Higher peak cortisol levels early in the day, achieved through bright light exposure, lead to lower cortisol levels later in the evening and at night, facilitating sleep.

“Add some early morning bright light exposure. If you can get morning bright light exposure by getting sunlight in your eyes, great! That’s the best way.”

“Viewing bright (sun)Light has a unique and highly beneficial effect on cortisol in the first hour after waking.”

“And I'm a big proponent of people getting some sunlight, ideally sunlight, but other forms of bright light in their eyes early in the day and when they want to be awake.”

“One way that you can ensure that that cortisol peak occurs early in the day right about the time that you wake up is to view bright light, ideally from sunlight, within the first 30 to 60 minutes after waking.”

“But everybody, whether or not you live in a cloudy place or a sunny place, whether or not there's cloud cover or not that day, should really strive to get bright light in your eyes, ideally from sunlight, within the first 30 to 60 minutes after waking.”

“I'm always telling people that they should get sunlight in their eyes as soon as possible after waking on as many days of their life as possible for sake of setting circadian rhythm daytime mood focus and alertness and improve sleep”

“this viewing morning sunlight thing or bright light from a 10,000 lux artificial source, the increase in cortisol that it provides and therefore the increase in energy and mood and focus, etc. is very significant. It's been shown to quickly increase cortisol levels by up to 50%, 50%.”

“that additional surge in cortisol that can occur only in that first one to say two or three hours of the day, that's a very special time because it's not just about the elevated mood, focus, and alertness that you're going to achieve during that time by virtue of getting bright light in your eyes.”

“It's also the case that the higher that first peak in cortisol is early in the day, the better you're setting yourself up for low levels of cortisol later in the evening and at night, which will allow you to fall asleep easily, to stay asleep easily.”

“Early morning sunlight, rich in blue light, interacts with the melanopsin photopigment in our eyes, which acts as a light sensor, effectively synchronizing our internal circadian clock. This interaction dials down melatonin, the sleep hormone, ushering in alertness. Concurrently, there's a sharp spike in our cortisol levels, known as the cortisol awakening response.”