So THAT’S Why It’s So Important To Get Sunlight Every Morning

Finding some morning sunshine on busy mornings before work or school can feel more like a luxury than a necessity.

But there are many reasons why you should enjoy as much morning sunshine as possible, and they go far beyond the emotional benefits that many people experience.

Specifically, experts say that morning sunlight can help you sleep better and get ready for a new day.Here’s how:

The sun provides guidance for our daily lives.

Elizabeth “Birdie” Shirtcliff, a research professor at the University of Oregon’s Center for Translational Neuroscience, said, “We have aterm called ‘zeitgebers,’ which is German for basically ‘time givers.'”They are environmental cues that can “help us understand how to set daily rhythms.”

These time givers influence many factors, including your cortisol awakening response, which is “a stress hormone version of the body’s signal to get up and go in the morning,” Shirtcliff explains.It helps you wake up and get ready for a new day. The best time giver in the world is the sun.

“The cortisol awakening response actually begins before sunrise, so cortisol levels begin to rise during the final stages of sleep.When we anticipate waking up, cortisol levels go up, and within the first few minutes of waking up, cortisol levels spike about 70 percent – so really, the greatest stress the body can endure is waking up,” Shirtcliff says.

When cortisol levels don’t peak, people feel tired and lethargic throughout the day.

But some of these time cues are “integrated into our daily events, such as sunlight, mealtimes, or the sound of noise on the street.All of these time cues prepare our bodies for what’s about to happen,” Shirtcliff explains.”Waking up in the morning and getting some sunshine – it’s a great way to help your body’s rhythm get ready for the day.”

Early morning exposure to sunlight “signals our brain to secrete cortisol and suppress melatonin.”

Melatonin is often referred to as the “sleep hormone”.Our bodies produce the most melatonin at night and less during the day.

It’s important for our natural biological clock.

Sunlight also plays an important role in our natural biological clock or circadian rhythm, according to Dr. Sujay Kansagra, director of the Pediatric Neurosleep Medicine Program at Duke University Medical Center and head of the popular Instagram account @thatsleepdoc.

Our circadian rhythms keep us awake during the day and help us sleep at night, and sunlight plays an important role.

Experiments have found that the natural biological clock in humans is actually a little longer than 24 hours, closer to 24.1 to 24.2 hours.

If our bodies follow this cycle to the letter, we tend to sleep later.But when our brains and eyes are exposed to light, our circadian rhythms reset every morning, which “helps bring it forward a little bit.So instead of running on a 24.2-hour cycle, we run on a 24-hour cycle,” Kansagra said.

That’s why morning sun is especially useful for those who need to get up early for work or school.”Getting up early and getting some sun is very beneficial in making sure you’re not too late for your circadian rhythm,” he says.

Sunlight is precious, whether you’re outdoors or just pulling back the curtains in your bedroom.

As far as circadian rhythms go, there’s nothing better than being outside in the sun, but if your office gets plenty of morning light, then that will be very beneficial as well.

It’s still bright enough to act as a reset for your circadian rhythm.It’s not that you have to be outdoors, it’s just the overall brightness.

If you regularly exercise outdoors in the morning, you’re in luck, too.Exercising in the morning is very, very good for you, and it can especially energize you.

Dr. Jawairia Shakil, an endocrinologist at Houston Methodist Hospital, says there’s no exact formula for calculating how much sunlight you need, but 15 to 30 minutes of outdoor sun exposure may be enough, Shakil adds that if you’re sunbathing through a window, it may take more than 30 minutes for you to reap the benefits.

Timing is important, so you should be in the sun within a few hours of waking up.The midday sun starts at noon and doesn’t have the same effect on your natural biological clock.

All of this is especially important for night owls and those suffering from seasonal affective disorder.

While everyone can benefit from morning sunshine, it is even more important for those who are used to staying up late because they “can easily go to bed later and wake up later.”

Early morning sunlight can help night owls feel more awake in the morning (they’re usually sleepy) and advance their circadian rhythms so they get used to waking up earlier.

Additionally, it is particularly beneficial for those suffering from seasonal affective disorder.

There’s actually some data on seasonal depression, which occurs when the sun isn’t shining and people don’t go outside as often, and early morning sunlight counteracts this effect.

But whether you fall into any of these categories or not, getting a tan every morning should be part of your daily routine.

You shouldn’t expect to see a huge return on your sleep cycle and energy after just one morning in the sun.But if you make it a habit, you can reap the benefits.