Colour yourself healthy

You like green. Most of your clothes are green. Your duvet is green. Your sofa is green. Your curtains are green. Ever thought why? Your preference for one colour over another may be related to the way colour makes you feel. It plays a vital role in our lives, even if we aren't consciously aware of it. Before World War 2 people wore lots of red – the colour of courage, strength and pioneering, but also of anger and brutality. As the war ended, pale blue became popular – symbolic of the peace and healing that was to come.

The effects of colour on our moods, health and way of thinking have been studied by scientists for decades, so it isn't nearly as huri-guri as it may seem. For example, colour is used by doctors in the treatment of neonatal jaundice, and there's evidence that symptoms of acute eruptive diseases such as smallpox and measles can be relieved by putting the patient in a room with red windows. Pain, depression and insomnia all respond well to flashing coloured lights. Looking at blue light has been shown to lower blood pressure; red light causes it to rise.

Progressive companies are beginning to buy into the idea that staff may work better given a certain colour scheme, while hospitals and prisons are waking up to the effect the colour around them can have on patients and prisoners. Colour therapy can benefit a wide range of stress-related problems, can help to restore health after surgery or illness and can aid creativity and help learning. These days herbal therapies promote balance through the sense of taste, massage therapies through touch, aromatherapy through smell and colour therapy through sight.

What is colour therapy?

Therapists believe that each organ and body system has its own characteristic vibrational energy, and disorders can be healed by applying colour of the corresponding vibrational energy, either to the whole body or to the organ concerned. The three 'higher' colours (those with the shortest wavelengths and highest frequency) are violet, indigo and blue – they're the cool, or electric colours, generally indicating calm, and affect our spiritual energies.

The three 'lower' colours (those with the longest wavelengths and lowest frequency) are yellow, orange and red – they're the warm or magnetic colours and affect our physical energies. Green is the balance between the cool and the warm.

The earliest forms of therapy included the use of coloured gems and sunlight, but today there's a wide range of treatment options available and many practitioners combine the use of colour with other complementary therapies such as aromatherapy, massage, reflexology, crystals and yoga.

How does it work?

Each colour in the spectrum has a frequency, wavelength and energy associated with it. When the energy of a colour enters our body, it stimulates the pituitary and pineal glands, which has an effect on our nervous and endocrine systems. This affects our production of certain hormones, which in turn affects a variety of physiological processes.

Colours can also have an effect on the more subtle energies of the body, the chakra system, which funnels the energy of light into the body at major collecting points, each resonating with a different colour. By realigning the chakras, balance is restored.

Treatment includes breathing exercises, crystals, light, silk scarves or coloured water. Coloured light can be applied to the whole body and you can make use of colour in your diet, the clothes you wear and your environment. It can be as simple as wearing a blue scarf when you have a sore throat, or as complicated as using colour visualisation to improve performance.

The colours

Red Chakra: base chakra in the sacral region (base of the spine)
Associated with: vitality, strength, alertness, ambition, sexuality and willpower; anger, temper, danger and destruction
Can help to: strengthen the life force, will and sexuality, and overcome negative thoughts
Useful in treating: colds, poor circulation and anaemia
Don't use for: hypertension or fever, excitable temperaments, florid-complexioned or red-headed people
Beware: too much red can make you feel irritable, impatient and uncomfortable, and can produce fever and exhaustion; it can promote hostility, anger and violence
Use with: blue
Complement: turquoise
Balanced by: green

Orange Chakra: spleen chakra (regulates circulation and metabolism)
Associated with: happiness and joyousness
Can help to: free and release emotions and alleviate feelings of self-pity, lack of self-worth and unwillingness to forgive
Useful in treating: conditions of the spleen, pancreas, stomach, intestines, adrenals, food assimilation and depression
Don't use for: nervous conditions or sexual disorders
Beware: too much orange can adversely affect the nerves
Complement: blue
Balanced by: green-blues
* Peach and apricot are good as a tonic after a bout of illness, and for strengthening the aura and revitalising the physical body.

Yellow Chakra: solar plexus chakra
Associated with: intellect and judgement
Can help to: stimulate mental ability and concentration, build self-confidence and encourage an optimistic attitude
Useful in treating: rheumatism and arthritis, digestive disorders and headaches Don't use for: acute inflammation, diarrhoea, fever, neuralgia and palpitations of the heart
Beware: too much yellow can make you superficial or hyperactive; dull yellow can be the colour of fear.
Complement: violet
Balance with: blue
* Lemon has properties of both green and yellow, and is excellent for mental stimulation.

Green Chakra: heart
Associated with: growth, purity, harmony, empathy, space and balance
Can help to: balance energies and increase compassion
Useful in treating: stress, allergies, cardiac conditions, high blood pressure, ulcers, exhaustion and headaches
Don't use for: tumours or cancerous conditions (green helps things grow)
Beware: too much can mean resentment and possessiveness Complement: magenta
* Dark green can signify the onset of death, or the negation of life and joy, while lime and olive green can have detrimental effects on physical and emotional health.

Blue Chakra: throat
Associated with: willpower, communication, truth, devotion, calmness and sincerity
Can help to: ease loneliness and awaken artistic expression, inspiration and intuition
Useful in treating: tumours, congestion and fevers
Don't use for: colds, hypertension, paralysis, chronic rheumatism or tachycardia
Beware: too much blue can make you feel tired and depressed, or can make you overly cold-natured
Complement: orange
* Light and soft blue make you feel quiet and protected from the bustle of a day and alleviates insomnia, while midnight blue has a strong sedative effect on our minds, allowing us to connect with our intuitive and feminine sides.

Indigo Chakra: brow (third eye)
Associated with: self-responsibility, purification and altered states of consciousness
Can help to: strengthen the lymph system, glands and immune system, purify the blood and remove obsessions
Useful in treating: all conditions of the face (including ears, eyes, nose, mouth and sinuses) and problems with the lungs
Beware: too much indigo can cause depression and a sense of separateness from others.