anxiety or stress like worrying about symptoms, dealing with medical procedures, or feeling physical ongoing pain. Here, the calming colors are therapeutic. I often recommend that spaces for rest and recovery at home be bathed in calming blues, greens, or purples for those with chronic illness that centers in pain. A person with chronic pain, for example, might benefit from a bedroom that’s a cocoon of soothing color like a lavender or pale blue scheme; which can reduce stress and thereby potentially reduce pain flares (since stress is known to exacerbate pain). This ties into an important emerging field: color and pain management.
Color and Pain Relief: The “Green Light” Discovery
Perhaps one of the most fascinating developments in recent medical research is the use of green light therapy for chronic pain. It sounds like sci-fi, but it’s quite real and backed by studies. Researchers have found that exposure to certain wavelengths of green light can lead to reduced pain in conditions like migraines, fibromyalgia, and chronic musculoskeletal pain. (Time) In one study, migraine sufferers who spent 1–2 hours daily in a room lit with gentle green LED lights reported significantly fewer and less intense headaches over several weeks. Another trial had patients with severe fibromyalgia wear green-tinted glasses (to essentially bathe their vision in green) for a couple of hours a day; remarkably, many saw improvements in their pain levels and a decrease in their need for opioids. (Health Sciences – Arizona)
The proposed mechanism is still being studied, but scientists suspect that green light influences pain-modulating pathways in the brain – possibly by boosting natural opioids and reducing inflammation signaling. One study on rats showed green light exposure increased levels of endogenous opioids (the body’s natural painkillers) and calmed down neurons that transmit pain. Even in the case of a color-blind patient with chronic pain, green light still produced pain relief, suggesting it’s not just psychological placebo but an actual physiological effect. (Time)
This is revolutionary because it means that something as simple as a specific color of light could become a low-risk adjunct therapy for chronic pain sufferers. Imagine sitting in a tranquil green-lit room for a while each day and getting pain relief without drugs – that’s a huge win. As of now, some pain clinics are experimenting with “green light rooms” or providing patients with green LED strips to use at home. It’s early, but extremely promising. From my perspective, it reinforces how powerful color (as light) can be on the body. Green has long been associated with healing and equilibrium; now we see it might literally help heal by altering pain pathways.
Color for Sleep and Circadian Balance
Many chronic conditions disrupt sleep. Pain wakes you up, depression or anxiety can cause insomnia, etc. We already discussed how blue light at night is disruptive for circadian rhythms. So for anyone – especially someone chronically ill who desperately needs quality sleep for recovery – it’s crucial to manage light color in the evening. Using color to aid sleep typically means minimizing blue and enhancing warm, dim lighting at night. This could be as simple as swapping that harsh white bedside bulb for a warm amber bulb, or using smart lights that shift to orangish tones in the evening. Even wall color in the bedroom can matter: a cool blue bedroom might be calming, but if the person uses their bedroom lamps a lot at night, those blue walls will reflect more blue light. In such cases, a neutral or warm-toned wall with soft lighting might actually result in less melatonin suppression. In practice, I tell patients and caregivers: consider a “visual diet” in the evening…surround yourself with soft warm hues (candlelight, salt lamps, warm fairy lights) and avoid stark or blue-heavy colors in your immediate visual field: like TVs, device screens, or bright blue LED displays. It’s not that the color itself cures insomnia, but it sets the hormonal stage for sleep. (Harvard)
For those with conditions like Alzheimer’s or dementia, maintaining circadian rhythm is challenging. Some care homes have experimented with circadian lighting systems that adjust color temperature over the day (cool bright light in daytime, warm dim light in evening) to reinforce the patients’ internal clocks and improve sleep patterns. While still an emerging tech, early results are positive in reducing evening agitation (sundowning) and improving night-time sleep in dementia patients by using these color-temperature-tuned lights.
