Friday Challenge: Sun Exposure, Early Rises and Morning Activity
With summer just around the corner, the long days are upon us. The sun greets us upon waking and lingers on past dinner. I encourage you to live the seasons. While it's ok to hunker down in the winter, it's also appropriate to increase your activity in the summer.
Here's the challenge:
1. Sun exposure. Sun tanning is like drinking - encouraged in small doses, but damaging if performed in binge sessions. Try to get 20 min of sunlight on your skin every day. If it's warm enough, peel back a few layers and let the UV rays touch your skin. More surface area is better. Don't take this as a suggestion to go to a tanning bed or bake for more than an hour at a time.
2. Early rises. Try going to bed earlier so you can get up as the sun rises. Our biological clocks were always in sync with the sun. We never needed smartphones to wake us up or special apps to nudge us out of sleep. Early mornings are correlated to more productivity. The more natural light you get this summer, the better.
3. Morning activity. This is a tough habit to develop, but very rewarding once established. Try to engage in 20 min of very light activity every morning. Mobility exercises and easy walks are more than enough. This is not a substitute for your regular exercise, but rather an additional way to up your fitness.
