Effect of Color Light Stimulation Using LED on Sleep Induction Time

The effects of color are already being used widely. For this reason, in this study, an attempt was made to use such effects of color to examine the changes in sleep onset through the use of the preferred and nonpreferred color light stimulation. Color light stimulations were randomly presented to the subjects, and based on these colors, the changes in sleep onset were examined through the EEG. Also, to quantify the physiological changes that were caused by each color light stimulation, the changes in the HRV were examined through ECG to determine the level of activation of the autonomous nervous system. The results showed that sleep onset time was changed based on the light stimulation. The result of the EEG analysis showed that sleep onset time was most significantly shortened in preferred color light stimulation. Also, the result of HRV was the fastest change about both the time domain and the frequency domain in the preferred color light stimulation. Therefore, because the preferred color light stimulation activated the parasympathetic nervous system, sleep was induced quickly. Also, by simply using the HRV, the differences in the index of HRV showed changes of sleep onset according to the color light stimulation.