Morning light a must for health - 7th March 2022

Scientists have revealed that morning light is key to maintaining good health. "Sunlight is powerful stuff," says Steve Jones, a scientist from University College London.

Experts have found that morning light can help control sleep patterns. Getting outside during the morning gives you the full benefits. Just 20 minutes a morning is all that's necessary.

Having insufficient natural light has a negative impact on our mental and physical health. This is a particular problem during winter, when days are shorter. Neuroscientist Aarti Jagannath from the University of Oxford explains that "every aspect of how we function is controlled by light."

Our natural sleep-wake cycle restarts every 24 hours with the sunrise. If we rely too heavily on artificial light, our bodies get inaccurate messages about time. This makes us feel more lively at night, or more depressed in the day.

The situation puts night shift workers at risk. Shift work is recognised by the World Health Organisation as damaging to health. Over three million UK residents do night shifts and nearly all of these, 97 percent, experience difficulties with their sleep cycles. This can lead to a higher risk of diseases such as heart problems, diabetes and obesity, according to Jagannath.

To make matters worse, many British residents don't go out into the daylight for at least 30 minutes a day. "It's no good staying inside and looking at the sun and saying this is doing me good," states Jones, who's depressed by findings that British people are getting less and less sunlight.

"When the sun comes out, go out," he says. "That's the medical advice."