Blue glasses increase your alertness: Effects of colored glasses on psychomotor performance

Exposure to blue wavelength light has been reported to increase arousal level. In this study, we examined if wearing blue glasses has similar effects. We performed psychomotor vigilance tests before and after 30-min wearing of blue, green, orange, pink, and clear glasses on different days in 20 normal subjects. The level of vigilance measured as reaction time improved after wearing blue glasses, while no significant effect was observed with the other colored or clear glasses. This study indicates that 30-min wearing of blue glasses improves psychomotor vigilance after that and suggests that rather than the absolute intensity of the blue wavelength light, the relative content is the determinant for increasing arousal level.