It’s been a popular topic of conversation this past week! Years back I read a study that about the first 15 minutes of daylight you get is the most impactful in setting your circadian rhythm. It found that delaying exposure to daylight can delay our circadian rhythm and affect internal processes. Ever since then I have experienced firsthand the positive impact of early light exposure after wakening. If I wait until later in my day for bright light exposure it would make it more difficult for me to sleep.

It is not just our physical health but also our mental health that can be affected by this important cycle. As noted on medium.com, Andrew Huberman shared in an interview that “Getting sunlight in your eyes first thing in the morning is absolutely vital to mental and physical health. It is perhaps the most important thing that any and all of us can and should do in order to promote metabolic well-being, promote the positive function of your hormone system, get your mental health steering in the right direction.” He also shared, “The simple behavior that I do believe everybody should adopt… is to view, ideally sunlight, for 2–10 minutes every morning upon waking. So, when you get up in the morning, you really want to get bright light into your eyes because it does two things. First of all, it triggers the timed release of cortisol, a healthy level of cortisol, into your system, which acts as a wake-up signal and will promote wakefulness and the ability to focus throughout the day. It also starts a timer for the onset of melatonin.”

The WELL Building Standard defines melatonin as the “‘Darkness hormone’ whose levels in the body is regulated by the circadian rhythm and the presence of light” and acts as “a driver for sleep.” So if you want to wake up feeling more well-rested, aid your body’s internal processes, and improve your mood, energy, and focus it may be worth experimenting with light exposure and the lighting strategies I will share about in my next post.

Click here to continue to Part 2 of Circadian Rhythm.