Health benefits of living a colourful life
By Morgan Hannah, Life & Style Editor
Colour is everywhere—from the blue sky up above to the green grass below our feet, and everything in between, everywhere we go and everything we do, colour is there. It permeates all aspects of our lives and shapes how we see the world. Colour is an essential part of individual identity and interestingly enough, benefits our health.
Pink
Some shades of the colour pink has been found to calm those experiencing violent outbreaks and is often why prisons in the United States and Switzerland used to paint their cells pink (although the validity of the colour calming people’s violent tendencies is still argued). Pink is also at the heart of gender as it is strongly associated with femininity and frivolity, which is why it is easy to contrive a picture of a girl playing with a Barbie or wearing a pink skirt, but it might be more difficult to picture a boy covered head to toe in pink.
The nature of pink, however, is shifting—more men wear the colour now. Businesses such as Pink in London and the pink polo shirts of Ralph Lauren have made it a rather common colour among men, including musicians Drake and Tyler, the Creator.
Purple
According to NASA, purple was the colour of the earliest life forms on Earth, a purple-pigmented molecule called retinal is thought to predate chlorophyll and radiate a hue that can be seen from space. This information might help scientists and astrologists find life on other planets.
Orange
Orange is comfort. It is a combination of the energy of red and the happiness of yellow. Envision a frustrating day at the office and the pleasure of coming home to a book and the warm orange glow of a fireplace—or a drink in the magnificence of a breathtaking sunset. That is the energy of orange. Orange is also a colour of confidence, you don’t wear orange if you want to blend in.
Green
Different shades of green have different meanings and effects. A dark green, for example, is thought to represent ambition, greed, and wealth; yellow green is associated with sickness and jealousy; and olive green is peaceful and balancing. Green is soothing and relaxing and often youthful; it is directly related to nature and exudes energy and stability.
Yellow
The colour of sunshine, yellow is happiness, warmth, energy, playfulness, and all-around good vibes. On the other hand, yellow can be an agitating colour for some. Hospital wards were painted yellow during World War I to cure shell-shocked troops. The mental-state-improving properties of yellow have been considered to aid with seasonal affective disorder. Another tactic for combating seasonal affective disorder is to wear yellow-tinted glasses or to try out light therapy.
