Psychological Effects of Color: How to Boost Emotional Health

Colors have a big impact on our moods, emotions, & feeling of wellbeing. Read these 5 simple yet effective tips at NandyzSoulshine.com to use the psychological effects of color to boost your emotional health. Use color psychology at home smartly to recharge while you relax. Don't miss the helpful free downloads! #colorpsychology #emotionalhealth #wellbeing #happiness

“Color is a power which directly influences the soul.”

― Wassily Kandinsky

Using the psychological effects of color is one of the easiest ways to work on your emotional wellbeing. Colors influence our mood & how you feel can affect your relationships, carry out your responsibilities, the way you handle stress, & react to change.

Emotional wellbeing is about being in tune with your emotions, getting equipped to deal with them the right way, and using this knowledge to become more resilient & self-aware.

What are the psychological effects of color:

According to one color psychology research paper supported by the American Psychological Association, saturation and brightness of colors affect emotions strongly.

Saturated basically means purity of color, less greyish. Like deep sky blue is more saturated than say turquoise.

Colors can be so visually effective that they make you feel spaces to be warmer or cooler than they actually are. So, warm & cool colors affect us literally as they are named! Research has also shown that different colors influence our behavior & thoughts in different ways.

For example, yellow works up our appetite, greyish purple makes us feel more sophisticated, and green encourages creative thinking. Though red can affect analytical reasoning in the wrong way, it also makes us feel energetic & attracted to others. Blue makes us feel more trusting of others.

As Carl Jung said, “colors express the main psychic functions of man.”

Here is a color psychology chart to help you get a basic understanding of the connection between different colors & moods

www.nandyzsoulshine.com, use of colours in decor for emotional health

How you feel at any given time has more to it than you think. Colors impact our emotions more strongly than we usually realize. Read these 5 simple yet effective tips at NandyzSoulshine.com to use the psychological effects of color to boost your emotional health. Use color psychology at home smartly to recharge while you relax. Don't miss the helpful free downloads! #colorpsychology #emotionalhealth #wellbeing #happiness

5 ways to use the psychological effects of color at home for enhanced emotional health:

1. Connect & relax:

To keep stress levels down & encourage better interpersonal connection, make people feel comfortable & welcome in your home.

Make a big gathering feel more comfortable in a relatively limited space by keeping the wall color light. It makes the room feel more spacious and also because less saturated bright colors make us feel relaxed.

Warm up cool or dim spaces with bright warm colors like oranges & reds. You can even use them at the end of a long hallway to brighten up the whole space.

2. Safe & Comforted:

Feeling safe & comforted gives our brain reprieve from staying in the fight-or-flight mode most of the time due to the stressful lives we live. It relaxes us enough to be mindful of our emotions, changed likes, dislikes, attitude, self-talk, and the way we are processing our experiences.

To know how to process your emotions better, it’s important to stay self-aware & in-tune with your true inner self.

Use cool colors like aqua, turquoise, & blues in living spaces with plenty of light if you live in a warmer place. It will make you feel cool & comfortable.

On a primitive level, green reassures us because plenty of green around means no famine. Paint the bedroom walls in darker hues for a cozier feel. Better still, use colors that bring up warm memories from your past.

The general hue of our surroundings impacts our emotions more strongly than we usually realize. Read these 5 simple yet effective tips at NandyzSoulshine.com to use the psychological effects of color to boost your emotional health. Use color psychology at home smartly to recharge while you relax. Don't miss the helpful free downloads! #colorpsychology #emotionalhealth #wellbeing #happiness

Colors & emotions are so closely connected that colors can both affect & clearly express our emotions. They impact our moods, emotions, & feeling of wellbeing. Read these 5 simple yet effective tips at NandyzSoulshine.com to use the psychological effects of color to boost your emotional health. Use color psychology at home smartly to recharge while you relax. Don't miss the helpful free downloads! #colorpsychology #emotionalhealth #wellbeing #happiness

3. Building on past experiences:

Color also has nostalgic value and might bring up quite different emotions for you than is generally felt because of the memories connected to them. A stimulating color may feel actually quite comforting and relaxing or bright color can make you feel anxious or gloomy because it brings up bad memories for you. Researchers call it the ecological valence theory.

