Morning Sunlight

Outside Us
Written By Jeff Johnson

Photo: Ash Edmunds

What?

Get outside in the early morning hours to experience natural sunlight exposure.

Why?

Natural sunlight exposure for 2-10 minutes in the first couple hours after sunrise (when the sun has a low solar angle) trains our circadian rhythm, which helps us have healthy energy levels through the day and sleep well. It also works on cloudy, rainy, and snowy days.

How to?

  1. Upon waking, go outside. Do it within about 2 hours of sunrise.

  2. Sit, stand, or walk around for 2-10 minutes.

  3. Get on with your day.

Protips:

  • Sunglasses and windows reduce the beneficial effects, so actually get outside.

  • Habit stack (joining up more than one good habit at a time) by brushing your teeth outside in the morning, which takes about 2 minutes.

  • Go barefoot. This is also a two for one because you’ll be grounding your feet to nature.

  • Warning: Never stare at the sun, it can cause irreversible damage to the retina. Duh.

 

The Rabbit Hole (References for People Who Like to Geek Out)

Huberman, A [@Hubermanlab]. (2020 April 9). “Morning and evening sunlight is especially important and powerful, when it comes to activating the biological circuits that support mental [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/B-w7GP7nwwk/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Huberman, A. (Host). (2021 June 14). The science of vision, eye health & seeing better (No. 24) [Video podcast episode]. In Huberman Lab. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObtW353d5i0&t=1920s Timestamp: 32:00

Patterson, S.S., Kuchenbecker, J.A., Anderson, J.R., Neitz, M., Neitz, J. (2020). A Color Vision Circuit for Non-Image-Forming Vision in the Primate Retina. Current Biology, 30(7), 1269-1274.e2. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.01.040

Rivera, A.M., Huberman A.D. (2020). Neuroscience: A Chromatic Retinal Circuit Encodes Sunrise and Sunset for the Brain. Current Biology, 30(7), R316-R318. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.02.090

 

We’d love to know how you microdose nature!

If you’d like to help expand the diversity of our microdoses (and help create a thriving community of nature junkies in the process), email us at hello@naturejunkielife.com

In your email, briefly describe your favorite nature connection experience, how to do it, and how it makes you feel. The more weird, wise and wonderful the better. Thanks in advance!

Jeff Johnson
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