Have you ever experienced the incredible benefits of exposing yourself to morning light?

I call it daylighting. I’m not entirely sure if anyone else calls it that. But it’s a word that I think fits. And it is something that, as the title of this post would suggest, most are in the dark about.

Basically, daylighting is getting natural light into your eyes as soon as you wake up, every day, by either watching the sunrise or simply going outdoors and looking in the direction of the sun (not directly at the sun), first thing.

In a nutshell, what it does is balance our hormones, and has many other benefits, which we will take a peek at shortly. But I can vouch that it really works.

For the Empaths of the world, this is something that comes with many advantages.

I first came across the concept of daylighting on Sarah Kleiner’s YouTube channel. Sarah is a wellness broadcaster, who discusses many natural health practices.

Here’s What I Learnt:

Because we are always exposing ourselves to blue light from artificial lighting, our phones and computers being the worst culprits, it upsets the release and rhythm of our hormones, especially cortisol, melatonin and leptin.

These are our master hormones that we really do not want to offset. But so many of us do without even realising. This can be behind the cortisol spikes that, amongst other things, cause anxiety and panic attacks.

Blue light also does a big number on our circadian rhythms.

Basically, circadian rhythms are our internal body clocks that signal a cascade of hormones to be released at the right time each day. It is like the hormones are on timers. They are released at certain times to perform set functions within the body throughout the day and evening.  

The circadian rhythm has a tremendous effect on our sleep and our energy levels throughout the day. When functioning optimally, it helps us sleep soundly at night and keeps us energised during the day. However, when out of whack, our body and mind gets thrown into disarray, and we suffer the ill-effects.

While we can’t avoid blue light altogether, getting morning light undoes some of its harmful effects.

How it helped me

Since entering the menopause years, I started having unusual hormonal symptoms (something I hope to discuss more about in the future). Anyway, I managed to get most things sorted in that department. But a problem I kept having was waking up in the middle of the night in a panic.

I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced it, but it is not pleasant. I would wake up nightly in an alarmed gasp, as if in the midst of a panic attack. The thing was, I wasn’t stressed, and I knew it wasn’t an ‘Empath thing’. I got it whether I’d been around people or not.

I would go to bed nicely chilled and relaxed, and yet, night after night, I would suddenly wake up in a state of dread.

I took all the steps I knew that worked for calming the body and mind. Nothing stopped it from happening.

Although I was fully aware it was caused by a big cortisol spike, I didn’t know why. As I said, I wasn’t stressed, anxious or other, and I believed I had muted most of my menopausal symptoms.

Being the eternal researcher that I am, I wanted to find the answer, and I did… in the shape of daylighting.

Through Sarah Kleiner’s YouTube videos, I found out that when we regularly expose ourselves to artificial light, from either our phones or computers, first thing in the morning, our body gets the signal that it is actually midday, when it might only be 7am in the morning. The body then releases the amount of cortisol that should be released at midday. Which, as you can imagine, has a major impact on our circadian rhythms and essential hormone release.

I had fallen into a routine where I would flick on my laptop as soon as I came downstairs in the morning. I would go outside, but probably a couple of hours after blue light exposure. By then, the damage was already done.

So, when I came to understand about the benefits of morning light, I wanted to try it. As soon as I got up, the next morning, I went out in the back garden and looked in the direction of the sun.

It was back in February when I first began daylighting, which, here in the UK, it wasn’t getting light until 8am. Most days there was no visible sun in the sky, as it was hidden behind clouds.

Being quite cold, I probably only spent between 5 to 15 minutes outside, yet within a couple of days, it worked on balancing my circadian rhythm and preventing the nighttime cortisol spikes. That’s how quickly it worked. The sleep panic hasn’t returned since. Incredible!

As the summer months came, I found I was naturally waking earlier and earlier. In the past, I had always struggled getting up in the morning, but now I was pinging awake, and dropping off to sleep easily at night.

So that’s just some of the benefits I quickly experienced.

Here’s Other Known Advantages of Daylighting:

Weight Loss 

A study showed that adults with early morning exposure to light were more likely to have a lower BMI (body mass index) Click here to see research.

Better Sleep

Morning light is essential for regulating circadian rhythms, and impacts how well and how long we sleep.   

Produces Feel-Good Hormones

Most know that the sunlight is essential for creating vitamin D, which is actually a hormone, but dopamine and serotonin are essential mood-balancing hormones that are also produced in response to sunlight.

Decreases Anxiety 

The increase in melatonin, due to early morning light exposure, plays an important role in helping reduce anxiety.

Reduction of Inflammation 

Experiencing morning light is known to be anti-inflammatory, which becomes doubly effective if Earthing is done at the same time.

Now, after reading all that, you may be wondering what benefits daylighting could have on your Empath traits. And there’s many.

Being highly sensitive means many Empaths suffer with excessive cortisol spikes, and adrenal fatigue. Generally, these spikes are a culmination of experiencing an excess of emotions and feelings of stress, both their own and those they pick up from others, and can cause many problems with the body and mind (see more on this article).

Even without exposing ourselves to artificial lighting, we, as Empaths, are already at a disadvantage for stress hormone imbalances.

And one thing that I know can make Empath life so much more difficult than it ever should be is hormones that are out of whack.

So, stabilizing our cortisol, melatonin and serotonin, from the practice of daylighting, can only be a win-win situation.

Why not try it for yourself. You won’t be disappointed.

Besides the benefits, I absolutely love my morning routine of spending time in the garden first thing. It’s so quiet and peaceful, and other than the birds happily chirping away, there’s no noise or distractions.

I also combine my daylighting ritual with Earthing, where I go barefoot on the grass, which in itself has incredible benefits. Read more here

I would recommend everyone to try daylighting for one month. Both men and women.  

It costs nothing, and comes with so many benefits.

Ok, that’s it for me today.

Hope all is keeping amazing in your corner of the world.

Until next time.

Diane

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