IN GOOD HEALTH: At Dawn’s Early Light

By Michelle Jenck, M Ed

They say morning sunlight is good for us. As someone who used to go to bed at 11:00 pm, my eyes rarely took in the first light of day for most of my life. Had I known what I was robbing myself of, I might have changed those habits sooner. I am only now beginning to understand why morning light matters so much for human health.

Early daylight plays an important role in regulating the pineal gland, the small structure in the brain responsible for melatonin production and the timing of our circadian rhythms. When sunlight enters the eyes shortly after waking, it signals the brain that it is time to be alert, focused, and metabolically active. Later that evening, the body responds by releasing melatonin at the appropriate time, helping support deeper sleep, nervous system recovery, hormonal regulation, and emotional balance. In this way, morning light acts like a tuning fork for the human nervous system. Without it, our internal rhythms can get out-of-sync.

Research increasingly shows that morning light is not just about sleep. It is one of the main biological signals organizing brain function throughout the day, influencing attention, mood, energy, metabolism, and cognitive performance. Yet many people rarely experience direct morning sunlight. We wake to artificial light, stare at glowing screens and spend most of our time indoors.

Over the past twenty years, I have gradually nudged my bedtime earlier, settling somewhere around 8:45 pm most nights and rising before 5:00 am nearly every day of the week. Staying up late once meant more television, more scrolling, more wasted hours. Waking early gave me something entirely different. Quiet. Focus. Time to do what I love most. Write. In fact, my most creative hour of the day is often between 5:00 and 6:00 in the morning, before the world fully wakes up. I used to drag myself out of bed. Now I often wake before my alarm sounds at 4:30.

What changed? Purpose.

It turns out the body responds differently when it has a reason to rise. Understanding the role of light, circadian rhythms, and the pineal gland brings new meaning to the old saying, “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” Perhaps our ancestors understood something intuitively that modern science is only now acknowledging. The body was designed to move with the rhythm of the sun and not screens.

I wonder what might become possible if more people reclaimed those first sacred minutes of daylight to do something they love.

References

Huberman, A. (2021). Using light, sleep, and temperature to optimize performance.
Walker, M. (2017). Why We Sleep.
National Institutes of Health. Circadian rhythms and sleep research.