Emotional Wellbeing and Color in Chronic Illness
Living with chronic illness can take a toll on mental health; feelings of depression, isolation, loss of control are common. Here, color’s influence on mood and emotional resilience becomes valuable. A simple cheerful environment can uplift someone’s day-to-day outlook. In one instance, when consulting with a corporation, the CEO wanted to incorporate their new branding we created throughout the space, but he also wanted to see other ways the employees could be supported with color. It didn’t take long for me to hear the same thing over and over again: their work was with high-stress with customers trying to fill the gaps of their prescription medication. This was taking a massive toll on employees. They also noted that they were most fatigued after lunch through the end of their workday. The first day I was there, I noticed immediate eye fatigue. Looking around, the entire place was filled with fluorescent lighting. I suggested a “reset room” where we could augment the entire space with greens and warmer lighting. This not only would help emotionally stabilize the employee, but reset their rods and cones with green – reducing eye strain.
Color can also be used in personal items and routines for emotional support. Some therapists encourage chronically ill patients to create a “comfort corner” at home – perhaps a chair with a soft blanket in a color that brings joy, or a wall of photos in colorful frames. One patient with chronic depression told me she started picking out her clothes each day with the intention to affect her mood: on low days pushing herself to wear a bright color instead of black. Sure enough, wearing a vibrant green or a pretty blue sweater lifted her spirits a notch, partly because it prompted others to compliment or engage as color can affect social interactions too. It became a form of color therapy in her daily life: she’d wrap herself in a color that symbolized the mood she wanted to cultivate.
***We have done many interviews on the colors you wear and the mood they evoke like Business Insider, Inc, New York Post, and Daily Mail.
A Note on Chromotherapy and Holistic Practices
It’s worth noting that outside of mainstream medicine, there is a whole field of chromotherapy (color therapy) which claims that shining colored lights on the body or visualizing certain colors can heal various ailments. Charles Klotsche’s book Color Medicine (1993) is an example that outlines using colored lights and even “hydrochromotherapy” (colored water) to treat imbalances. He described it as “a powerful technique for treating specific imbalances and strengthening the immune system”. While many such claims are not rigorously proven by Western science, the resurgence of interest in things like green light for pain shows there may be kernels of truth in some chromotherapy traditions. Anecdotally, I know cancer patients who use visualization of vibrant healing colors during chemotherapy to stay positive, and chronic pain patients who bask in red light for calming. These practices, when they complement medical treatment, can be mentally and emotionally beneficial. They certainly don’t replace conventional medicine, but they add that holistic layer – engaging the patient’s own sensory and psychological resources in the healing process.
Empowering Patients through Personal Color Choices
Perhaps one of the most important aspects of using color in chronic illness is personal empowerment. When so much feels out of control, choosing the colors around you is a way to exert agency over your environment and nurture yourself. I’ve seen people light up when they realize that a simple change like painting their bedroom or buying a colorful quilt can improve how they feel each day. It’s a reminder that they are not passive victims of their illness – they can actively craft a healing space for themselves and their body will respond.
To illustrate, I once advised the family of a young girl with multiple health issues and autism to involve her in choosing a colorful blanket color during remission period. She chose orange. Orange made her feel happy and safe…a place she could run to during flare-ups and cover herself up in to feel comforted. Later, she started bringing more and more color into her outfits, learning she could express her feelings in this tangible, visible way. This psychosocial benefit of color is hard to quantify, but it’s very real.
Integrating color into chronic illness care – be it through environmental design, light therapy, or personal expression – offers a complementary path to enhancing wellbeing. It capitalizes on the small yet meaningful ways our surroundings affect us daily. As someone who has been on the patient side as well (I was an ill child who spent considerable time on bedrest), I passionately advocate for leveraging any tool that can assist in “feeling while healing”. We might not cure arthritis with a paintbrush, but if a coat of soothing color can ease a bit of pain, if a bright scarf can spark a smile, or if a green light can reduce the need for an extra pain pill – why not use it? These are accessible, low-cost interventions. We are only beginning to see the possibilities, but I believe as we strategically inject more color into chronic care, we will see revolutionary results in how patients feel and heal.