Your cultural background also affects how certain colors make you feel. Like, though white is associated with new beginnings like weddings in India & some other Asian countries, it’s the color of mourning.

Oscar Wilde said, “Mere color, unspoiled by meaning, and unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways.” So, do listen to your gut and choose to surround yourself with colors that bring up happy or peaceful memories & emotions.

4. Use psychological effects of color for stress management:

One of the essentials of good emotional health is managing stress effectively. When we let stress pile up, it can overwhelm us into inaction. Blue is serene, soothing, & mentally calming.

Lighter shades of blue tend to slow down breathing & lowers blood pressure. The green color spectrum is less stressful on the eyes (retina) & so is a good color if you’re trying to relax.

Daily little stressors can be good if you know how to handle them right. Cool colors like green, blue, & purple help you feel calm when the hue is light & bright. A calm mind is able to analyze situations better & deal with stress efficiently.

**How to use true self-care for better stress management**

5. Encourage creative thinking:

Though change is an indispensable part of our life, it’s also one of the major sources of stress. Creative thinking will help you come up with solutions & focus on the positive side to handle change better.

The color green is associated with creative thinking & is a favorite with designers as the color for study room or office. The right shade of yellow in moderation will make you feel optimistic & ready for high energy creative thinking.

Emotional health facts:

NHS’s green paper Our Healthier Nation describes health as “being confident & positive & able to cope with the ups & downs in life.”

Being mindful of your self-talk, aware of your general outlook in life, & when to set boundaries is a sign of good emotional health.

Emotionally healthy people:

Do not suppress emotions that they’re not comfortable with. Instead, they deal with it in a healthy way.
Cope with stress better knowing when to unplug, ask for help, or dust off & stand back up.
Know how to handle grief right – accept the emotions, seek help, & give it time.
Have better self-worth.
Have healthy personal relationships & a strong support system.
Are positive & energetic. They are aware of the whole picture but still choose to stay more aligned with possibilities & solutions instead of brooding on the possibility of failure.
And, are more likely to achieve contentment in life.

What colors affect your mood:

Brighter less saturated colors will make us feel relaxed. For example, lighter & brighter tones of green are more comfortable to be around for long periods of time. More saturated & darker shades will make you feel excited like a maroon or navy. Brighter lighter tones of yellow can make you feel optimistic & confident. But more saturated tones of this color can get you feeling anxious.

Cool colors can make you feel relaxed & calm but can also cause you to feel gloomy. Warm colors like reds, oranges, and yellows, on the other hand, can make you feel comforted & energized but can also make you feel enraged.

There isn’t a lot of scientific research data related to the psychological effects of color on human behavior, but historical data shows there’s a general group of emotions that particular colors evoke in us.

Having said that, your reaction to colors and how they affect your mood also depends a great deal on your past personal experiences and the culture you have grown up in.

The idea of the psychological effects of color on human behavior has been around for ages and has been used as an alternative therapy technique. Though there isn’t enough scientific research data available to prove those definitely, yet from our own experience, we know that color does affect how we feel.

How any color affects us depends on our cultural background, our memories associated with certain colors, and much more.

To ensure emotional wellbeing, remember to be mindful of your own reaction to different colors & listen to your gut when deciding on a color palette for spaces where you would be spending most of your time. Make your home work for you.

What is your favorite way to unwind at the end of the day? Can you tell (without checking) what’s the color of the room where you hang out most at home? Let us know in the comments below.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Pingback: 7 Interesting Ways to Use Cinnamon for Beauty and Health - Nandyz Soulshine

Marion Halliday (Red Nomad OZ)

May 2, 2017 at 6:51 pm

Wow! I love some of the colour combinations in the photos! I’ve often wondered why I’m drawn to some colour schemes and not to others – it’s probably all about how they make me feel! Very interesting post – will be thinking more about the effects of the colours next time I repaint!