Which LED color helps against headaches?

It stings. Pulsates. Hurts in waves. Or presses incessantly. Headaches and migraines are one of the most common illnesses that occur in our latitudes. More than one in two women and 44.4% of men in Germany are affected by headaches at least once a year. Around one in seven women and one in 16 men also fulfill the complete criteria for migraine. Just over 10 percent of women and 6.5 percent of men suffer from tension headaches.

Frequency of headaches

Source: JoHM_S6_2020_Migraene_Spannungskopfschmerz.pdf (Journal of Health Monitoring - 2020 5(S6) DOI 10.25646/6988.2)

If you are a headache or migraine sufferer yourself, then you know how bad the pain is. How much it can restrict your day. And also what effect it has on your psyche. Yes, a day with a headache is a day lost. And a migraine attack is always a cruel mountain to climb.

Medication can provide relief. But only if you take them early. If you wait too long, the best painkiller often stops working. And to be honest, you don't really want to keep popping pills, do you?

We think so: Prevention is the best cure for headaches, migraines and tension headaches. In other words, combating headaches before they occur. And it works! Very well, in fact. In addition to getting enough sleep, eating a healthy diet, drinking plenty of fluids and avoiding stress, there is another way to prevent headaches.

With the right light!

Unfortunately, only very few people know this. But now you're in the club of insiders. In this article, you can find out how you can use light to combat the pain in your head and what LED lamps have to do with it.

The right LED light for headache and migraine sufferers

Have you ever had a really bad migraine attack? Or a headache so bad that you just wanted to crawl under your comforter? Then you're probably familiar with the desire to avoid light when your head hurts. You're not alone in this, by the way. 8 out of 10 headache sufferers avoid light during an attack.

Migraine sufferers like to retreat to a dark room. They deliberately avoid bright light. But one US study shows that not every light color is perceived as unpleasant for migraines and the like. On the contrary. Green light is even said to be able to alleviate the pain.

Effects of color on pain assessment

Source: Migraine photophobia originating in cone-driven retinal pathways (Image: Effects of color on pain ratings)

The study was conducted by Rami Burstein, Professor of Anesthesiology and Neuroscience, together with his team at Harvard Medical School in Boston (USA).

69 test subjects had to rate the intensity of pain on a scale of 1 to 10 during an acute migraine attack. 8 out of 10 participants experienced a worsening of the pain in bright light. With green light it was only 4 out of 10. The intensity of the light was then adjusted. And lo and behold: green light around 530 nanometers only intensified the headache in 5 percent of the participants.

But the most astonishing result was the pain relief. At a particularly low light intensity, the green light is said to have reduced the pain intensity of the respondents by as much as 15 percent.

The researchers' conclusion: Green light can prove to be therapeutically beneficial for improving light phobia and possibly also headaches.

Green light the solution?

So is it all a question of light colors? That may well be the case. Migraine sufferers and headache sufferers could use glasses that filter out all color frequencies except green from their surroundings. Or use light sources that emit dimmed green light.

The findings of the study could provide a neurophysiological explanation for the fact "that certain wavelengths of light, starting from the color-sensitive sensory cells of the retina, influence pain sensitivity differently," says the Spokesperson of the Neuroophthalmology Commission of the German Society of Neurology (DGN).

The study has set the ball rolling. It has produced completely new findings that have made some experts sit up and take notice. Whether green light is always helpful as a therapeutic measure for migraines and other types of headache still needs to be clarified. To do so, the results need to be confirmed in larger studies. Further research could also provide more information about the optimal frequency range of light for headaches.

Just try it out: Using green light to combat discomfort

It may be a long time before further studies are published on this topic. However, if you suffer from acute headaches such as migraines, you could consider green light therapy. Or at least use green light to create lighting that you find pleasant in times of pain.

Incidentally, light colors can also influence your state of mind and your productivity. And even your biorhythm. Blue light makes you alert and awake during the day. Less blue light - but more orange and red areas - will make you tired. Warm white light in the evening therefore helps you to calm down. And that can be very pleasant if you have a headache.

Ring light with 3 light spectra - Lichtblock Luce

Tip: Take a look at our new ring light. It has three light modes that you can adjust to suit your mood and the time of day. Red light for the evening, candlelight for cozy hours and daylight for your wide awake phases.