Light and Migraines: Why Some Colors Trigger Pain While Green Light May Help
Exploring the science of light sensitivity, migraine types, and emerging research on green-light exposure.
For many people living with migraines, light isn’t just uncomfortable—it can make an already painful experience significantly worse. Bright sunlight, fluorescent lighting, computer screens, and even ordinary indoor lighting can become unbearable during an attack.
But what if certain types of light affect the migraine brain differently? And what if one particular color could actually help?
Emerging research suggests that not all light affects migraines the same way. While some wavelengths can intensify migraine symptoms, carefully controlled exposure to green light has shown promising results in preliminary studies.
At Life Moves Manual Therapies, we’re particularly interested in whether this research could lead to a practical, accessible approach to migraine management.
Understanding Migraines: More Than Just a Headache
Migraine is a neurological disorder that can involve much more than head pain. Symptoms may include:
- Moderate to severe headache, often throbbing or pulsating
- Sensitivity to light, sound, or smells
- Nausea or vomiting
- Visual disturbances
- Neck pain or stiffness
- Difficulty concentrating
- Fatigue before or after an attack
Not everyone experiences migraines the same way, and understanding the different classifications helps researchers evaluate which treatments may be most effective.
Episodic vs. Chronic Migraine
Episodic migraine generally describes people who experience fewer than 15 headache days per month. Some may experience only one or two attacks monthly, while others have migraines nearly every week.
High-frequency episodic migraine is a commonly used research term for people experiencing approximately 8–14 migraine days per month. Although it isn’t a separate formal diagnosis, it identifies a group that may experience substantial disruption to daily life.
Chronic migraine is defined by the International Headache Society as headache occurring at least 15 days per month for more than three months, with at least eight days per month having migraine features.
Researchers also distinguish between migraine with aura and migraine without aura.
Migraine with aura involves temporary neurological symptoms, often visual changes such as flashing lights, zigzag patterns, or blind spots. Some people experience sensory or language disturbances.
Migraine without aura does not involve these characteristic neurological warning symptoms, although other early symptoms may occur.
A person can experience attacks both with and without aura.
These distinctions matter because migraine frequency, neurological sensitivity, and treatment response can vary considerably between individuals.
Research reference: International Headache Society, International Classification of Headache Disorders, 3rd Edition (ICHD-3).
Why Does Light Make Migraines Worse?
Light sensitivity, known as photophobia, is one of the most recognizable migraine symptoms.
But migraine-related photophobia isn’t simply a matter of having sensitive eyes.
Light entering the eyes activates retinal pathways that communicate with several regions of the brain. Some of these pathways interact with neurological circuits involved in pain processing.
During a migraine, these systems may become unusually sensitive. Light that would normally be comfortable can amplify headache pain or other symptoms.
Research by Noseda and colleagues has helped explain how visual information and pain-processing pathways interact during migraine attacks.
Their work suggests that the relationship between light and migraine pain depends partly on how different wavelengths activate retinal, thalamic, and cortical pathways.
This helps explain something migraine patients have reported for years: certain lighting environments feel dramatically worse than others.
Does the Color of Light Matter?
Yes—and this is where the research becomes especially interesting.
In a 2016 study published in Brain, Noseda and colleagues investigated how different colors of light affected headache intensity in people experiencing migraines.
Participants were exposed to controlled narrow bands of white, blue, amber, red, and green light.
The researchers found meaningful differences between colors.
White Light: A Common Migraine Aggravator
White light contains a mixture of visible wavelengths.
For someone experiencing migraine-related photophobia, ordinary white lighting can increase discomfort and headache intensity.
In the Noseda study, white-light exposure worsened headache pain in many participants.
This doesn’t mean white light causes migraines in everyone. Rather, exposure during an attack can intensify symptoms in susceptible individuals.
Blue Light: Particularly Problematic for Some Migraine Patients
Blue light is frequently discussed in connection with screens, LED lighting, and sleep disruption.
In the 2016 study, blue light produced some of the strongest pain-related responses among the tested wavelengths.
Researchers also observed stronger neurological responses to blue light than to green light in several of the pathways they examined.
However, it’s important to distinguish between light exposure during a migraine and claims that everyday screen exposure directly causes migraine attacks. Those are not the same question.
Brightness, contrast, flicker, exposure duration, and individual sensitivity may all influence the experience.
Red and Amber Light: Not Necessarily More Comfortable
Red and amber lighting are sometimes assumed to be gentler simply because they appear warmer.
However, the Noseda study found that both red and amber light could worsen headache intensity during migraine attacks.
This is an important distinction: a light that looks softer isn’t necessarily neurologically less aggravating.
It also doesn’t mean that every type of red-light therapy worsens migraines. Red-light therapy devices differ in wavelength, brightness, treatment duration, and whether light reaches the eyes.
The available evidence does not support treating all red-light devices or exposure methods as equivalent.
Green Light: A Different Neurological Response
Green light produced a notably different response.
In the 2016 study, narrow-band green light was less likely to worsen migraine pain than the other colors tested. At low intensity, some participants actually experienced a reduction in headache intensity.
Researchers also found that green light produced comparatively smaller responses in certain visual and pain-related neurological pathways.
