Your mom was wrong.
Sent to subscribers on May 10, 2024. Reproduced here as it was written.
Welcome back to The Renewal. The weekly email for savvy forward thinkers interested in well-being, longevity, and health.
The lesson: view morning sunlight. As soon as you can, even if it's through cloud cover, view morning sunlight.
"But my mom told me not to stare at the sun."
Rarely are moms wrong. But it happens.
Sunlight ranks in Dr. Andrew Huberman's (world-renowned health scientist) top five of all actions that support mental health, physical health, and performance:
Sleep
Movement
Nutrients (Macro and Micro)
(Sun)Light
Relationships
On a sunny morning, get outside for 5-10 minutes. If it's overcast, make it 15-20. Aim for 8-11am, but if you missed this window then go outside now.
You want to send signals to your body that it's time to wake up, get to work, and look sexy.
If outside looks dark or ugly, turn on all your bright indoor artificial lights — then get outside as soon as the sun is out.
Contacts or spectacles are fine. Don't use blue blockers. Face towards the sun. Don't look directly at the sun. If it causes pain, stop (this is where your mom had it right). Close your eyes and blink as needed. This doesn't work through windows or windshields.
Light impacts our:
Mood
Sleep
Ability to wake up and focus
Hormone levels
Immune system
Ability to cope with stress
Morning sunlight exposure helps kick off the 'waking' part of your circadian rhythm while setting a 16 hour timer for the 'night' part, where you fall asleep. Without it, your body can't anticipate when to wake up and when to go to sleep.
The circadian rhythm works in unison with your cortisol. Cortisol is a hormone released by the body in response to stress. Cortisol is your body's tiny, screaming drill sergeant, and sunlight tells him to get to work. You want to let him cook early in the day rather than later when it's time to go to sleep.
Ideally, your cortisol spikes as you roll out of bed and gradually tapers off as the day unfolds, bottoming out when it's time to crash at night. Increased morning cortisol gets your immune system, metabolism, and focus dialed in from the get-go.
To sum it up: The sun is more than just a lightbulb for our planet. Look to the morning sun to set your body's clock. Light has tremendous positive effects for your mood, sleep, focus, hormones, immune system, and stress levels. Harnessing the power of light is a zero-cost tool that will change you mentally and physically.
P.S. During the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic and early Tuberculosis treatment, exposure to air and sunlight was a key factor in treatments. Patients were outside on beds for hours a day.
I've been focused on getting natural light daily. I am sleeping much deeper, waking up with energy, and laughing more often. I now marvel consciously at the colors of sky, trees, breeze. It's made a difference in 1 week.
— The Renewal