You may have heard the term feng shui, a traditional Chinese practice of arranging your home’s furnishings and decor to promote harmony, balance, and peace. Accordingly, the way you decorate your home can affect your mood positively or negatively. The same goes for the colors of your home.
Although we often look at paint colors as a design choice, hues and shades can have the power to influence emotions that directly affect our mood. There’s also a good reason why some colors look more appealing in homes than others.
Minnesota State University conducted a study with 30 first-year college students to show the effect of red room colors on stress levels compared to green room colors. The results showed that participants felt more stress when placed in a red room than those who spent time in green and white rooms.
Advantages of green color
According to WebMD, green can increase positive emotions and weaken negative emotions. White seems to have a similar effect. On the other hand, red is associated with failure and danger and evokes more negative emotions. Given that we spend a lot of time in the bedroom, harnessing the power of the right colors in this space can be beneficial for your emotional well-being, sleep, and overall mental health.
Science has shown that green, a common color in nature, has a calming effect, with the ability to reduce stress levels and encourage greater feelings of positivity. A gentle green color can also help increase your focus and productivity.
Advantages of cool colors such as light blue
Cool colors such as light blue appear to have a calming effect and reduce anxiety. Blue even has the ability to lower blood pressure and help with insomnia, making it an ideal color in the bedroom to promote relaxation and sleep.
Advantages of pink color
Soft, dusty pink and blush tones are among the muted colors that study participants responded well to when faced with pink. The results showed that pink was able to reduce stress levels in volunteer students. Also, when Swiss prison inmates were put in a pink-painted room, their anger subsided after just 15 minutes of exposure.
Color psychologist Amy Wax says light pink is a popular color for the offices of psychologists and psychiatrists, as it helps to relax patients who come to visit face-to-face.
Advantages of white color
We often associate the color white with cleanliness and freshness. White is another color supported by science that can evoke feelings of calmness, serenity, and positivity. However, it may be worth trying to avoid dark whites or grays that feel more dreary than bright.
What about negative colors? Unfortunately, colors can also work against you if you paint your bedroom with a stimulating, high-wavelength tone.
Disadvantages of red color
Red is a strong and powerful color, but it may not be very suitable for our homes. The color red has been shown to cause stress, anxiety, anger, and frustration, and raise blood pressure.
Disadvantages of gray color
No matter how neutral a gray wall is, it’s not the ideal color for your entire home or bedroom. Gray is often associated with gloom, coldness, and depression. Gray is the color most used to describe feelings of anxiety and sadness. It is often found in industrial areas and concrete and can be dull or boring.
Disadvantages of bright yellow color
This part of the list can be surprising, as yellow is often associated with excitement, happiness, and sunshine. Although it finds its rightful place in nature, it would probably be beneficial to keep it out of your bedroom.
Yellow can stimulate feelings of creativity and energy, but it’s the opposite of the emotions you want when you’re trying to sleep. Also, prolonged exposure to yellow hues can cause discomfort and anxiety.
Disadvantages of dark brown or black colors
Dark paint colors can take a room or bedroom from inviting and soothing to dim and cave-like. Try to avoid aggressive paint colors that make your room feel dark and depressing. You may feel lower energy, sadness, isolation, and fear in a dark or black room. It may even harm your sleep, because one study showed that people with dark brown bedrooms slept an average of six hours and five minutes instead of the recommended eight hours…
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