(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Two weeks ago, I was sitting in an office, in a room with a small window, overlooking other concrete buildings. Right now, I am sitting in a café on lake Mutanda in Uganda, surrounded by evergreen forested hills and volcanoes in the distance. Two weeks ago, the only colours my eyes were accustomed to, were dusty blue of the polluted skies, a dull green of the scarce trees and desert brown of the sand being moulded into artificial landscapes. Today, my eyes are struggling to adjust to the abundance of green around and my brain is bewildered at the increase in concentration I have displayed. Do the two have any connection at all? Let's find out!
Colour can impact the brain
It's no news that colour has an effect on us. Advertisers have effectively used this information for decades and brilliantly revealed how easily our brain reacts to colour. In its purest form, colour is a wavelength with magnetic frequency that has the power to instigate neural pathways in the brain and create a biochemical response. Different colours produce different reactions depending on their intensity. Hence why in some contexts red is perceived as love and warmth while elsewhere it invokes fear and alertness.
Easy Green
Seeing colour is not an easy task. The visual retina can detect light between wavelengths of 400 and 700 nanometres, with the three primary colours responding to a different wavelength. While blue and red are at the lowest and highest end of the spectrum correspondingly, green is in the middle. It is at this wavelength (555 nanometres) where our perception is at its best. If you're wondering why we feel so calm on our ‘nature vacations', it's because the ‘human eye sees green better than any other colour in the spectrum.
Keep calm and look outside
As green gives our eyes the least amount of trouble, some researchers believe that perceiving the shade may calm us down. With consistent changes in colour around us, the nervous system works hard to give us the best view of each shade. Yet it gets quite a break while perceiving green, which causes it the least strain. A calmer nervous system in turn means a focused brain extremely attentive to the environment. So how much green is enough to improve your concentration? A recent study from the University of Melbourne showed that glancing at a green roof for even just a 40-second break resulted in superior concentration. Two groups of university students were given a boring task of pressing a key as numbers flashed on a computer screen, except when the number 3 popped up. During the 40-second break halfway through the task, one group stared at a concrete roof while one stared at a roof filled with plants. After the break, the green roof students were seen to make fewer mistakes and concentrate much better than the other group. The study concluded that the colour green is seen to provide a restorative experience that nurtures those mental resources that control attention. Next time you feel distracted, just look out of your window, to hopefully a green view.
Getting more GREEN into your life
I don't think I can afford to plan a vacation all the way to Uganda to refill my daily dose of green. But maybe there are smaller steps I can take, at the comfort of my own home. Now that I'm more conscious of the impact the colours around me can have, I'll probably go for a walk in the garden or put some plants on my office windowsill, so I can look out for a quick recharge. Even painting a green wall or adding green curtains can have a minor impact to the atmosphere of a room. These are only a few suggestions, but if there's any way you could make your life greener, I would highly recommend it.
* The author can be contacted on Instagram @sincerelysanah
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