Christine Blume

Office light or light in rooms is in no way comparable to what we find outside.

And therefore, from a scientific perspective, I can only recommend you to spend as much time as you can under the open sky, but try to make it at least 30 minutes per day.

Now, let's finally talk about sleep.

And I've repeatedly alluded to the fact that daylight is beneficial and important for sleep.

And in this context, I'd like to share a little story.

So last year, I had to go to hospital for surgery.

And generally, the hospital environment is a very challenging one for sleep.

Because you spend way too much time in bed, not moving much.

You might be in pain.

Now and then someone comes in to check on you, even during the night.

And if you're as lucky as I was, you have a snoring roommate.

And because you, of course, don't get a lot of daylight.

And that's why many people, while they're in hospital, ask for sleep medication.

But as I consider myself to be a generally good sleeper, and also because I know how these drugs work, I didn't want this.

But I knew there was something I could do to help my body sleep as well as possible, even in this situation.

And that was to maximise exposure to daylight.

Because as a sleep scientist, of course I know about the research findings.

I know that the more daylight that you get, the more tired you will be in the evening, the easier it will be for you to fall asleep, and the better the experience of sleep quality.

And in addition, daylight exposure has also been shown to increase proportions of deep sleep, which again has been linked to processes of tissue repair.

Something not to be underestimated after surgery.