Everyone knows that darker days and colder weather can put a damper on mood and energy levels. This is especially true if you spend the majority of your day inside an office. You leave your house, enjoy natural sunlight on your work commute, and then you get off work in darkness. Plus, the combination of colder weather and darkness doesn’t necessarily inspire you to spend more time outdoors. You are more likely to enjoy most of your time on a couch, so long as you aren’t out shopping for gifts and food.
Daylight serves several purposes in regards to your health. It can help maintain a healthy circadian rhythm, which is your natural sleep-wake cycle. You rise with the sun and you go to bed after sundown. The body produces natural hormones in this cycle, but they can be affected by excessive screen time. With shorter days, though, what can you do to maintain a healthy circadian rhythm? Health experts advise you to make the most of your sunlight during shorter days. To learn how to do that, continue reading.
Take A Morning Walk
Even though the sun sets between four and five in the evening, mornings are not completely dark. The average sunrise time is in the six o’clock hour, so you can take a neighborhood stroll before heading out for work. Morning sunlight hits the melanopsin receptors in your eyes, and these blue light detectors communicate to your brain that it is daytime. The body starts to produce hormones and neurotransmitters that help wake you up for the day. Natural blue light from the sun is a key ingredient that influences your sleep-wake cycle. It also helps to boost alertness, elevate your mood, and regulate natural sleep. A walk in the morning, then, may help you start the day in a more relaxed way because it isn’t the same as staring at a screen first thing in the morning. Taking a morning walk is especially easy if you need to take your dog for a walk.
Wear Sunglasses When You Really Need Them
If the sun gets in your eyes and it is very difficult to see, please put on your sunglasses. We don’t want you walking or driving in a constant squint, as that may accelerate the development of wrinkles. Wearing sunglasses every single second of the day, however, may block some of the natural light and interfere with your internal clock. And while blue light glasses are beneficial to wear when you are in front of a screen, you shouldn’t wear them outside. Natural blue light from the sun isn’t something to worry about, no matter how fashionable you look wearing blue light glasses. Blue light is not the problem because blue and red light are balanced. The lack of red light from devices is the real issue!
Leave The Office For Lunch
Even the busiest people can afford a short break during the workday. Stepping outside during your lunch has been shown to reduce fatigue and improve productivity. This is especially true for people who go for walks on their breaks. Even if you only go outside for 15 minutes on your lunch break, you can get a dose of mood-boosting sunlight that you would miss if you remained in the office. Although sitting next to a window can be helpful, it isn’t the same as heading outside. In fact, going for a walk outside on your break can help increase energy levels leading into the remainder of the workday.
Open A Window During Your Commute
If you aren’t able to take a morning walk or get outside during your lunch break, the least you could do is crack your window on your way to work. The main thing is to allow natural light to fill your space. Light will come through even if you just crack a window a small amount. And if it is too cold to crack open a window on your commute to work, open the blinds on a window near your workspace. If you don’t sit or work near any windows, try your best to get outside at some points during the day, just so you can acquaint yourself with the outside world.
Vincent Stevens is the senior content writer at Dherbs. As a fitness and health and wellness enthusiast, he enjoys covering a variety of topics, including the latest health, fitness, beauty, and lifestyle trends. His goal is to inform people of different ways they can improve their overall health, which aligns with Dherbs’ core values. He received his bachelor’s degree in creative writing from the University of Redlands, graduating summa cum laude. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.
