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How to Get Morning Light Without Direct Sunshine

Huberman Lab Clips06:48Added Aug 31, 2026

Dr. Andrew Huberman discusses how getting morning ambient daylight sets your circadian rhythm to enhance daytime focus and nighttime sleep, detailing practic...

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  1. Morning Daylight Question

  2. 00:00I have been making a concentrated effort
  3. 00:02to get outside first thing in the
  4. 00:04morning to help reset my circadian
  5. 00:07rhythm. Is it okay to just be outside
  6. 00:11even though all I really see is the sky
  7. 00:14above me and the western sky or do I
  8. 00:17really need to walk 20 minutes so I can
  9. 00:19see the eastern horizon?
  10. 00:22Okay, this is a great question. The
  11. 00:23person remained anonymous which is also
  12. 00:24terrific but thank you for your question
  13. 00:26whoever you are. I get asked this
  14. 00:28question all the time. Here's the deal.
  15. 00:32Any amount of ambient daylight that you
  16. 00:35can get in the first hour after waking
  17. 00:37will greatly benefit you. It'll increase
  18. 00:39your morning cortisol peak, which by the
  19. 00:40way is a great thing. No, it's not going
  20. 00:42to give you Cushing syndrome. No, it's
  21. 00:44not going to make you gain weight. Quite
  22. 00:46the opposite. In fact, it's going to
  23. 00:47kickstart so many beneficial mechanisms.
  24. 00:49Okay? It's also going to increase your
  25. 00:51mood focus and alertness all day long as
  26. 00:53a consequence of that early morning
  27. 00:55cortisol peak. So, get ambient daylight
  28. 00:59in your eyes in the first hour after
  29. 01:01waking. Of course, if you wake up before
  30. 01:03the sun comes out, you're going to have
  31. 01:04to wait. A 10,000 lux artificial light
  32. 01:06can be beneficial in those
  33. 01:07circumstances. I don't have any
  34. 01:09relationship to any company that sells
  35. 01:10them, but they're out there on the
  36. 01:11internet. They're all basically equally
  37. 01:13effective.
  38. 01:15If you get outside and you can walk
  39. 01:17eastward,
  40. 01:19sunglasses off, brimmed hats off,
  41. 01:20because the light's coming from above
  42. 01:22and you don't want to olude that with a
  43. 01:24brimmed hat. wear sunglasses. Eyeglasses
  44. 01:27and contacts are fine. If you can do
  45. 01:28that, great. Many people can't. Many
  46. 01:30people only have the opportunity to step
  47. 01:32out onto their balcony of their
  48. 01:34apartment and it's west facing. Okay,
  49. 01:36you're still going to benefit from all
  50. 01:38those photons, all that ambient light.
  51. 01:41And the reason I say daylight and not
  52. 01:42sunlight is that for some reason, it's
  53. 01:44semantic, but it's semantic and it leads
  54. 01:46to a lot of confusion. When people hear
  55. 01:48you got to get sunlight in your eyes
  56. 01:50early in the morning, they think, "Oh, I
  57. 01:51have to see the sun as an object." No.
  58. 01:53Compare how bright it is at say 9:00 am
  59. 01:57in the depths of winter on an overcast
  60. 01:59day facing westward in the morning
  61. 02:01compared to midnight the night before.
  62. 02:03It's so much brighter. There's just so
  63. 02:04many photons and that's what are going
  64. 02:06to trigger these special cells in your
  65. 02:08eye. The intrinsically photosensive
  66. 02:10melanopsin retinal ganglin cells that
  67. 02:12literally send a direct connection to
  68. 02:14your circadian clock set your circadian
  69. 02:16rhythm. So any amount of ambient
  70. 02:19daylight that you can get into your
  71. 02:20eyes, westward, eastward, eastward being
  72. 02:22better, but westward still being great.

