Ever felt better after a sunny afternoon in the garden or on the beach? Ever wondered why? Natural sunlight has soooo many healing qualities. Most of us know that our body needs sunlight to produce vitamin D but what I didn’t realise it that the vitamin D supplement I took was not meeting my body’s need. Not only are there receptors in our skin that create vitamin D for our bodies (which supplements fail to do) but there are also specialised light sensors in our eyes that help us manage our internal body clock. These sensors help our body to know when it is time to be active, and if used correctly, can be the answer to getting a naturally good sleep. Sleep is so important but its not the only thing that sunlight helps, when light hits these sensors in our eyes it sends signals all across our body which and triggers so many other useful body hacks the most interesting is the signal which regulate hormones, mood, energy levels and sense of alertness. This means that without sunlight, some of these hormones simply won’t be released (or released in a lower dosage) meaning that you can feel tired, unmotivated and even depressed.

This is why in winter many people get SAD (seasonal affective disorder). Most indoor lighting just isn’t bright enough to trigger this sensor in our eyes. The cure? It can take only 15 minutes on a bright sunny afternoon to benefit our brains and give our sensors the kick start they need.

Bright light therapy is simply exposing yourself to 10,000 LUX of white light each day. For simply preventing depression, Dr Ilardi recommends that 15 minutes a day is enough although please do speak to your health care provider before trying this therapy.

Light therapy can work within 5 days, and has very little (if any) side affects. Compared to anti-depressants which can take up to 2 weeks and often have horrible side-effects (as I have personally discovered). Obviously its best to get our light exposure the old fashioned way, as going outside exposes us to a natural air-born pro-biotic and being with nature is a form of therapy in itself. If this is not possible for you, light boxes for less than £100 can be purchased. At first I thought it seemed like a big investment but actually I spend at least £10 a month on anti-depressants and that’s not even calculating the other expenses that depression can bring (friends, career, life etc,). So, for me it was a no brainer.

As part of my new anti-depressant lifestyle I shall be purchasing a light box and adding it into my morning routine. Probably, whilst sipping my first glass of water and whilst the coffee is brewing.