How do lights affect you and me?
We want to take you on a luminary adventure. Research has shown that lights have the power to change your mindset, invoke feelings and help to recall memories. Sleep patterns and energy levels are both influenced by light. In fact, lights have moved away from just being dusty fixtures on the ceiling to delivering individualized treatments to people for specific prolonged problems.
Take the article Can Orange Glasses Help You Sleep Better? written in April 2015 by Kate Galbraith of the New York Times. She explores the idea that wearing orange colored glasses before bed can help promote better sleeping habits. Galbraith writes, “Studies have shown that such light, especially from the blue part of the spectrum, inhibits the body’s production of melatonin, a hormone that helps people fall asleep.” It seems like a quick (though quirky) fix, right? Just get rid of the blue at night and hello, Mr. Sandman!
However, color isn’t the only variable in regards to light. Let’s take a look at light intensity and strobe patterns. Both have as big an affect on temperaments as color. Strobe lights, for instance, are currently being researched for law enforcement use when detaining a suspect because of their ability to disorient and confuse, and therefore induce fear. A study published by the Journal of Consumer Psychology1 also showed that people experience more intense emotions under bright lighting conditions, which could be why interrogations are often shown on TV as being conducted in a brightly lit room.
We can use the knowledge that we have about the effects of lighting to create our own Luminary Adventures. Below are a few DIY luminary adventures you can easily create and some lighting suggestions from our personal favorites just in time for Halloween!
1) Set a spooky scene for Halloween by using strobe lights to disorient trick o’ treaters as they approach your house. Creating some temporary visual disorientation can help to induce fear, and really help you milk those creepy decorations for all they’re worth!
2) Send shivers up visitors’ spines by changing out your front entrance light with a deep blue light bulb. The blue creates an eerie glow that adds a creepy effect. Our Blue Archimedean Spiral bulb combined with thick fog and strobe lights would send shivers down your visitors’ spines.
3) Not so much into the scary part of Halloween? Light up your yard with orange and red flood lights and draw in the crowds of kids! Red helps to energize and orange stimulates creativity (and is the color of pumpkins) which means happy, excited children running up to your front door for candy! Highlight your kid-friendly entryway with our Pumpkin bulb.
5) Get creative with your pumpkins this year. So often those Jack ‘o Lanterns get stuffed with a candle and forgotten. Add some mystique to that finely carved face with a yellow flickering LED light, or use a chilling blue light for a sinister glow. Throw in some dry ice and our Red Flames bulb to create a fire-breathing illusion.
Have more ideas about how to create a luminary adventure this October? We would love to hear them!
1Journal of Consumer Psychology, Incandescent affect: Turning on the hot emotional system with bright light, Alison Jing Xua, Aparna A. Labroob, published online December 31, 2013.