Blog Layout
4 Ways Sunshine Can Improve Sleep Quality
leon • Oct 01, 2019
If you are one of the many that have trouble sleeping, the solution might be in a place you did not expect, the morning sun. Morning sunlight, how much and when you get it, actually has a significant impact on your sleep quality.
The first hour in the morning can make or break whether you sleep soundly at the end of the day. For a good night’s sleep, you should decrease your light exposure in the evening. However, in the morning you want to aim to do the opposite and ensure you get into a brightly lit environment.
4 Ways Sunshine Can Improve Sleep Quality
- Soak Up The Warmth. Another great reason to up and into the sunshine in the morning is to soak up those warming infrared rays to help signal to the body that day has come. Equally as important as light cycles are for our sleep, temperature cycles are just as powerful. As your body prepares you to wake up, cortisol gets released, energizing your body and warming up your core body temperature. Your temperature usually reaches its highest point during the day before it begins to fall again in the evening, thus signaling to your brain that it’s time to start falling asleep.
- Daylight Suppresses Melatonin. Melatonin is a good thing at night when we want to sleep, but when the alarm goes off in the morning, melatonin is not the thing we want coursing through our bodies. Even though we typically think of the sun as yellow, the light it emits is full-spectrum light. It incorporates those same bright blue wavelengths of light your technical devices have, but in a more powerful form. By exposing your eyes to this bright light in the morning, you signal to your brain that it’s time to suppress melatonin production. In response to this light exposure, your brain will increase cortisol production.
- Kickstart Your Day. Cortisol and melatonin work in opposites, when one is high, the other is low. Cortisol and melatonin play a huge part in determining your circadian rhythms and the quality of sleep in general. Their roles are entirely different. Melatonin is produced in the pineal gland in the brain, melatonin helps control sleep-wake cycles. Cortisol is popularly known as a stress hormone and though too-high levels of cortisol can be dangerous, in healthy amounts cortisol is good for you as it is the activating hormone energizes your body and prepares you to meet the day.
- Sunshine And Serotonin. If you were to expose your body, face, and eyes to sunlight your body will increase its production of Serotonin. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that regulates everything from mood to sleep. Serotonin is also a precursor to Melatonin. Melatonin is needed for deep restorative sleep. By getting some sun in the morning, it will ramp up production of Serotonin. In turn, after 12 hours or so, this serotonin is then converted into melatonin which helps us sleep later that night.
The Takeaway
If you struggle to sleep well at night, try regularly exposing yourself to morning sunlight. You may find that your sleep and daytime function improve significantly, and that can have a big positive impact on your life.
Contact us today! We look forward to working with you so that you can live a life of complete health and vitality.
The post 4 Ways Sunshine Can Improve Sleep Quality appeared first on Leon Chiropractic.
About 31 million Americans experience lower back pain at some point. The Global Burden of Disease study described back pain as the leading cause of disability worldwide. And it's the second most common cause of disability in the U.S.
Various natural remedies can relieve back pain that can reduce medication intake or add benefit to your current medical treatment. Check out these natural pain relief strategies and determine which ones work best for you: Read on to learn more about effective pain relief approaches for chronic backache using natural methods.
Although working from home has its benefits, there are a few things to keep in mind, such as ensuring you maintain a good posture to prevent recurring stress injuries and technical stress on the neck - physical strain on the neck after looking down for more extended periods.
How to deal with back pain Back pain is a leading cause of worldwide disability that prevents people from doing their work or other routine activities. It is the most common reason people frequently visit a doctor or miss their job.
How to deal with Herniated Disc A herniated disc is a condition that can occur anywhere along the spine, but most often in the lower back. It is sometimes called a protruding, bulging, or ruptured disc. It is one of the most common causes of lower back pain and leg or sciatica pain.
Back pain is one of the biggest ailments, for many women during pregnancy! About half to three-quarters of all pregnant women suffer from lower back pain. Although it is easy to recognize the cause of back pain in late pregnancy – blame the belly.
Heavy lifting, repetitive movements, and staying put all day may strain your back. Get the facts about spine-related pain at work and its preventions. The backache, whether it is dull and bearable, or stabbing and sharp, can make it difficult to concentrate on work.
Let's face it, life can be stressful from day to day with busy home, work, and social schedules, and stress certainly plays a role in making any headache worse. Tension headaches are the most common type of headache that people experience.
Restful sleep is more important, now than ever, but getting a good night's sleep can be difficult when you’re stressed out. The last several months have been very stressful times for everyone. Even worse, too little sleep at night can make you feel even more stressed, leading to an exhausting and continuous cycle of counting sheep.
If you are one of the many that suffer from low back pain every morning, your sleeping posture could be to blame. Sleeping in poor positions can put unnecessary pressure on your spine, causing the natural curve to flatten as a result.
We look forward to working with you so that you can live a life of complete health and vitality.