by CHRIS BARANIUK, BBC Future, January 23, 2019
Can Blue Light Prevent Suicide at Train Stations in Japan?
This article talks about how blue lighting has been implemented in certain Japanese train station to help prevent suicide. As a result of a misleading media representation, there seems to be a false belief in that blue light is the ultimate solution to suicide. However, later Japanese scholars have proved that the effects of blue light on human behavior is still uncertain and unclear, thus multiple measures are still required when it comes to suicide prevention in train stations.
It is important to keep in mind that when it comes to a problem as complex as suicide, there is no “perfect solution”. As the article states ” The scientific evidence that blue light really can reduce the rate of suicide is mixed, and the true effect is probably smaller than often reported”, thus “… people should use multiple measures…” to effectively prevent suicide. Although the effect of blue light proves to be minimal, I do think there is still possibilities for it to be a method to help with suicide prevention instead of seeing it as the ultimate solution.
