How Exposing Yourself to Natural Light In the Morning Can Majorly Improve Your Health

Exposing yourself to natural light within the first hour of waking up is a healthy habit you may want to implement immediately. It could have profound benefits to your health, and—best of all—it’s easy. “It’s important to walk in the sunlight for at least half an hour before 10 a.m.,” agrees Nicola Elliott, founder of the London-based personal care brand NEOM Wellbeing. “After all, mornings set the tone for the whole day and build into the evening.”

To that end, she makes a point of taking her morning calls while walking around her neighborhood rather than sitting in her office. “That way, I spend half an hour in the sunlight first thing in the morning, and it helps me sleep better.”

Dr. Mark Hyman, founder of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine, confirms via Instagram that the benefits are real. In fact, he says that exposing yourself to natural light first thing in the morning is actually one of the easiest and most affordable ways you can take care of your health. He also says that exposing yourself to just five or ten minutes of sunshine on clear, bright days first thing in the morning can be sufficient to reap the rewards.

On cloudy days, Hyman recommends extending your morning light exposure to 10 to 20 minutes, and going up to 30 minutes on days that are overcast. (Just remember not to wear sunglasses. And, yes, catching the light outside is better than sunning yourself through a window—but in a pinch, that can help, too.)

The health benefits of sunlight in the morning

Obviously, getting some sun in the morning feels good, but why exactly is it beneficial for our health? First, consider the fact that most of us spend the majority of our time indoors nowadays, and you’ll get a sense of why so many of us are deficient in vitamin D—and, perhaps, why anxiety and depression rates are skyrocketing.

Here’s the thing: The amount of natural light we get has a huge impact on our levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that regulates sleep and mood. As sleep expert Dr. Javier Albares explains, low levels of serotonin are related to the risk of depression, and, as Hyman points out, serotonin is also integral in regulating other bodily functions such as appetite, anxiety, digestion, blood clotting, and sexual desire. Thus, it’s safe to say that keeping our serotonin balanced is pretty important for overall well-being.

“Getting sunlight in the morning ensures cortisol peaks when energy is needed and decreases its levels when it is time to relax,” Hyman explains. “This simple habit of getting sunlight in the morning helps train your body to be calm, clear-headed, and focused.”

In other words, exposing ourselves to natural light early in the day helps regulate our internal clock so that our system stays balanced from day to night, winter to spring.

The importance of daylight

The infrared light found in daylight can modulate inflammation, stimulate collagen production, prevent neurodegeneration, and even optimize mitochondria, which produce energy inside our cells. Thus, we can think of exposing ourselves to daylight first thing in the morning as akin to turning on our own personal, natural red light lamp. For free, no less.

“Infrared light and red light are the basis of solar radiation,” explains nutrition expert Beatriz Larrea. “These energies are present in daylight throughout the day, supporting vital functions such as melatonin production, leptin regulation (crucial in appetite regulation), and cortisol levels. For optimum metabolism, aging, sleep, energy, and health, it’s important that we rediscover our relationship with natural light.”

As mentioned, that all-important internal clock, also known as the body’s circadian rhythm, is heavily influenced by natural light. “Our whole body is governed by a central clock and several peripheral clocks,” Larrea notes. “These clocks set in motion all the biochemical functions of the body that are led by messengers called hormones. And hormones regulate absolutely everything in our body: weight, sleep, energy, hunger, sexuality, mental agility, muscle function… The central clock is the one that starts or stops everything in the body and receives environmental signals so it knows what to do. The most important signal? Light.”

There’s a reason we wake up in the morning and get sleepy at night: Sunrise and sunset guide our circadian rhythms. “The sun rises and are body releases cortisol. The sun goes down and gives the order to secrete melatonin,” Larrea explains. “And so it is with all hormones: They are released according to the rhythm in our body which is driven by the light and dark patterns of the environment.”

With this in mind, it’s no wonder that taking advantage of the light first thing in the morning can be a huge boon to our wellbeing. And, it may be a good idea to rediscover other ways to further improve our relationship with the light as well.

Some easy ways? Taking daily walks outdoors, eating dinner before 8 p.m., exercising outdoors during the day, and even having your snacks al fresco. You may also want to consider minimizing the use of devices that emit blue light, especially in the hours around or after sunset. All of this will not only regulate your serotonin, but also help your body produce melatonin so that you can sleep better at night.

“It’s about creating brighter days and darker nights, using common sense,” says Larrea. “What regulates the main circadian axis is the tango between cortisol and melatonin. And this is regulated by the right exposure to the light environment.