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5 Ways Natural Light Guides Your Health

Whether it is sunlight or the darkness of the night, natural light guides us to respect the hardwiring of our bodies and the signals of the natural world. If we pay attention to the signals of the day and night like the colors of a traffic light, we are respecting our natural stop and go biology.
 
Our circadian rhythms and hormones are balanced by this respect. Our rest, recovery, and restorative mechanisms are tied to these signals. Our productivity, immunity, cognition, and moods are dependent on our cooperation with these forces.
Yes, we can get away with staying up late or sleeping in. Sure, creativity can be heightened in the middle of the night. No doubt there’s some temptations and freedom that happens when we move while most rest or vice versa.
Yet, for the most part, natural light guides our health in the long term.
After all, where would this planet, and everything on it, be without the light of the sun?
“The Sun, with all the planets revolving around it, and depending on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as though it had nothing else in the Universe to do.” – Galileo
Most of us are awake in the day but how much sunlight do we get?
Too many of us are awake too often after dark with the blue light of “the alien sun”, as Dr. Jack Kruse, neurosurgeon, puts it, affecting our rhythms and well-being.
As I write this article, my face is directed to a computer screen which gives off blue light (I am offsetting some of its influence by writing in the day surrounded by windows pouring natural light into the room).
Blue light is widespread in our daily lives from TV, smartphones, and other backlit screens to many bulbs and manufactured light-emitting electronics.  Even in the middle of the night, we rarely enjoy that complete darkness that was once found across the globe.
This untimely exposure to an artificial waking light raises cortisol and drops melatonin at the wrong times to affect our ability to fall asleep and wake up alert. The importance of quality sleep at the right time is underrated in our society but highly important for our longevity and well-being along the way.
The value of dimming the lights leading up to and complete darkness for proper sleep and its health benefits are manyfold. Suffice it to say this is an ancestral adaptation that we thrived on for hundreds of thousands of years.
I covered the value of sleep and detailed many tips, tools and strategies in The Restorative Sleep Guide.
There’s a big difference between how natural light guides our body and artificial light affects us. I don’t want to get into the negative aspects of blue light in any greater detail here but if this interests you, check out the pioneer of this field, Dr. John Ott as well as the further readings at the end of this article.

 

natural light guides sun rise
Sunlight, clean water, and fresh air, a natural remedy for good health

5 Ways Natural Light Guides Your Health

 

1. Sunlight reduces jet lag –

When you arrive at a new location, exposure to morning sunlight three days in a row can shift your circadian rhythm by 2.1 hours. This allows you to orient to your new location far quicker. Jet lag can cause GI issues, lack of alertness and frequent sufferers can be at greater risk for cancer and a shorter lifespan.

2. Sunlight may prevent autoimmune disease –

Sometimes you want your immune system to relax otherwise things get out of control.

Sunlight is singing to your body to not worry so much. Click To Tweet

Exposure to UVA and UVB from sunlight can calm overactive immune responses helping to prevent autoimmune diseases.

3. Sunlight relieves stress –

I’m sure you’ve felt that “ahhh…” feeling getting outside on a nice, sunny day.

With the sun, worries can just wash away like relaxing in a bath of sunlight. Click To Tweet

Sunlight increases blood levels of endorphins which are the body’s natural opiate. The skin’s melanocytes are fully functioning endorphin receptors1.

4. Sunlight improves your mood – 

Who can't say it isn't easier to smile when the sun is shining? Get enough and you won't be #SAD Click To Tweet

Good morning sunlight exposure is effective against insomnia, premenstrual syndrome and seasonal affective disorder (SAD)2. By getting sunlight in the day, we produce serotonin which converts to melatonin in the darkness.  Melatonin researcher Russel J. Reiter of the University of Texas Health Science Center says,

The light we get from being outside on a summer day can be a thousand times brighter than we’re ever likely to experience indoors. For this reason, it’s important that people who work indoors get outside periodically, and moreover that we all try to sleep in total darkness. This can have a major impact on melatonin rhythms and can result in improvements in mood, energy, and sleep quality.3

 

5. Sunlight gives you vitamin D –

The mighty vitamin D, while available as a supplement, there’s no better way to get it than from our life giving sun. To the tune of Bruce Springsteen’s “War”:

Sing it like The Boss: Vitamin D! What is it good for? Absolutely everything. Say it again. #vitaminD Click To Tweet

 

Beyond all the benefits attributed to sunlight above, here are some ways that natural light guides your health with the value of vitamin D…

 

  • skeletal health and reduced risk of fractures
  • may reduce the risk of colorectal and other cancers
  • may prevent vascular events such as stroke or heart attack
  • fights infections
  • Aids in skin conditions like psoriasis
  • upregulated 291 different genes that control up to 80 different metabolic processes

 

When it comes to sun exposure, the dose makes poison. Too much sun exposure can lead to burns, premature aging of the skin and potentially skin cancer. It differs per individual and condition.

 

Still, be wary of sunscreens, many are filled with other toxins, endocrine disruptors and other chemicals far more likely to cause cancer than the sun itself.

Check out the Environmental Working Group’s sunscreen guide to know the best choices.
The fear of the sun and the black or white approach to complete avoidance has correlated with higher rates of melanoma and lower vitamin D levels than ever before. In fact, one of the leading experts, Dr. Michael Holick, clearly stated,
The most common, deadly skin cancer, however, is melanoma.  It’s curious that most melanomas occur in the least sun exposed areas AND occupational sun exposure decreases risk.
His book is a wealth of scientific knowledge on all things vitamin D and an opportunity to return sensibly to one of the natural sources of better health.
natural light guides: Dr. Holick
Perhaps, it’s time to let the sun shine in and embrace the ways that natural light guides our health.
 
“Nature cannot be fooled, but we certainly can be because of confirmational bias. In fact, we are the easiest people to be fooled by ourselves because of our biases.“
– Jack Kruse, neurosurgeon
Without any of the science, I can confidently state that my family and I are happiest and feel more energized when we are up and out in sunlight of the day and limit our screen time when it turns to night.
How about you?

Natural Light Guides Your Health Additional References:

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