Brighter sunlight enhances brain function☀️ 💪🏻☀️
In a recent study published by the NIH National Library of Medicine, researchers explored the connections between daily sunlight exposure impact on alertness, cognitive performance and improved sleep. See Relationships between light exposure and aspects of cognitive function in everyday life
Here is what the researchers found:
✅Significant associations between recent light exposure and subjective sleepiness.
✅Recent light exposure improved reaction times for both psychomotor vigilance and working memory tasks,
✅Higher daytime light exposure and an exposure pattern with reduced fragmentation were linked to improved cognitive performance across visual search, psychomotor vigilance, and working memory tasks.
✅Sunlight exposure meaningfully influences cognition.
✅Greater daytime light exposure was associated with faster reaction times.
✅Prioritizing daylight exposure supports faster attention and reduced daytime sleepiness.
A somewhat related study found that Infrared light is used by mitochondria to produce subcellular melatonin in every cell of our body where the most of our melatonin is produced. This study emphasized the important of direct sunlight to the retina. See Infrared Light from Sunlight Health Benefits
A related study on sleep shed light on the Yin and Yang relationship between bright natural sunlight and sleeping in total darkness. The findings support the thesis that the best daytime alertness and the best nighttime sleep occur when we are in the bright sunlight during the day and sleep in total darkness during the night. See Why Total Darkness Sleep is Best!
Takeaway ☀️💪🏻
Be outdoors in the sunshine as much as possible each day!
Ditch the sunscreen and sunglasses.
You’re in control!
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Image from the 2026 British National Cyclo-cross Championship Masters courtesy of Andy Smith, Photographer