Conclusion: Embracing a Colorful Future for Wellbeing
We like to call color the “universal language,” and indeed, it speaks to something deep within us. It transcends words, reaching directly into our limbic system to stir emotions and into our physiology to trigger responses. As we’ve journeyed through the science and stories above, a clear message emerges: Color is a powerful, yet underutilized, tool for enhancing wellbeing – one that spans our personal homes, public healing spaces, therapeutic environments, inner mindfulness practices, and long-term health journeys.
What excites me is that this isn’t just theoretical musing; it’s grounded in real research and real experiences:
- We’ve seen how a thoughtfully chosen hue in a hospital room can reduce a patient’s stress or even speed recovery.
- We’ve seen that something as gentle as coloring a mandala can quiet the anxious mind like meditation.
- We’ve learned that splashing color on a plate can help an Alzheimer’s patient regain appetite.
- And shining green light might dial down pain for a migraine sufferer.
These are remarkable outcomes from a “non-pharmacological” intervention that is extremely low-cost. Color truly is participatory – seeking to interact and work with us in endless ways.
For individuals, this means we each have an opportunity to curate our own wellbeing through our color choices. It can start small: notice how the colors you wear or surround yourself with affect your mood and energy. Conduct your own experiments – perhaps you’ll find that adding a certain color to your workspace makes you feel more focused, or that doing evening yoga in a dim red-lit room dramatically improves your sleep after. Be mindful and intentional about color, just as you might be with your diet or exercise. As I often advise: focus on credible information – look at NIH studies, academic papers, well-researched books – and let that guide your use of color. There’s a lot of pop psychology out there, but if you ground your choices in evidence and personal observation, you’ll find what truly works for you.
For professionals like architects, designers, healthcare providers, therapists; the call to action is to integrate color psychology into your practice. No longer should color be an afterthought or purely aesthetic decision. It should be part of the initial planning: What emotional state do we want to evoke? What behaviors do we wish to encourage? From there, design with color deliberately. As we saw, simply repainting an emergency department or adopting a new color scheme in a nursing home can yield tangible improvements in safety perception and engagement. Those are big quality-of-life gains from a relatively simple design tweak.
Looking ahead, I am incredibly optimistic about the role of color in well-being. I foresee “healing palettes” becoming as standard as healing protocols – imagine doctors prescribing not just pills, but also environmental adjustments: 15 minutes in the green room daily, and change your bedroom light to amber. In workplaces, employers might invest in dynamic lighting that changes color temperature to keep employees alert in the morning and calm in the late afternoon. Urban planners might use colorful murals and lighting installations to improve community mental health. Even wearable tech could come into play – perhaps mood-sensing devices that suggest you look at a certain color when you’re stressed. These ideas aren’t far-fetched; they are extensions of what we already know.
At its heart, embracing color for wellbeing is about reconnecting with our full sensory humanity. We evolved under changing skies of blue and nights lit by warm fire – our biology expects color. In the modern era of concrete and screens, we must intentionally re-introduce the right hues to feed our eyes and souls. When we do, we feel the difference. As I reflect on my work compiling Color Secrets and founding The Color Institute™, I am continually amazed by how color can communicate, comfort, and even heal when we understand its language. It’s the one universal language we were never formally taught, yet it’s been speaking to us all along.
So, let’s listen. Let’s paint our living spaces with the brush of empathy and science. Let’s design hospitals that don’t just treat illness, but actively promote wellness through every painted wall and tinted light. Let’s give our minds the gift of hues that help us flourish – from the soft greens that ease our anxiety to the bright yellows that remind us of joy. The art and science of color psychology shows that a more vibrant, healthy world is within our grasp, one shade at a time. The future of wellbeing is, quite literally, looking more colorful. And that gives me immense hope.
References: Focused on evidence-based sources, including NIH-backed research and key texts in the field, as cited throughout this post.
