A Little Sun Every Day

When I used to work in the office, I would go for a walk after lunch most days to rummage through my thoughts. But for the last several months I’d been going to bed late and getting up late. I’d abandoned my daily walk and didn’t realize the hidden benefits I’d left behind.

At the same time, most nights, when I got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, I had great difficulty going back to sleep. I would lay in bed an hour or two with anxious thoughts running through my head. I had no idea why and just accepted it as part of my new reality.

Then recently I had the chance to go for a few walks during the week and on weekends. And seemingly “randomly” I was able to sleep through the night. After a couple weeks, it occurred to me that maybe my daily walks were related to my ability to sleep better.

I googled it and sure enough, there were tons of articles about people needing to experience a little bit of sunlight every day to reset their circadian rhythms and be able to sleep well. Now I’ve been making a concerted effort to walk outside during the day for at least 15 minutes.

I don’t even walk fast. For me, walking is more meditative than athletic. Sometimes I still have a little trouble falling back asleep but not nearly as much as before. Looks like this is going to be a new habit for me. If you have trouble sleeping like I did, maybe get back in touch with the sun on a midday walk.