In a study of three lights, a novel LED device that mingled orange and blue wavelengths was most effective at advancing melatonin levels of human participants in a small study. The study's authors surmise that these hues, like those at sunrise and sunset in a solar day, activate an eye-brain circuit that is responsible for producing melatonin.
“Even though our light looks like white to the naked eye, we think your brain recognizes the alternating blue and orange wavelengths as the colors in the sky," said Jay Neitz, an ophthalmologist at the University of Washington School of Medicine and coauthor on the study.
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