By Rosemary Sadez Friedmann

What are you in the mood for now? Loaded question, isn't it? Actually, it may be even more loaded than you think. Scientists have been studying people's moods for years and have concluded that color has much to do with how we feel.

There are many variables to color, including personal experience and culture, but there also are universal associations that hit home with just about everyone. Let's take a look at some of those colors and what they do to us.

Red is the color of primal energy. The rays of this color can increase body temperature, which has the effect of vitalizing and energizing us. So red is a stimulating color.

Blue, though, is soothing and comforting. It is calming and tranquil and gives an aura of cleanliness.

Yellow stimulates your mental energy and activity. It is often used to combat depression and has been found to be an effective means of treating digestive problems.

Orange is an optimistic color, often used to treat melancholy. Energy and excitement are evoked with this color.

Purple is closely associated with meditation, spiritualism and creativity. It is often called a magical color.

The energy that comes from light also affects us. For example, light energy stimulates the pituitary and the penal glands and these, in turn, regulate hormones and other physiological systems. Here again, different colors generate different moods. Red has been known to increase heart rate, yellow to stimulate the eye, pink to calm an irate person and green to ease tension in general.

The effects of color on our moods are of great interest to those who market products to us. It is not a new science, but one that is increasingly popular because it seems to work.

So how can you benefit from this without too much effort and expense? On the market now are Mood-Lites, simple lightbulbs that come in different "mood" colors such as Renewal (green), Serenity (blue), Passion (red), Energy (orange), Happy (yellow) and Creativity (purple). Just screw a bulb into a lamp and set the mood you want.

(Rosemary Sadez Friedmann, an interior designer in Naples, Fla., is author of Mystery of Color.)