Before wearables, blood panels, or supplements, your body had one foundational input: light.
Not just any light-morning light. Specifically, bright, full-spectrum light in the first hour of waking. It’s the first signal your biology expects every day. Most of us miss it, almost making it the “scurvy” of the 21st century. The cascade downstream from sunlight deficiency can get perilous: sleep, energy, mood, metabolism-all start to drift.
Your Body Runs on Timed Signals
You don’t just have a body, you have a clock. A biological one.
Every cell in your body is part of a master clock system (your circadian rhythm) that coordinates everything from hormone release to digestion to cognition.
The primary “set” signal for this system is light. Not your narrow spectrum light from modern LED bulbs that beam blue light alone, completely stripped from any crucial red light. We’re talking full spectrum light, from the early sun hitting your eyes (via melanopsin cells in the retina).
What Happens When You Get Morning Light
A quick 10–20 minute dose of natural light after waking can:
- Increase morning cortisol (the healthy kind) to boost alertness
- Suppress residual melatonin, resetting your sleep-wake cycle
- Trigger dopamine release, improving focus and mood
- Regulate insulin sensitivity and support metabolic rhythm
- Sync internal clocks across the body (including gut, liver, and brain)
It’s a natural recharge of your mitochondria – your cell’s batteries, something that deteriorates with time, and faster with decreased sunlight exposure – before the day begins.
And When You Don’t?
Skipping morning light delays your internal clock. That often means:
- Struggling to fall asleep at night
- Afternoon crashes and irregular energy
- Poor appetite regulation and glucose handling
- Brain fog and mood instability
In fact, Swedish women who avoided sunlight were observed to have the same death rate as smokers. It's subtle. But it compounds.
Luckily, it’s reversible; dosing your daily fix is all you need.
What to Do (and When)
- Step outside within 30–60 minutes of waking
- Aim for 5–20 minutes depending on cloud cover (longer if it’s dim)
- No sunglasses (but never stare at the sun)
- Bonus: pair it with movement (walk, stretch) for compound effects
Layer Right
Morning light isn’t a wellness tip. It’s a daily stabilizer - the first layer before one begins any kind of health optimisation.
At Resolute, we believe the most effective interventions are those that anchor physiology and allow higher-tier optimisations to work. Morning light is one of these foundational anchors.
Start here. Then stack upward.
A free input like light can tune sleep, mood, and metabolism so profoundly and is worth the little effort it takes to get you started with optimisation.
If you want to dive deeper into how different wavelengths of light - from red to UVB to near-infrared - affect your biology (and how to design your day around them), read the next piece from our Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Gurmeet Soni Bhalla. She breaks down light as a nutrient - one of the most underused, yet powerful tools for foundational and advanced health.
Bonus: Mushrooms + Sunlight, your source for quality Vit D
When kept under natural sunlight, mushrooms transform into a Vitamin D factory. The ergosterol, a chemical similar to cholesterol, in mushrooms reacts with UV rays to create Vitamin D2.
Take your fresh mushrooms, slice them in half, and rest them on a flat surface under the morning sun, gill side up, anywhere between 15 to 120 minutes.
Portobello mushrooms can carry up to 943 IU, while your regular white buttons produce up to 879 IU.
And if you’re ready to go further - to tune every input from biomarkers to protocols to daily routines - we’ll build that system with you and for you.
