A morning pulse of cortisol, promoting wakefulness and immune function, occurs naturally every 24 hours and can be timed by sunlight.

“Transition from dim to bright light in morning induces an immediate elevation of cortisol levels J Clin Endo & Metab • This is a healthy, alertness, focus & immune enhancing cortisol effect”

“Bright light viewing ideally from sunlight in the morning amplifies your natural (and healthy) am cortisol rise.”

“You fix all this viewing morning sunlight & exercising in the first 1-2hrs of the day.”

“Viewing bright light in the 1-3hrs post waking has been shown to increase circulating cortisol by as much as 50%”

“If you exercise in the evening, bright light viewing (to increase am cortisol) the next morning is extra key b/c am cortisol = elevated focus/energy all day.”

“It potently increases morning cortisol levels - a good thing (elevated mood, alertness & focus).”

“Increase Morning Cortisol & Sunlight”

“And try and get sufficient sunlight first thing in the morning, again within the first hour. That's the best way to make sure that you time your cortisol appropriately.”

“If you live in an area of the world where there isn't a lot of sunlight, please keep in mind that sunlight coming through cloud cover is going to still be a very effective mechanism for establishing this cortisol rhythm.”

“And I apologize to the listeners of this podcast in advance, if I sound like a repeating record, but the most powerful way to do this is to view sunlight, very close to waking. It does not have to be right at sunrise, but when you get up in the morning, if the sun isn't out, please turn on as many bright lights as possible in your environment.”

“sunlight is best 10 minutes to 30 minutes, depending on how bright it is outside, and so on and so forth.”

“It is fine to wear eyeglasses, meaning corrective lenses or contacts, even if they have UV protection.”

“Well, because it's been shown in studies on humans that getting bright light in your eyes in the first hour after waking or as soon as possible after waking increases the peak of that cortisol pulse by 50%, 5-0.”

“In fact, I think the numbers I'm seeing is just sunlight viewing gives you a 50% increase in that cortisol.”

“Exercise on top of that, another 50% to 75% increase.”

“one, to restrict cortisol the early part of the day, which is viewing morning sunlight.”

“viewing bright light ideally from sunlight but other forms of bright light early in the day actually can lead to a 50% % increase in that qu cortisol Spike”

“and of course there's a big increase in the morning especially if you view morning sunlight a healthy increase I should say in cortisol cortisol is not bad folks you you want cortisol but you want that Peak early in the day”

“there's a 55 z% increase in the amplitude of the morning cortisol Spike which is a good thing right that's when you want it because it's inversely the amplitude of the morning cortisol spike is inversely related to the amplitude of the evening cortisol Spike”

“the height of that Peak and the acceler the uh I would say the steepness of the curve can be uh increased uh by viewing morning sunlight we know this bright light increases that cortisol Peak it'll make you a better early riser”

“the best way to stimulate that increasing cortisol at the appropriate time is that very soon after waking within 30 minutes or so after waking get outside view some sunlight even if it's overcast get outside view some some sunlight no sunglasses do that because in the early part of the day you have the opportunity to time that cortisol release to the early part of the day it will will improve your focus it will impr improve your energy levels and it will improve your learning throughout the day”

“Early in the day, we experience a natural and healthy bump in a hormone called cortisol and promotes wakefulness. It actually promotes a healthy immune system. It's very important that that pulse of cortisol arrive early in the day. That pulse of cortisol is going to happen once every 24 hours. No matter what, it's going to happen. And you get to time it. How do you time it? Primarily by when you view bright sunlight.”

“The protocol is to get bright light, ideally from sunlight, into your eyes within the first hour of waking. Ideally, within the first 30 minutes. Ideally, it's from sunlight. So, you would go outside, take your sunglasses off.”

“In fact, most people just look at their phone or flip on a few indoor artificial lights. And that is not going to be sufficient to boost your cortisol levels the way you need to in order to achieve the kind of elevation in mood focus and alertness.”

“You do that with viewing bright light. Ideally, sunlight, hydration, exercise will help.”

“So this thing about viewing bright light early in the morning, it's a real thing from the standpoint of the mechanism is understood, the ideal timing is understood.”

“The magnitude of the impact on cortisol is very significant. These are big effects, and it's clinically significant with respect to mood, meaning you're going to feel more energized, you're going to feel better.”

“Anyways, these people that were exposed to the bright light had a 20% or 25% decrease in cortisol levels, you know, during parts of the day when it wasn't supposed to be high.”

“there's also a really interesting effect of cortisol where bright light exposure early in the day increases the total amount of cortisol by about 50%”