The Great Manchester Health Experiment

…It uses colour wheel to measure and influence people’s happiness!

The people of Manchester are being encouraged to take part in a unique and exciting experiment to test, and perhaps influence, the mood of the city.

The Great Manchester Health Experiment, taking place on Wednesday, 14 September, will use the Manchester Colour Wheel to measure the happiness of the city’s population.

Next Wednesday at 9am, the city’s populous will be asked to register their mood based on a colour within the Wheel. Particpants will then be asked to carry out an activity they normally wouldn’t do during the day to improve the way they feel, such as exercise, meet up with old friends, have a sing or a dance, and at 3pm register their mood again using the Colour Wheel.

The experiment is a partnership between the University of Manchester and six Greater Manchester NHS organisations. Professor Peter Whorwell, who jointly devised the day, explains: “The Colour Wheel is a very quick and simple way of gauging someone’s mood by relating it to a colour. It saves having to fill in complicated questionnaires and overcomes any communication problems that might be associated with foreign languages or responding to possibly embarrassing questions relating to how you feel. It might also be very useful in children and we are planning on looking at this as part of the experiment.”

The results from the experiment will be turned into a mural, a sculpture, a ballet and a musical composition, which will be unveiled at a concert at an event called MediaCity:UK on Friday, 9 December.

Credit – Simon Meadows and The Optimist website