Internal body clocks are a crucial part of our biological makeup, governing daily - or circadian – rhythm. The body clock provides signals to humans, and other animals, so we know when to wake in the morning and when our bodies need sleep. Although we tend to follow broadly similar sleep/wake patterns, everyone’s body clock is individual - which may explain why some people would describe themselves as “morning people” while others identify as “night owls”.
It has always been accepted that light plays a key role in the workings of a functioning body clock: light therapy, for example, is used by some long-haul travellers in an attempt to beat jet lag, which is caused when we travel quickly to another time zone and disrupt the circadian rhythm our bodies are used to. But according to 2015 research by scientists at the University of Manchester, the colour of light also has a major impact on how our body clock measures the time of day.
The groundbreaking psychophysics research, led by Dr Timothy Brown and published in April 2015 in the open access journal PLOS Biology, tested the impact of colour on the body of mammals for the first time. It showed conclusively that colour provides a more reliable way of telling the time than brightness.
The research, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, first analysed the change in light at dawn and dusk. As well as changes in light intensity as the sun rises and sets, the Manchester researchers found that the light is bluest during twilight. Showing mice different visual stimuli, the scientists recorded electrical body clock activity. They found that cells were more sensitive to a change from blue to yellow than to different levels of brightness.
During the most ambitious part of their research, the Manchester team then constructed an artificial sky using measurements of the colour spectra taken from the roof of the university’s Pariser Building. The mice lived beneath this artificial sky and, as nocturnal creatures, the scientists got the clearest indications that their clocks were working properly after night fall; their body temperatures rose when the sky turned dark blue. But when the brightness of the sky was changed, without adjusting the colour, the mice became more active before dusk. Without the colour change, their body clocks were not properly aligned to the day/night cycle.
According to Brown, the findings of the research can be applied to humans. This could mean that colour therapy, as opposed to light, could be used to manipulate or regulate the body clock. As well as helping shift workers, and providing a potential new strategy for long-haul travellers, this colour-led approach could be used by anyone who has trouble sleeping – or waking up in a morning.
The research also lends more credibility to the theory that staring at screens before bedtime is an inherently bad idea: the blue light emitted by smartphones and tablets, designed to mimic the sun, can make us more alert – not a great idea right before bed. But if you can’t bear the thought of going offline a couple of hours before lights out, new software is being developed that makes sure your electronic device emits the right colour light to suit the time of day. Bearing Brown’s research in mind, this could prove to be the best way to satiate your social media cravings and keep your body clock functioning at its optimal levels.
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