Best Light For Migraines?

Reading Time: 7-Minutes Author: Samantha Thompson

The best light for migraines is narrow‑band green light at around 520nm, which research shows can calm the brain’s pain pathways, ease light sensitivity, and reduce headache frequency, all without triggering discomfort like blue, red or bright white light can.

The Benefits of 520 nm Narrow-Band Green LED Light for Headache and Migraine Relief

Green LED light around 520nm captured our attention as a gentle, drug-free option for reducing migraines, light sensitivity, and daily headache discomfort.

Researchers from the University of Arizona, Harvard Medical School, and others have shown that consistent exposure to this specific wavelength can help calm overactive pain pathways in the brain, leading to fewer headaches and better quality of life.

How Green LED Light Therapy Works

Narrowband Green LED light therapy uses specific wavelengths of visible light to influence biological processes, including pain modulation and mood regulation.

Green light interacts with the visual system and brain structures such as the thalamus, the transmission for sensory and pain signals, and appears to generate a less “irritating” aka trigger response than blue, white, amber, or red light in people who experience headaches and migraines.

How to Use Green Light for Headaches and Migraines

Whether used preventively or during an acute migraine, exposure to 520-550 nm green LED light can help lower headache intensity and stress.

Here are general recommendations supported by clinical evidence:

Timing: 30–60 minutes per session daily, or during headache onset.
Environment: Ideally in a dark or dimly lit room.
Distance: 1–2 feet away from the face; eyes may remain open or closed (task can be completed whilst green light in use).
Consistency: Daily use over several weeks yields stronger preventive effects.
Optional Modulation: Pulsed settings (10-100Hz) may accelerate relief and prevent sensory saturation in highly sensitive users.

Always follow manufacturer guidance and consult a healthcare provider if you have a medical condition or photosensitivity.

How Green Light Affects the Brain (Made Reader‑Friendly)

For many people with reoccurring headaches and migraines, normal room light can feel almost “painful,” as if the brightness is drilling into the head.

Noseda’s group studied this by shining different colours of pure, narrow‑band light into the eyes of people with migraine while recording how their eyes, thalamus, and visual cortex responded.

Noseda found that:

Green light causes the smallest reaction in the visual brain.
Blue, red, amber, and white light produced large electrical responses and often made pain worse, while low‑intensity green light produced much smaller signals in the visual cortex.
The thalamus, which acts like a central relay for both vision and pain, was least activated by green light and most activated by blue/white light
Did you know?: General household and Office LED lighting contains approx 20-35% blue light.

In simple terms, the brain’s “pain wiring” reacts less strongly to green than to other colours, which is why green light is less likely to aggravate a migraine and, in some people, can actually soften the pain and reduce light sensitivity instead of triggering it.

That’s exactly why CHIRYŌ Light Therapy carefully developed a Healthy Lighting Calm Green range for home or office illumination, strictly using narrowband green light to provide a gentler lighting option. Calm Green is available within light bulbs, rechargeable bendy gooseneck lamps or handheld green light therapy panels.

Green Light Clinical and Preclinical Studies for Migraines

1. University of Arizona – Human Migraine Study (Ibrahim et al.)

Participants: 29 adults with episodic or chronic migraine who had failed multiple traditional therapies.
Treatment: Daily exposure at home to narrow-band green LED light for 1–2 hours per day, over several weeks.
Results:
- Approximately 60 % reduction in headache pain intensity and in the number of days with headache reported across participants.
- Improvements in sleep, ability to exercise, do chores, and overall quality of life were reported.
- Science Daily: Green Light Therapy Shown To Reduce Migraine Frequency, Intensity

2. Harvard & Beth Israel Deaconess – Photophobia and Colour Study (Noseda et al., Brain 2016)

Participants: 11 individuals with migraine and pronounced photophobia.
Design: Subjects were exposed to narrow-band white, blue, green, amber, and red light at different intensities while reporting changes in headache pain.
Results:
- At the highest intensity, nearly 80 % of patients reported increased headache pain with white, blue, amber, or red light, but only about half that proportion worsened with green light.
- About 20 % of patients experienced a reduction in pain when exposed specifically to narrow-band green light (530 nm).
- Oxford Academic, Brain: Migraine Photophobia Originating In Cone-Driven Retinal Pathways

3. University of Arizona – Animal Pain Models (Ibrahim et al., Pain 2017)

Model: Rats with acute and neuropathic pain.
Exposure: Rats received green LED light at 525 nm, around 8 hours per day, for several days.
Results:
- Green-light-exposed rats showed significantly increased paw withdrawal latency to thermal stimuli, indicating reduced pain sensitivity.
- When the visual input was blocked with opaque contact lenses, the analgesic effect disappeared, suggesting the effect depends on seeing the light, not just skin exposure.
- Evidence pointed toward involvement of endogenous opioidergic pathways (reversal with naloxone) and changes consistent with serotonergic modulation.
- PubMed: Long-Lasting Antinociceptive Effects of Green Light in Acute and Chronic Pain in Rats

4. Pulsed Green Light Therapy

At present, there are no large, migraine-specific human trials directly comparing continuous vs. pulsed green light.

However, pulsed light is worth a mention because in broader neuromodulation and light-stimulation literature, pulse frequency (for example 10–100Hz) is recognised to enhance light therapy treatments, including brain responsiveness and adaptation.

Several studies use 40Hz (gamma‑frequency) flickering light delivered via light panels, caps, or goggles to influence brain networks involved in neurodegenerative and developmental conditions.
A general review of light-based neuromodulation and pain emphasises that pulse pattern, intensity, and wavelength all contribute to the therapeutic effect, but does not specifically define an optimal pulse frequency for green light in migraine.

Light Therapy Pulsed findings support the broader concept that pulse frequency is a meaningful “tuning knob” in light‑based brain therapies, including caps and helmet‑style devices for conditions like Alzheimer’s and autism.

For migraine and green light specifically, pulse‑modulated delivery should therefore be described as an emerging, neuroscience‑inspired optimisation rather than a proven requirement.

CHIRYŌ Light Therapy designed CalmMotion™ with optional 520nm and/or 550nm green light wavelengths, plus adjustable pulse frequency settings.
Our exclusive CamMotion™ USB-C rechargeable green light therapy panel is made to support headache relief and help reduce migraine symptoms, offering a simple, drug-free option you can use at home or on the go.

Supporting Referrence of Green Light Therapy

CHIRYŌ Light Therapy FREE Healthy Lighting downloadable E-Book is available here
Green light exposure for migraine – 29-patient clinical study (summary; originally in Cephalalgia): https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200910090016.htm
Interview and overview of Dr. Ibrahim’s work in migraine and pain: https://migrainecollaborative.org/going-green-light-for-migraine-and-pain-a-conversation-with-mohab-ibrahim
University of Arizona feature on green light and pain: https://news.arizona.edu/news/treatment-pain-gets-green-light
Noseda et al., Brain (2016) – green vs white/blue/amber/red in migraine photophobia: https://academic.oup.com/brain/article/139/7/1971/2464334
BrainFacts.org overview of light, migraine, and photophobia: https://www.brainfacts.org/thinking-sensing-and-behaving/pain/2019/migraines-whats-light-got-to-do-with-it-072619
Ibrahim et al., Pain (2017) – rat study on 525 nm green LED and analgesia: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28092651/
Patient-level summary of green light and photophobia (citing Noseda and Ibrahim): https://avulux.com/blogs/migraine-glasses-blog/green-light-therapy-migraine-photophobia

This information is for general education only and is not medical advice, speak with a doctor or qualified health professional.

Best Light For Migraines?

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