Light in the morning, even artificial light from a sunrise alarm, can help reset your circadian rhythm, and help your natural sleeping and waking cycle function optimally.
Studies show that waking up to natural light can boost your mood instantly. "Your body's internal clock is sensitive to light and darkness," says Natalie Dautovich, environmental scholar for the National Sleep Foundation (Huffington Post).
Seeing bright light in the morning will help you fall asleep easier at night. Getting bright light shortly after waking up may help you feel more alert.
A very beneficial way to wake up refreshed despite minimal sleep is to wake up during a period of your lightest sleep. Being woken in a light stage of your sleep cycle has proven to make people feel more energetic and alert upon awakening.
Researchers found that even tiny amounts of light can disrupt sleep. To avoid sleep-related health problems, people should take simple precautions: Don't leave the TV set on all night while you sleep. Turn it off and sleep in a completely darkened room.
Why it's so dark in the morning is a matter of the Earth's rotation on its axis (which is at a tilt of 23.5 degrees) around the sun.
Getting exposure to sunlight in the morning can help you sleep at night because it helps reset your body's inner "sleep clock." Light is an important cue for your body's sleep cycle. The light you are exposed to during the day helps your body figure out when it's time to go to bed (and when it's time to wake up).
Melatonin. Melatonin is a hormone that is naturally made by the body, and its production is closely tied to light. In response to darkness, the pineal gland in the brain initiates production of melatonin.
In response to darkness, the pineal gland begins to produce melatonin. Melatonin is a serotonin-derived hormone that promotes sleepiness.
Your circadian rhythm is greatly influenced by light, which signals to the body that it's time to wake up. “We associate darkness with sleep, so we may feel the incongruity of being awake when it's dark out,” he says. “Darkness signals to the body that it's night time and so we feel it's still bedtime.”
One of the benefits of sleeping in a dark room is that it helps you fall asleep easier. According to sleep experts, darkness helps to stimulate the production of melatonin, a hormone that helps you fall asleep quickly. It also helps to keep you asleep until you complete all sleeping cycles.
One impact of being in complete darkness is that it can wreck your sleep cycle. Two of the key mechanisms for sleep cycle regulation, the hormone melatonin and the brain's suprachiasmatic nucleus, both rely on light to function. Daylight reduces our levels of melatonin, helping us feel awake.
Exposure to light during nighttime can mess up the naturally programmed increase of melatonin levels, which slows down the body's natural progression to sleep. In addition to regulating our melatonin levels, sleeping in complete darkness helps lower the risk of depression.
"Light actually turns off some of the parts in the brain that tell our body it's the daytime versus nighttime. So those signals are messed up in a way, because the circadian signal is weakened, and over time, that has implications for our health." So, she said, over time light may cause metabolic and heart diseases.
One study by Travelodge found that households that have blue bedrooms received the best night's sleep compared to any other color. Having blue in your room can make you feel safe, relaxed, and calm.
Reduced sunlight can cause a drop in serotonin that may trigger depression. Melatonin levels. The change in season can disrupt the balance of the body's level of melatonin, which plays a role in sleep patterns and mood.
production of serotonin – serotonin is a hormone that affects your mood, appetite and sleep; a lack of sunlight may lead to lower serotonin levels, which is linked to feelings of depression.
Darkness has long been associated with feelings of low mood and depression is often described as feeling blue or as a dark hole.
69% of the nation feel their morning is brightened by connecting with their loved ones and 35% feel a stronger connection as they spend their mornings at home; the top three things that brighten up mornings for Australians are: a good breakfast (50%); good weather (49%); and being on time (31%);
It is very difficult to wake someone during stages 3 and 4, which together are called deep sleep. There is no eye movement or muscle activity. People awakened during deep sleep do not adjust immediately and often feel groggy and disoriented for several minutes after they wake up.