It is that time of year to spruce up things before the winter settles in.  I love the fall because it is a cleansing time of year.  Time to chop wood for the fireplaces and time to rake leaves.  Time to even paint some rooms before the heat goes on in full force all day.  But what colors should you paint those walls?  Make a good decision because you will have to stare at them for a while. They say just the color of a room can play a role in how we feel and act.

Paint the walls blue and studies show you may be more creative.  Paint them red and you may be more vigilant or even more sexy.  Change to green to calm yourself down.  But if you really want something off the wall, paint those walls a certain shade of pink.  Drunk tank pink is the very specific shade of pink or as I call it Pepto Bismol pink.  It is a very bright shade of pink that looks like the bottle of stomach medicine or sweet bubble gum.

It is so bright that it prompted  Adam Alter a professor at New York Universities School of business to write a book about the color.  It is called Drunk Tank Pink and other unexpected forces that shape how we think, feel, and behave .  It is a thoroughly obnoxious color that I think I should just subject the family to for spite since they were so obnoxious this past summer. The author of the book even admits that it is a horrible color that no one likes.

The color seems to have magical powers.  In 1979, psychologists found that painting prison walls in drunk tank pink would calm down even the rowdiest inmate.  It worked in classrooms too.  Research has confirmed its curious effects.  They ran a study with 150 young healthy men.  They had them look at pieces of pink cardboard and while gripping a hand grip, seemed to tighten their fist not as hard while looking at the obnoxious pink color. 

Word spread quickly to the world of college football.  To this day the University of Iowa’s football stadium still has the visiting locker room painted in this pink color from everything from lockers to urinals in bright pink.  The thought was that at half time or before the game when the visiting team arrived, they would be calmed and weakened by the effects of the color on the brain.

Why does it work? Some researchers believe that it is biological in nature.  Could it be that the color of Pepto Bismol calms your stomach too?  Pink bubble gum doesn’t calm anything.  That stuff just sticks all over my lips when I pop a bubble.  They believe that there is something in the way that this color interacts with our eyes, our brain our physiology to weaken us.  Well we painted our daughter’s room this color and it was there for years.  No wonder she is always the prime target in a game of dodge ball.

So next time you remodel you might want to rethink pink and remember what is on your walls could decide what is on your mind.  By the way, the most popular color in the world is blue.  Apparently we all love to gaze up at a perfect blue sky.  The least favorite color is yellow so no wonder we despise looking at that puddle the puppy left on the floor for us to notice.

Ok, stop reading books about weird colors and get on with some cool fall weather activities especially if you live in a place where you can experience the four seasons.  It is a gift to enjoy without having to go through the hassle of visiting a place with seasons you like.  For once something just comes to us to enjoy year after year.  I know, shut up and start painting, chopping wood and figure out what color to use.. I know what color I will surprise my boys with to calm them down. HAHAHA!