02 Jan Ease migraine light sensitivity with a green light bulb
Get migraines tied to your hormones, for instance, right before or during your period, around ovulation or when your premenstrual week begins? Or do these head-throbbers hit when you eat certain foods, are under stress, the weather isn’t perfect or just for no reason at all?
Then, like about 80% of migraine sufferers, you probably become sensitive to light during a migraine attack–and bright light can actually make your pain worse.
Well, according to a recent study in the journal Brain led by Harvard researchers, a light bulb that emits a dim narrow band of green light (520 to 540 nanometers) is the one color of light that migraineurs can not only tolerate during a migraine attack–exposure to this color of light may actually help reduce migraine pain by about 20%. (full study)
The researchers explain that certain light-sensitive cells in the eye trigger activity in the brain that can either exacerbate or ease a migraine based on the color of light–and a dim pure green color happens to reduce this problematic activity, curbing a migraine’s intensity.
Before you run out to the store looking for a green light bulb, however, you should know that not just any bulb that’s colored green will work–and the study authors have yet to recommend or produce a light bulb that mimics the one they used in their research.
That said, there is one green LED light bulb that appears to be close to the one the researchers used–offering a green light that is between 520 and 560 nanometers: Illuminati SG Night Light Super Green LED Bulb, 5 Watt available at Amazon.
As a migraine sufferer myself, I’ve already ordered one and can’t wait for it to arrive. I’ll post an update about how it worked for me.
Till then, if you haven’t done so yet, check out my other Hormonology blog posts about migraine remedies here. I use a combination of supplements (such as CoQ10, magnesium and B vitamins) along with icing the front of my neck to rein in my migraine pain, which has successfully cut my migraine frequency and intensity by at least 50%. I recommend you experiment to find the migraine remedy or mix of remedies that work best for you.
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