Benefits of seeing the sunrise

Your body in order to function, follows the day/night rhythm of the sun and the intensity and wave lengths of it’s light.

It uses this light as signals to initiate reactions and pathways that find their way to your cells enabling them to execute tens of thousands of “jobs” they need to do.

These “jobs” take place according to an ordered rhythm when we are synchronized with the rhythm of the sun. Some of these tasks take place during the day and others at night. Still others at precise times during the day or night.

Sunrise doesn’t always look like this, however red and infrared light is always there.

Let’s take cortisol as an example, a hormone that keeps us alive and also is our main stress hormone. It’s at its highest in the morning to give us the impetus to get out of bed and start the day in good shape.

Then during the day cortisol gradually goes down until it gets to its lowest point in the evening so we can slow down and go to bed.

This gives you the example of a circadian rhythm that follows the day/night cycle of the sun.

Benefit from the repairing effects of infra-red light

On top of the sun’s health benefits it can also help you prepare your skin for sun exposure and help you repair any damage that may be potentially caused by UV rays!

I say potentially because if you expose yourself to the light of the morning sun before UV light appears, the infrared (IR) rays present at that time have a powerful protective effect on your skin and your cells.

It is well known scientifically that IR light has repairing effects on the skin. Your cells use IR to regenerate and repair.

There are so many studies on the benefits of IR light (thousands), that now you can find red and IR panels as a healing modality for all sorts of ailments. Perhaps you have heard of IR saunas?

IR wave lengths are not only present in the morning before the arrival of UV light. They are present all day long and are part of the daylight spectrum of light. But according to certain experts, if you can go out in the morning IR light before UV light appears, the effect on your health will be greater.

Change your UV user’s manual

We need all these wavelengths: blue, red, IR, UVA, UVB. The body uses them to set in motion many pathways in the body that lead to biochemical processes in the cells. UV light has beneficial and necessary effects contrary to what you have been told and leads you to believe they need to be avoided at all costs, that you must wear sunglasses, sun cream and always avoid the sun. They have been wrongly attacked as being the cause of skin damage.

The majority of studies concluding that UV light is dangerous and to be avoided at all costs, are made using only UV wavelengths. Sunlight, at any given moment does never only contain UV rays. Of course baking in the sun once a year when on holiday on the Riviera when the rest of your life is spent indoors under toxic artificial blue light, is not very intelligent.

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(In my next articles on the benefits of the sun and the toxic effects of artificial indoor blue lights, I will do my best to enlighten you on how to use the sun to your best advantage.)

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It’s the user manual of the UV wavelengths that needs to be changed as well as the user manual of the sun. Expose yourself first to the morning IR rays to benefit in all tranquility of all the benefits of UV light on your health.

UVA rays that appear in the sky before UVB, initiate biochemical processes that enable you to make serotonin, a neurotransmitter that make you feel good and promotes a good night’s sleep. Astonishing, is it not?

In addition serotonin then becomes melatonin in the evening. So if you let the morning light into your eyes you’ll prepare yourself for a good night’s sleep!

UVA stimulates other chemical processes that enable you to make dopamine, adrenaline, thyroid hormones, all things that increase your motivation and focus during the day.

Yet other substances are produced in response to UVA light that help to reduce pain and inflammation.

The famous vitamin D is produced in response to UVB when it touches your skin, from Spring to late Autumn.

So you see, UV rays are important. Avoiding them or hiding from them is not the good way to go about these beneficial wavelengths.

What’s the “how to”?

Go out in the morning light within an hour of sunrise. What is most important is to let the light penetrate your naked eyes without glasses, contact lens, or sunglasses. If you’re indoors open the window.

If you only have a minute that’s better than nothing. If you have five go for it. Breakfast in the morning sun? That’s fantastic. Do whatever you can.

You’ll need to find out when sunrise is in your area and time of year. Weather apps and the app mentioned at the end of this article (Circadian) will give you that information.

You don’t need to look towards the sun. You just need to be outdoors in the light or indoors in front of an open window and let that first light of the day enter your eyes. Do this whatever the weather: rainy, cloudy, snowy or misty. The light is always there, even if you don’t see the sun.

If the weather permits, take off some clothes. Your skin is like a second eye. But your eyes are the most important entry point for light to do it’s job.

Infrared wavelengths arrive first with the rising of the sun, then come the UVA rays about an hour and a half later and then UVB rays when the sun makes a 30° angle with the earth, which is about 3 hours later if at all. In winter in our latitudes (I’m in France), there is no UVB light and therefore no vitamin D production initiated in the skin. I will speak more about UVB rays in a future article.

In summary, morning light is very beneficial to hormonal health, quality of sleep and even skin protection against the intensity of the sun later in the day and particularly in the summer. Start preparing your skin in the Spring for your Summer holidays! And you don’t need to expose your skin. IR light when it penetrates the eyes also protects your skin.

In a future article we will continue this conversation around other subjects in relation to natural light, another form of nutrition. I’ll also talk about “toxic” light related to modern living: the new bulbs, computer and smartphone screens.

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NOTE: You can download an application on your smartphone called Circadian: Your Natural Rhythm. Their website is https://www.circadian.life/

It helps you live according to the rhythm of the sun depending on where you live, to optimize sleep, energy, weight and to be motivated and good humored in life.

Circadian notifies you of the key moments in the day to go outside to optimize your circadian rhythm. It’s also an excellent source of information.