These findings raised an intriguing possibility: carefully controlled green-light exposure might be more tolerable during migraines and could potentially offer therapeutic benefits.
Importantly, the study involved specific wavelengths and controlled light intensities—not ordinary green-colored bulbs or screens.
Research reference: Noseda et al. (2016), “Migraine photophobia originating in cone-driven retinal pathways,” Brain.
Can Green Light Actually Reduce Migraine Frequency?
The next question was whether green light might do more than simply feel less uncomfortable during an attack.
Could repeated exposure reduce the number or severity of migraines over time?
A preliminary clinical trial led by Martin and colleagues, published in Cephalalgia in 2021, explored this possibility.
Researchers enrolled patients with episodic and chronic migraine and compared periods of white-light and green-light exposure.
The participants used light-emitting diodes at home under controlled instructions.
The protocol involved:
- 1–2 hours of light exposure daily
- 10 weeks of white-light exposure
- A two-week break between phases
- 10 weeks of green-light exposure
- Tracking headache frequency, pain intensity, medication use, and quality of life
The results were encouraging.
Both episodic and chronic migraine groups experienced statistically significant reductions in monthly headache days during the green-light phase, while the white-light phase did not produce significant improvements in headache frequency.
Participants also reported improvements in several quality-of-life measures.
The study included 29 participants in its analyzed groups, so the findings were preliminary. Because everyone received white light before green light, and the study did not include a randomized, blinded comparison, the results cannot establish that green light alone caused the improvements.
Nevertheless, the findings provided an important foundation for additional research.
Research reference: Martin et al. (2021), “Evaluation of Green Light Exposure on Headache Frequency and Quality of Life in Migraine Patients: A Preliminary One-way Cross-over Clinical Trial,” Cephalalgia.
If Green Light Shows Promise, Why Isn’t Everyone Using It?
One major challenge is the amount of time required by the protocols studied so far.
Consider the Martin study: participants were instructed to spend at least an hour, and potentially two hours, exposed to green light every single day for ten weeks.
For someone already struggling with migraines, maintaining that schedule may be difficult.
Work responsibilities, family obligations, transportation, and the unpredictability of migraine symptoms can all make lengthy treatment protocols impractical.
And that raises a question we’re particularly interested in:
Could shorter, more manageable sessions still provide measurable benefits?
The research doesn’t yet give us a reliable answer.
The wavelength of light, its intensity, how it reaches the eyes, exposure duration, and frequency of treatment may all influence the outcome.
A shorter session cannot automatically be assumed to produce the same effects as an hour-long exposure.
But understanding whether a more accessible protocol is worth investigating could be valuable.
Exploring a More Accessible Green-Light Protocol at Life Moves MT
At Life Moves Manual Therapies in Marietta, Georgia, we’re preparing a small, exploratory green-light migraine study using a Lumara green-light device.
Our goal is to observe whether a shorter, clinic-based exposure schedule is associated with changes in migraine frequency or intensity.
Rather than asking participants to dedicate one or two hours every day, we’re exploring a protocol involving:
15-minute sessions, three times per week, for three weeks.
That’s nine sessions in total.
We’ll collect baseline information and track migraine frequency, pain intensity, medication use, and the impact migraines have on daily activities.
We’re interested in learning whether participants report meaningful changes during the three-week period and whether the protocol is practical enough for people to follow consistently.
This is an exploratory pilot, not an established migraine treatment. It is not designed to prove that green light causes improvement, and there is no guarantee that participants will experience relief.
Who May Qualify?
We’re seeking adults with episodic or chronic migraine who:
- Experience at least four migraine days per month
- Report average migraine pain intensity of at least 5 out of 10
- Have experienced migraines for at least three months
- Can attend three sessions per week for three consecutive weeks
- Are willing to track their symptoms throughout the study
Additional screening will determine whether participation is appropriate.
Participation is free for eligible individuals.
Interested in Participating—or Know Someone Who Might Be?
Migraines can affect work, family time, physical activity, and overall quality of life. We’re interested in exploring whether emerging light research can eventually lead to more practical care options.
If you experience recurring migraines, we invite you to complete our participant screening questionnaire.
Click Here to Apply for the Green Light Migraine Study
Know someone whose life is regularly interrupted by migraines? Please share this article with them.
The more we understand about migraine patterns and individual responses, the better questions we can ask about future treatment options.
Research and References
- Noseda, R., et al. (2016). Migraine photophobia originating in cone-driven retinal pathways. Brain, 139(7), 1971–1986. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/aww119
- Martin, L. F., et al. (2021). Evaluation of green light exposure on headache frequency and quality of life in migraine patients: A preliminary one-way cross-over clinical trial. Cephalalgia. https://doi.org/10.1177/0333102420956711
- International Headache Society. (2018). The International Classification of Headache Disorders, 3rd edition (ICHD-3). https://ichd-3.org/
- Current understanding of photophobia, visual networks and headaches. (2019). Review of migraine-related light sensitivity and neurological mechanisms. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6461529/
Medical disclaimer: This article is intended for educational purposes and does not replace individualized medical evaluation or treatment. Green-light exposure remains an investigational approach for migraine management. Participants should continue prescribed care unless their treating clinician advises otherwise. New, sudden, or significantly changed headaches should receive appropriate medical evaluation.