The Universal Experience of Sunlight
You step into the morning sun. Your eyes squint, your body relaxes, and somehow—your mood just lifts. Why does sunlight make use feel better? Are we simply remembering a vacation at the beach and how it felt to be away from the worries of our day to day life, is it skin producing Vitamin D, or is there something more?
Sunlight and Mood: The Light–Brain Connection
When the eyes are exposed to natural light, even bright sunny days regardless of temperature, it increases serotonin productions which elevates your mood and lowers depression rates. Sunlight in the early part of the day helps regulate your circadian rhythm and suppresses melatonin at the right time leading toa good nights sleep. UV exposure in safe amounts can increase beta-endorphins that offer natural pain relief, euphoria and calmness.
Sunlight and Hormones: Beyond Mood
Sunlight doesn’t just affect how you feel, it affects how your body regulates itself. Morning sunlight helps optimize cortisol release, which affects alertness and energy levels, acting as your natural alarm clock. Too little light in the morning or too much blue light at night can disrupt this cycle. On the flip side, melatonin, the sleep hormone, ramps up in darkness and is suppressed by light (especially blue). Paradoxically getting enough bright light during the day and especially in the morning helps release melatonin at night. There is even a curious link between sunlight and testosterone and sunlight however the science is not settled.
Throughout history, cultures have revered the sun, there was heliotherapy in Greece and solariums in early medicine. In 1918 during the Spanish flu hospitals used outdoor care as a form of treatment moving patients outside into the sunlight and fresh air. Medical reports from the time noted lower mortality rates in these patients compared to those kept inside in cramped dark hospitals.
It is not a coincidence that you feel better getting out in the sun, it is your biology remembering something ancient. Today we are proving what those before us felt, sun is not just light, it is information, instructions and activation.
