If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I preach getting full-spectrum sunlight within 20-30 mins of waking.
𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗵𝘆?
To help boost our Cortisol Awakening Response or “CAR” for short.
When full-spectrum light hits our eyes when we wake up, our central nervous system produces a boat load of cortisol from our adrenal glands.
Cortisol is known as our “stress” hormone but it also has many other benefits (pictured 👆🏻).
This rapid spike of cortisol (~50% more than our waking level) first thing in the morning happens within the first 20-30 minutes, so it’s a critical window that helps set us up for the day, including better sleep at night.
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗖𝗔𝗥?
- If you wake up with sore, achy joints that lessen or disappear later in the day…
- If you can’t get started without caffeine…
- If you have poor memory recall or worse autoimmune type symptoms in the mornings…
On the flip side, if you wake up super anxious or depressed… that could be a sign of high CAR.
𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄? 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝘁!
My latest Adrenal Balance course in B Better explains how and provides practical solutions to help the brain-adrenal axis if you’re struggling with stress.
In the meantime, getting full spectrum sunlight no later than 30 minutes from waking is a powerful health habit to adopt.
A full spectrum light like the Happy Light or red light is helpful when it’s still dark out.
Some sunlight is always better than none. But ideally, allow for 10 to 30 minutes… combining an early morning walk is how I get it in most mornings.🚶🏾♀️
𝗣𝘀. You can now try B Better FREE for 10 days to access the course, our private community, and everything else we offer.
Please let me know if you have any comments or questions below.
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