Researchers Find Green Light Reduces Migraines By 20 Percent

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- There is surprising news about bright lights for migraine sufferers.

CBS2's Dr. Max Gomez reported that researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, found that green light reduced migraines by 20 percent.

Bright lights are considered triggers for migraines, but researchers found that green light generated the smallest signals in patients' eyes and brains.

"What we hear from patients is that green light is calming. It's comfortable, it's relaxing, whereas the other colors were making them anxious and angry," Dr. Rami Burstein, headache expert at Beth Israel, said.

Researchers found that blue and red light made the headaches worse, as those lights generated the largest signals in the eye and brain.

"Green was like a deep breath," patient Naomi Paisley-Flango said. "It was like a sigh."

The 42-year-old Paisley-Flango has been suffering from migraines since she was a teenager.

"I close the drapes in my house. I don't got to stores where I know everything is going to be bright," she said.

Researchers are now developing a special light bulb and sunglasses that can filter out all colors except for green to help patients.

CBS2's Gomez reported that green light will not cure people of their migraines, but if bright light is a trigger or aggravator, the green light glasses could prevent a headache if people know they're going to a place with bright light, or they could ease a headache once they have one.

Bright light makes migraines worse for more than 80 percent of sufferers.