Here’s How the Free and the Abundantly Available Sunlight is Great for Your Mental Health!

One of the mental health tools that are absolutely free, abundant, and easily accessible is sunshine. And since it’s free, nobody wants to give it the importance it deserves.

It’s difficult to believe sunshine can help you move out from your depressive slump. Many doctors advise you to get out in the sun to get your everyday dose of vitamin D.

Before dismissing it as pseudoscience, know more about sunlight and how it can impact your mental health.

The Impact of the Sun

You may already know that the sun is a great source of vitamin D. We need vitamin D for the healthy functioning of each of our body parts, and a lack of vitamin D can cause depression. Vitamin D can also impact our circadian rhythm.

Humans have all along been in sync with the sunlight. Circadian rhythm is our body’s natural internal clock that determines when we feel sleepy, awake, and alert. Our internal clock rises as the sun rises and sets as the sunsets. When the sun dips in the horizon, it releases melatonin, a sleep-inducing hormone that puts us to sleep.

Circadian Rythm on Metabolism Function and More

When your circadian rhythm works properly, it impacts several things from our immune system, cardiovascular system, digestive system and makes the other bodily system work perfectly.

The disruption of the circadian rhythm may impact your sleep disorder and may make you feel just the opposite of what you should be feeling, wakeful at night and sleepy during the day.

Too much blue light exposure disrupts this natural rhythm and throws our hormones into a tizzy, thus impacting our health in numerous ways.

The Link Between Sunlight and Insomnia

Chronically insomniac people are more prone to mood disorders—more and more research on the same connecting the dots between mood disorders and a disrupted circadian rhythm.

Recent research also noted that a part of the brain that regulates the circadian rhythm also regulates mood.

The Blue Screen Connection

We are increasingly starting to be an indoors-kind-of population. And we are spending the better part of the day in temperature-controlled rooms with our gadgets.

However, we hardly take pains to get up early in the morning, get some light before carrying our day to accomplish what we set out to do. As we round off our work, we head home and spend more time with our gadgets, hoping to relax, but it makes us all the more wired-tired. The blue screens are seriously affecting the way we are leading our lives.

Correct Your Circadian Rhythm

It’s important to get up get a lot of sun in the morning. If it is impossible to head out to soak in the sun, you can open your curtains wide and soak in the sun.

Have your morning coffee or tea as you sit out in the sun. This will wake up your brain, and you will feel more invigorated and fresh. You can also get in sync with the natural light by moving your desk beside the sun.

As you add more sunshine to your daily regime, you will feel alert throughout the day. And that means you will naturally fall asleep at night. It may also instantly lift your mood and help to boost the serotonin levels in your body.

Alternatives To Sunlight.

What if you live in a country where you do not have ample sunlight? Or if it is the winter season? Scientists, in this case, can harness other ways to fix the circadian rhythm. Some companies make red light therapy (photobiomodulation) devices to fix your circadian rhythm.

Red light therapy creates wavelengths of light, and your skin ingests the same. This device is particularly useful at the end of the day as you start feeling sleepy after absorbing the light. Your body will start producing melatonin from red light and correct many sleep disorders and mental health issues from red light therapy.

Soaking in more sunlight does not mean you skip the medicine or go for other treatment options if you suffer from mental health issues. It means sunlight will support your treatment procedure and make you feel better in the process. Try it, venture out and get more nature-time every day and see how you feel after a few days. We bet you are going to feel better with time.