Color Response

By Vusi Moloi © 2008

With the help of the Thekwini Project and my work with the University of Natural Medicine, I have learnt a lot about color and how this affects mood. A country like Canada has less sunshine hours per day as opposed to South Africa which enjoys lots of sunshine throughout the year. During the winter times in Canada, there are two colors i.e. white and grey. White is for the snow and grey is for the clouds. Canadians live under these ambient conditions for extended periods of time.

How does this affect mood? The research studies show that Canadians are twice as much as their American counterparts to suffer from depression. That’s because Americans have more sunshine on average than Canadians. The Mother Nature sunshine provides medicinal properties against depression.

The weather conditions also affect the color of clothes. When I first landed in Canada, most people wore dark clouds like black winter coats, brown coats and so forth. As time progressed, more and more people began wearing brighter clothes. In the forefront of wearing brighter clothes are the Canadian ladies which explain why I pay tribute to Canadian ladies in the book A Goodbye To My Little Troubles.

Brilliantly Red Winter Coat

Some few years ago I bought a brilliantly red winter coat. It was the greatest thing I had ever done. It brightened my mood, increased my sense of confidence and it was also very warm which helped a lot. Lots of people were always staring at me wherever I went in Ottawa because I seemed like a novelty. One day at my work, a Latin American colleague approached me with his brilliantly red winter coat which he had just bought and the rest is history. It’s now becoming common in Ottawa to see a guy with a red winter coat. Way to go guys! We still don’t have enough but I think as more people try these winter coats with rich and brilliant reds, they will find them to be conducive to positive mood.

Burgundy Color

The color that guys liked to wear or see in their cars was burgundy. This color is atrocious and I don’t understand why anyone should care about this color other than in their glass of wine. It does have its place like anything else but definitely not as a winter coat. The problem with burgundy is that it’s a subdued red. Why wear a subdued color which will further subdue your mood? Your mood is already subdued by the weather and why add to the existing aggravation? If the brilliant red does not work for you, try another color like white or even gold or yellow or sky blue. That would be a mood lifter.

Let’s Talk About Pink

Many guys associate pink with a girly color. Sure enough lots of girls wear pink but it doesn’t have to be a girly color. The powerful salmon fish wears pink and is capable of swimming against formidable currents in order to reach its goal. There is a lot of power associated with pink. It’s too bad that I haven’t seen a male winter coat in pink; this would be a great experiment. The color pink has the ability to lift mood. There is a reason why girls prefer this color because it lifts their mood.


Photo Sensitivity

We do know however that there is an exception to every rule. There are people that have a rare condition known as photo sensitivity. These folks develop discomfort or in an extreme case seizure as a result of a red color. Usually the trigger is the movement of objects with red in them. In some cases it may just be the movement or flashing of some color at a certain frequency. If you are such a person then avoid red as it may not be good for you. Talk to your health professional.