Rise and Shine

sunshine-brain-health

Quick Win

Spend 15 to 30 minutes outdoors soon after you wake up. Sunshine triggers brain chemicals that can help regulate your sleep-wake cycle — a.k.a. your circadian rhythm — and your mood.

Try this today

• Head outdoors. Within an hour of waking up in the morning, go outside for 15 to 30 minutes. You could sip coffee or eat breakfast on your porch, take a stroll around the block or just sit and listen to the sounds of morning. Bundle up if it’s chilly!
• Skip the sunglasses. Sunglasses can diminish the intensity of the light entering your eyes. Shades help protect your eyes during a day at the beach, but full-strength rays are best for your morning “dose” of sunshine.
• Add a midday outdoor break. Afternoon sunshine helps regulate your sleep cycles, too, and if you experience a post-lunch energy slump, a walk outside may help perk you up.

Why

Technology may dominate modern life, but most of our body’s needs are decidedly low-tech. Sunlight in the morning is a case in point. When it enters your eyes, it triggers production of the mood-regulating chemical serotonin in the brain, as explained in a 2019 report in the journal Somnologie. Sunlight also suppresses melatonin — a hormone that makes us feel sleepy — something we only want at bedtime. This process helps to set people’s circadian rhythms for the day, supporting a healthy sleep pattern, according to Michelle Drerup, director of behavioral sleep medicine at Cleveland Clinic. “I typically recommend 15-30 minutes,” Drerup says. “But anything is better than nothing.” Spend more time outdoors if you can; research suggests that sunlight throughout the day helps regulate your sleep pattern, too — and midday light may be as effective as a nap at restoring alertness during a post-lunch energy dip, according to a study of 25 adults 18 to 30, reported in 2015 in PLOS ONE.