Winter Wellness. Why get Daylight Exposure when it is Grey & Miserable?

If you want a better chance at alertness during the day and good sleep at night, the most important part of your evening routine should be done as early as possible in the morning.

Early morning light exposure is the strongest signal to entrain your circadian rhythm. This is not woo, no mystery, but hard science, well researched.

When very bright light enters your eyes soon after waking, specialised retinal cells signal to your brain’s suprachiasmatic nucleus, your master clock, indicating it is time to initiate “daytime mode”. This starts a countdown  to your peak melatonin level in the evening that same day. Melatonin contributes significantly to sleep pressure, and so this cascade supports deeper, more restorative sleep and steadier daytime energy.

That master clock also gives instructions to your organs and cells, initiating their clocks and therefore governing their activity, like producing and secreting hormones, being ready to digest food and produce energy. 

So getting daylight exposure early in the morning is one of the most powerful, simplest and free ways to support your overall health.

Even on cloudy, dull days, outside light is many, many times brighter than indoor lighting, even if it does not seem that way. So outdoor light is ideal. However, in the darkest winter months even this may be challenging to get access to if you commute & work indoors. 

So do whichever of these you can:

🌞Get 20 minutes of outdoor daylight exposure as soon as possible within your day, even if that is not soon after waking

💡Get a 10,000 Lux SAD light box and use that for 15-20 minutes each morning, with it as close as possible to your eyes (within reason!)🥸If getting out or sitting close to a light box just isn’t easy, at extra cost there are Light Therapy glasses you can use where the light source is very close to your retina, enabling you to move around & perform chores easily whilst getting your dose of light.

🦮 Get a dog, it will take care of the rest for you

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