  73. Optimizing Daytime Energy & Sleep

  74. 02:25Clear day better than overcast, but you
  75. 02:27can't control the weather and neither
  76. 02:28can I. All are going to help increase
  77. 02:31that morning cortisol peak lead to
  78. 02:34larger increases in the catakolamines,
  79. 02:36dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine,
  80. 02:38which translates to more daytime energy,
  81. 02:40improved mood, improved focus. And
  82. 02:43here's the real key that most people
  83. 02:46miss. By spiking all these pro-arousal
  84. 02:48chemicals early in the day and
  85. 02:50particularly in the first hours of our
  86. 02:52day, ideally the first hour itself,
  87. 02:55you're setting up the whole system to
  88. 02:57have low levels of these proarousal
  89. 03:00chemicals circulating come nighttime,
  90. 03:03come evening. It makes it so much easier
  91. 03:05to fall asleep. and cortisol and all
  92. 03:08these other stimulatory chemicals that
  93. 03:10you make, they are in opposite phase to
  94. 03:14melatonin. So by getting them high in
  95. 03:16the morning and low in the evening and
  96. 03:17at night with this daylight viewing and
  97. 03:20that is the most potent stimulus to do
  98. 03:22that, you're setting yourself up for
  99. 03:25increased melatonin, your own natural
  100. 03:27melatonin release at night, and better
  101. 03:30sleep, more ease in falling asleep, more
  102. 03:32ease in staying asleep, and more restful
  103. 03:34sleep, and on and on. So, the short
  104. 03:37answer, totally fine to face westward.
  105. 03:40The other short answer, please remove
  106. 03:42your sunglasses. Please remove a brimmed
  107. 03:45hat while you do it. You'll get more
  108. 03:46ambient light in your eyes that way. If
  109. 03:48you can rotate eastward and still get
  110. 03:50some daylight, even better. If you can
  111. 03:52walk eastward into the rising sun, even
  112. 03:54better. Never look at any light,
  113. 03:56sunlight, or otherwise that's so bright
  114. 03:57that it's painful to look at without
  115. 03:59blinking to protect your eyes. You have
  116. 04:00a natural blink reflex to protect your
  117. 04:02neural retinas, right? You don't want
  118. 04:04blasting your eyes. You don't want to
  119. 04:05force yourself to hold your eyelids
  120. 04:07open. But I promise you, promise you,
  121. 04:09promise you, if you do these things
  122. 04:11regularly, you're going to benefit
  123. 04:13tremendously. There's just so much
  124. 04:15literature on that in humans in all
  125. 04:17these different populations, ages, etc.
  126. 04:19And as a final point, you mentioned that
  127. 04:22you're benefiting from this to set your
  128. 04:24circadian rhythm, and that's wonderful.
  129. 04:26Just as a favor to everybody, I want to
  130. 04:28take this as an opportunity to tell you
  131. 04:29that your circadian rhythm when you feel
  132. 04:31alert and when you feel sleepy is
  133. 04:33dictated by these mechanisms. Okay? But

  134. How Your Brain Integrates Light

  135. 04:36these mechanisms are slow integration
  136. 04:39mechanisms. Meaning that your super
  137. 04:42kaismatic nucleus, your brain's central
  138. 04:44circadian master clock that organizes
  139. 04:46all of this is literally integrating the
  140. 04:49number of photons that you saw light
  141. 04:52energy in the previous two or three
  142. 04:54days. So, if one morning you have to
  143. 04:55just jump in the car and rush off with
  144. 04:57your sunglasses on and get to work and
  145. 04:59you can't do this, fine. Try and get
  146. 05:00outside for a little bit longer the next
  147. 05:02morning, okay? If you get a ton of
  148. 05:04sunlight in your eyes one morning
  149. 05:06because it's nice and clear and the next
  150. 05:07day it's overcast and dreary, okay? or
  151. 05:09god forbid you stay in bed and scroll
  152. 05:11your phone which I don't recommend but
  153. 05:12if you do that your super kaismatic
  154. 05:14nucleus is making its physiological
  155. 05:18decisions as to when your cortisol
  156. 05:20should increase and your melatonin and
  157. 05:21so on according to your previous two or
  158. 05:24three days early day light exposure yes
  159. 05:27late in the day light exposure matters
  160. 05:29it really does and you want to keep your
  161. 05:30lights low late in the evening I talked
  162. 05:32about that just a few minutes ago
  163. 05:33previous question but that morning
  164. 05:37bright light is really the thing that
  165. 05:39sets the whole thing in motion. And it's
  166. 05:41your last two or three days of
  167. 05:44postwaking
  168. 05:45bright light exposure that really
  169. 05:47dictates your circadian rhythm. There
  170. 05:49are other things too. Exercise, eating,
  171. 05:51social interactions, etc. But that's the
  172. 05:52biggie. That's the big what they call
  173. 05:54zeitgeab. That's the classic language in
  174. 05:56the circadian literature, the classic
  175. 05:57timekeeper. It means timekeeper. So if

  176. Handling Missed Days & Jet Lag

  177. 06:00you miss a day, double up on the amount
  178. 06:01you get outside the next day. This, by
  179. 06:04the way, is also why when you travel
  180. 06:06someplace, your circadian clock doesn't
  181. 06:08shift right away. It's still on your
  182. 06:10previous city's schedule. It takes a few
  183. 06:12days for things to adjust. That's a bad
  184. 06:13thing when you travel. It's called jet
  185. 06:15lag. It's a great thing when you're at
  186. 06:16home because it gives you some
  187. 06:17flexibility. So, you don't have to
  188. 06:19optimize everything to the point where
  189. 06:20you're like 20 minutes every day, 10
  190. 06:22minutes every day. Get 20 minutes one
  191. 06:23day, get five the next, perhaps get 15
  192. 06:25the next. Do what you can. More photons,
  193. 06:28better as long as you blink to protect
  194. 06:29your eyes. But if you're getting fewer
  195. 06:32photons, make it a little bit longer and
  196. 06:34give yourself some ease. Give yourself
  197. 06:36some grace. These mechanisms will take
  198. 06:38really good care of you all on their
  199. 06:39own. [music]
  200. 06:45[music]