Chennai: A senior police officer in Chennai recently cha­nged the colour of his bedroom walls from off-white to blue and got rid of insomnia and the sleeping pills that couldn’t cure it.
He trusted the advi­ce of the doctors at the Government Yoga and Naturopathy Medical Coll­ege Hospital (GYN­MCH), who prescribed th­at colour change and also advised him to take up gardening.
“The blue at sleep time and the green during sunshine hugely helped in recharging my sleep cycle and overhaul the health”, beamed the off­icer. He requested anon­ymity.
Mogappair’s S. Asha, 43, says she battled diabetes and arthritis by following the ‘colour therapy’. She was sp­ending almost Rs 10,000 a month on tablets that included high doses of pain-killers for  two years before landing up at the GYNMCH, where the doctors studied her food habits and prepared a fresh diet chart.
It included a few oun­ces of water kept in the sun in a glass wrapped in yellow paper. “I drank this water. I was also asked to take vendiyam (fenugreek) water and white pumpkin juice. All this plus some breathing exercises and Patchi­m­uk­thasana brought my sugar levels under control and relieved me from my knee pain”, Asha told DC, adding that her dependence on tablets has now come down.
Dr Y. Deepa at the GYNMCH, situated at the Anna Arch near Arumbakkam, says the hospital receives “at least 160 new patients in a day”. They are prescribed a mix of yoga, naturopathy and chromotherapy (using colours to heal) “to lead a tablet-free life”, she says.
Chromotherapy, she explains, is a supportive treatment using different colours to treat various ailments. “Sun’s rays reflect as seven col­o­urs known as Vibgyor — violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and red. Water and oil are used as mediums to pass the energy of these colours to recharge the patient”, says Dr Deepa.
Several school children too have benefited by colour therapy. Roopa (name changed), 12, was not performing well at school despite working hard, even staying awake late. “When her parents brought the pretty girl five months ago, we advised them to change the colour of her room from red to yellow besides exposing her to happy and healing shades like orange, green and yellow.
We also taught a few breathing lessons to help her reduce stress”, recalls another specialist Dr Yuvaraj. “Roopa came two months ago sporting a big smile as she has now scored high  marks”.
50 techies get colour treatment
Fifty young people, most of them from the IT sector and suffering from diabetes, constipation and hypertension, have recently participated as ‘sample subjects’ in an elaborate chromotherapy resear­ch undertaken by the Government Yoga and Naturopathy Medical College Hospital (GYNMCH).
They were prescribed colour therapies combined with yogasanas based on individual problems and almost 90 per cent of them reported positive results, according to the doctors at the centre.
Research leader Dr V. Meena said her subjects were 30-45 years old and from the IT industry. Their sedentary life, mostly spent before the computers and munching fast food devoid of fibre, brought a host of problems, constipation being the mo­st frequent tormentor.
“I taught them Suryanamaskaram and prescribed yellow solarised water, which is normal water in a glass wrapped in yellow paper and exposed to the sun. Their conditions improved within a month”, the doctor said. Her colleague Dr Nina explained how yellow worked on the digestive system.
“Yellow is a creative colour and also a laxative. Exposure to yellow improved the digestion process and gets relief from constipation”, she said.
A 31-year-old IT professional RM (name withheld) said she felt fresh and “experienced easier mornings” after the treatment with yellow solarised water and a few corrections in the eating habits.
Another chromotherapy specialist Dr Sindhu treated a group of asthma patients with green solarised water (water in a glass wrapped in green paper and exposed to sun for 20 minutes). “This water combined with some breathing exercises improved their immunity and drastically reduced the asthma attacks”, Dr Sindhu said.