Momentum Issue 20: Get 2 hours of daylight exposure each day.
Hello!
While we’ve previously covered the importance of daylight in your morning routine, it’s also really important to expose yourself to daylight during the day as well.
Light is the ultimate zeitgeber (circadian rhythm time-keeper) and we need to be mindful of its impact throughout the entire day if we want to optimize our health.
This week, try to get a minimum of 2 hours of daylight exposure each day.
Importance
“Light is the most important external factor affecting sleep…. Daily light exposure, including the type of light we see as well as when and how long we’re exposed to it, has a critical effect on sleep.” — Sleep Foundation
Daylight exposure is crucial for telling the body what time of day it is, which is vital for good quality sleep. Our circadian rhythms regulate the timing of everything — from hormone release to turning up or down the metabolism.
This means the body will release some hormones and switch off other hormones at the appropriate time in order to get our bodies ready for sleep, waking up, sex, eating, etc. This is an all-day process — while morning light exposure is important, our exposure to light throughout the entire day plays a huge role in this process.
Put simply: we need daylight exposure throughout the course of the day so that our bodies know what time of day it is and when to turn on and off certain functions.
Exposing ourselves to more daylight will likely also decrease the amount of artificial light we’re exposed to during the day, which will also have benefits for your health:
“Excess or poorly timed artificial light exposure can cause a person’s circadian rhythm to be misaligned with the day-night schedule. This can throw their sleep out-of-whack and induce other concerning health impacts including worsened metabolism, weight gain, cardiovascular problems, and perhaps even an elevated cancer risk.” — Sleep Foundation
Implementation
You want to aim for at least 1000 lux of light (a measure of light quantity) for as long as possible, but for an absolute minimum of two hours per day. You can download the free app, MyLux, which will measure lux where you are. You can also use the following chart, taken from Wikipedia, to start getting an idea of lux:
If you work inside, try to sit near a window. If this isn’t possible, it’s advisable to invest in a daylight lamp that will simulate the outside daylight.
Try to get outside as much as you can during the day, e.g. on your lunch break or when taking a phone call, or go for a few small walks throughout the day.
Avoid wearing sunglasses outside when possible. If you’re worried about the safety of this, Ben Greenfield explains this mechanism well:
“Unless I’m trying to avoid snow blindness from a day of snowboarding on a glaring bright white slope or I’m at a windy beach getting sand blown in my face, you’ll rarely find me sporting sunglasses. Why? Our bodies are designed to be able to perfectly cope with sunlight. The retina in your eyes actually registers how bright it is, then secretes specific hormones to keep you safe from the sun. Specifically, sunlight stimulates your pituitary glands, via the optic nerve, to produce a hormone that triggers the melanocytes in your skin to produce more melanin, which allows you to tan and offers some protection from excess UV radiation.”
While 2 hours seems like a lot, small, consistent efforts will add up quickly. If you commute to work, this time counts (if you don’t wear sunglasses and the sun is up). Half an hour outside for lunch, a couple of 20 minute phone calls, and sitting by the window for 50 minutes somewhere in the day will add up to your 2 hours.
Resources for this week to get you started moving in the right direction
I’ve received a lot of feedback from people enjoying having resources to check out, so I will include a resource each week that you can check out to help you on this journey.
For this week, it’s a documentary about nutrition. I don’t think there is a single resource I could recommend more in regard to what we should be eating, than the documentary The Magic Pill.
This documentary explains everything that’s wrong with our current dietary guidelines and what we actually should be eating. I agree 100% with everything discussed in this documentary (which doesn’t happen often, as there can be a lot of misinformation in health documentaries in order to make money). I have read through myriad research articles on the topic, and can confidently say what this documentary portrays is accurate.
It’s highly worth watching. Watch them improve autism symptoms, cure epilepsy, put cancer patients into remission, and get rid of diabetes, all through a change in diet.
This documentary is on Netflix in some regions, so if you have Netflix (or other streaming services) check to see if you have it. Otherwise, it has been posted on YouTube here.
If you want to read a bit more about the ketogenic diet in treating brain disorders, check out this article I wrote:
The Promise of the Ketogenic Diet in Treating Brain Disorders
I also have an article about how I have utilized the ketogenic diet strategically to improve my cognitive performance:
How the Ketogenic Diet Improved My Exam Results by 15%
Before you go
Thank you so much to everyone who responded to last week’s survey. Your feedback has been incredibly helpful and will help me continue moving this newsletter in the right direction.
If you didn’t fill it out last week, you can still do so. It will remain open indefinitely, so feel free to come back and add anything as necessary.