Does sunlight help you to wake up?

Teo Carballo & Jon Fernandez-Barrera

According to verywell health website, being exposed 30 minutes to sunlight in the morning
helps you to get up with more energy and possessing more energy during the day. This is
because our body has something called the “circadian rhythm” which is similar to a clock,
which works with light. When the sun goes down your body starts creating melatonin that
helps you to sleep better at night.

So, as you can see, exposing your body to sunlight in the morning has a lot of benefits, but
you have to be careful because you can get burned. However, it doesn’t happen if you put
sunscreen on your body. Sleep Advisors website says that exposure to the sunlight in the
morning helps our body to feel more energy during the morning and to sleep better at night.
We think the same as them.

To prove the hypothesis we did an investigation, which was taken in 2 main parts:

➔ Firstly, we asked to old people

● Men
- We asked our fathers to do this experiment on weekends, so they
have reached an agreement that consists of waking up at the same
hour. The first weekend, we asked them to wake up without sunlight,
that is, with blinds. The second weekend, we asked them to wake up,
but in this case, to be exposed to 30 minutes of sunlight after they
woke up.

● Women
- We asked our mothers to do this experiment on weekends, so they
could go both days at similar times to sleep so we kept the variables
under control. As the same as in the first one, we asked them to first
do the experiment without sunlight. The second weekend we asked
them to do the same as in the first weekend but instead they had to
wake up and be exposed to sunlight for 30 minutes after they woke up

➔ Secondly, we asked young people

● Boys
- We asked our friends to do this experiment on weekends, so they
have reached an agreement that consists of waking up at the same
hour. The first weekend, we asked them to wake up without sunlight,
that is, with blinds or they can wake up on school days. The second
weekend, we asked them to wake up, but in this case, to be exposed
to 30 minutes of sunlight after they woke up.
 ● Girls
- We asked our sisters/friends to do this experiment on weekends, so
they could go both days at similar times to sleep so we kept the
variables under control. As the same as in the first one, we asked
them to first do the experiment without sunlight, that is, with blinds or
they can wake up on school days. The second weekend we asked
them to do the same as in the first weekend but instead they had to
wake up and be exposed to sunlight for 30 minutes after they woke
up.

After doing the experiment, this are the results:

EXAMINATED PEOPLE WITH SUNLIGHT WITHOUT SUNLIGHT

YOUNG BOYS They said that they don’t feel They said that they feel tired,
tired during the day, and they and throughout the day they
have more energy throughout quickly gain energy
the day

YOUNG GIRLS They said that they don’t feel They said that they feel tired,
tired during the day, and they and throughout the day they
have more energy throughout slowly gain energy
the day

ADULT BOYS They said that they don’t feel They said that they don’t feel
tired during the day, and they tired during the day, and they
have more energy throughout have more energy throughout
the day the day

ADULT GIRLS They said that they don’t feel
tired during the day, and they
have more energy throughout
the day
They said that they feel tired
and that it was really difficult
to sleep the next day, and
throughout the day they slowly
gain energy

TOTAL They said that they don’t feel They said that they feel tired,
tired during the day, and they and throughout the day they
have more energy throughout gain energy
the day
Conlcusion:

As we said before, sunlight is beneficial for the body because it helps the human body to feel
with more energy during the day. The NIOSH (The National Institute For Occupational Safety
and Health) says that sunlight helps you to be more efficient in your work because it helps
you to be more alert and to be more concentrated during the day. Also, regarding the results
we can confirm what the experts said, that the exposure to sunlight for 30 minutes in the
morning helps our circadian rhythm. So, regarding all we said before and after analyzing the
data of the experiment we confirm our hypothesis.

References:
Effects of Light on Circadian Rhythms | NIOSH | CDC - Centres for Disease Control and
Prevention
Morning Sunlight Exposure - Improve Your Sleep Easily I Sleep Advisor - Sleep Advisor
Expose Yourself to Morning Sunlight for Better Sleep - Verywell health