28-Day Sunrise Challenge: Transform Your Mood With Morning Sunlight

Welcome to your 28-day sunrise challenge to help align and uplift your mood with morning sunlight. This challenge is a gentle introduction to light therapy to naturally improve mood and wellbeing.

Could you benefit from feeling more calm, happier, focused, emotionally stable, waking up feeling refreshed, improved memory, or coping with stress better?

Could sunlight transform your mood? The only way you will know is to give the 28-day Sunrise Challenge a try!

Luckily this mood enhancer is completely free, only takes 5-20 minutes a day, and can easily be slotted into daily life.

This 28-day Sunrise challenge is part of the Align & Uplift section of Make Self Care Simple Blog. The aim of these challenges is to create your own toolkit of go-to practices that improve your emotional and intuitive wellbeing.

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Do you need the 28-day Sun-rise Challenge?

Your body is designed to function in response to morning sunlight.

While you don’t need to do this every single day, your body will function better when you create a regular practice

The very best time to catch the morning sunlight is within 1 hour of waking up and 2-3 hours of Sun Rise.

You need 5 – 15 minutes of sunlight (without sun-glasses).

Here in the UK mid-summer sunrise is 4.45am and mid-winter sunrise is 8am so you may need to make timing adjustments throughout the year.

Another consideration is that in cloudy, grey and wet mornings (hello UK!) We normally need slightly longer sunlight exposure, 15-30 minutes.

As a dog walker I know that 80% of the year I’m getting my morning sunlight – midwinter is where I need to make some adjustments. Also my health issues mean that my eyes struggle with bright sunlight so in summer early sunrise is easier.

How often do you get your morning sunlight? 

Where do you need to make some adjustments?

Benefits of the 28-day Sunrise Challenge

The health benefit that is most linked to sunlight is increased vitamin D. Vitamin D improves the immune system, vitality and bone health.

However there are other benefits to do with mood that come from exposure to morning sunlight.

Benefits include

• Increased cortisol in the morning
• Suppressed melatonin production
• Produces Serotonin

These are hormones that influence your mood and are involved in your circadian Rhythm. Let’s take a look!

Morning sunlight and your Circadian Rhythm

Your circadian Rhythm is your internal sleep-wake clock that uses light to help balance itself.

Morning sunlight enters the brain through your eyes and signals that it is time to be awake and a cascade of other body functions including regulating three hormones cortisol, melatonin and serotonin.

The 28-day sunrise challenge helps you align with your circadian rhythm through morning sunlight to feel better, more alert, manage stress and sleep better at the end of the day.

Benefits of Increased cortisol in the morning

Cortisol is a hormone, and hormone balance is responsible for how we feel.

Balanced cortisol levels help

Increase energy levels and improve fatigue

Helps control negative emotions in response to stress

Cortisol also influences

• Stress response
• Blood sugar balance
• Inflammation
• Blood pressure 
• Metabolism
• Immune system
• Sleep-wake cycle

The body releases a cortisol spike in the morning which reduces stress and improves sleep later in the day.

This response is triggered by morning sunlight reaching the brain via the eyes.

Benefits of suppressed melatonin in the morning

Melatonin is a hormone that makes you feel relaxed and sleepy.

You want more melatonin when you want to sleep.

And less melatonin when you need to wake up, focus and have more energy

Morning sunlight helps to regulate melatonin so that you have less in the morning while darkness (sunset) releases more melatonin when you need to sleep.

Benefits of increased serotonin in the morning

Morning sunlight triggers the brain to release more serotonin also called 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and this is the ‘feel good’ hormone.

When serotonin is at normal levels, you feel more focused, emotionally stable, happier and calmer.

Good levels of serotonin help with memory and concentration.

General health benefits of serotonin include:

• Improved digestion
• Blood clot regulation
• Bone health
• Sleep
• Libido

Getting Ready for your 28-day Sunrise Challenge

Here are some questions to help you get ready for your 28-day sunrise challenge.

• What time is sunrise this week?
• What time do you need to wake-up to experience 5-15 minutes of sunlight?
• What is the weather forecast? Plan your clothing!
• Can you create a sunrise area in your garden?
• How will you track your progress and results?

How to do the 28-day Sunrise Challenge

The challenge is to spend 5 – 15 minutes outside within 1 hour of waking up and 2-3 hours of Sun Rise for 28 consecutive days.

You can wear contact lenses and normal glasses but avoid sun glasses that block sunlight reaching your eyes.

Because this is only for short periods of time and captures early morning light, it is not considered a risk for the skin or aging.

Never look directly into the sun.

That’s it!

9 Ideas for completing the 28-day Sunrise challenge

• Have your breakfast outside
• Outdoor tea or coffee break
• Exercise outside
• Go for a walk
• Garden
• Practice Yoga, Tai Chi or breathing exercises
• Read, Journal or work outside
• Spend time with your pets or nature
• Mindfulness Practice (eyes open)

Artificial Sunlight

There are going to be situations when it is impossible to be outside at the best time.

Such as when you have to be out the house before sunrise or during bad weather. And because of health or mobility issues

This is when you might need to consider artificial sunlight.

Sun-lamps are readily available as they are also used for Seasonal Affective Depression (SAD), Dementia and sleep disorders. They are designed to mimic sunlight.

Choose lamps with at least 10,000 Lux

Read and follow the manufacturer’s instructions of your individual lamp – instructions can vary.

Check with your optician if you intend to use Sun-lamps on a regular basis

Sit by your lamp when you first wake up – as close to normal sunrise as possible.

Sun-Rise alarm clocks are a popular alternative. These mimic the gradual sun-rise and sunset light quality and also include natural sounds like bird song. 

The sun-rise alarm clocks might suit you if

• If you struggle to wake up, 
• Have sleep issues
• or have less time in the morning to spend time catching the sun-rise.

As you can imagine, prices vary a lot. If you need to budget, choose ones with less features and functions but still provide quality light. Do your research.

Track your progress with a Mood Journal

Each self care practice provides your body with specific benefits. So you need to include those specific benefits in your tracking.

I often find that I notice additional benefits, so it might be helpful to list and score your physical symptoms before and after this challenge.

Examples of what moods to track for the 28-day Sunrise Challenge

Feeling more…

• Awake first thing in the morning
• Alert during the day
• Relaxed at the end of the day
• Have more focus
• Calmer, stable emotions

Grab my FREE Get Started with Self care Toolkit for more help.

Will the 28-day sunrise challenge support your wellbeing?

How quickly you notice benefits will depend on which responsive body type you have, and your existing health conditions and medications.

In which case you may need longer before your body can respond. Be gentle and understanding with your body.

I know when it’s a beautiful morning I can feel an instant lift in my mood, but I am sure 30 years of early morning dog walks in all weathers has improved my wellbeing.

Conclusion

Are you going to try the 28-day Sunrise challenge? Even if you can only manage 5 minutes a day the benefits will build up over time. Explore, experiment, and have fun. 

After the challenge you can decide from your results if you are going to include this as part of your regular Align & Uplift self care practice.

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