Do you ever scroll through social media only to find yourself bombarded by bad news, worse comments, hot takes, picture -perfect families, and yet another humbling professional update?
It's hard not to get wrapped up in how everyone else is doing, but imagine how you'd feel if you spent just 45 minutes focused on how you're doing.
At Cerebral, we make it easier than ever to access dedicated therapists and doctor -prescribed medication personalized to you.
And the best part, Cerebral offers in -network care, so you can focus on feeling better without worrying about the cost.
In fact, 72 % of people say they felt better in just 12 weeks, so take the first step today.
Visit Cerebral .com slash podcast to see how affordable and accessible mental health care can be with insurance.
To make switching to the new Boost Mobile risk -free, we're offering a 30 -day money -back guarantee.
So why wouldn't you switch from Verizon or T -Mobile?
Because you have nothing to lose.
Boost Mobile is offering a 30 -day money -back guarantee.
No, I asked why wouldn't you switch from Verizon or T -Mobile?
Oh. Wouldn't. Because you love wasting money as a way to punish yourself because your mother never showed you enough love as a child?
Whoa, easy there. Yeah.
Applies to online activations.
Requires port in and auto pay.
Customers activating in stores may be charged non -refundable activation fees.
TED Talks Daily is sponsored by Capital One.
In my house, we subscribe to everything.
music, TV, even dog food.
And it rocks. Until you have to manage it all, which is where Capital One comes in.
Capital One credit cardholders can easily track, block, or cancel recurring charges right from the Capital One mobile app at no additional cost.
With one sign -in, you can manage all your subscriptions all in one place.
Learn more at CapitalOne .com slash subscriptions.
Terms and conditions apply.
You're listening to TED Talks Daily where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day.
I'm your host, Elise Hugh.
If you'll allow me to brag real quick, I am very good at getting over jet lag.
I'm a former international correspondent and have to do some cross time zone travel pretty frequently.
Over the years, I've learned daylight and staying awake at daylight has really helped me in regulating sleep and correcting for jet lag.
And in her talk, sleep scientist Christine Bloom gives us an explainer on why it's so effective, not just for jet lag, but for sleep quality all year round.
Enjoy. On a usual Saturday, you wouldn't find me here.
And I mean, of course, I don't give TEDx talks every Saturday.
day. But what I mean is, you probably wouldn't find me in a museum.
Rather, if you were looking for me, you'd probably have to go to the mountains.
And that is because I absolutely love hiking.
And in addition to just being outside and being in the nature, what I really like is this feeling of physical exhaustion, sort of this satisfaction you can feel in every single muscle.
And in the evening, when it's time to go to bed, I absolutely cherish this amazing sleepiness that fills you from head to toe.
Now you might say, well, of course she's tired.
She's been hiking all day.
Plus, not to forget about the effects of supposedly fresh air.
But there is one factor that most likely outweighs the effects of fresh air, and perhaps even physical activity.
And that is exposure to natural daylight.
And today I hope to convince you that we should all appreciate daylight as sort of a natural soporific.
And hopefully by the end of the talk, you will also recognize that we should all pay more attention to our daily light diet.
But let's start with the question, why daylight is so important for our organism, for health and eventually for sleep.
Now throughout your body, in each and every single cell, there is a tiny molecular clock ticking inside it.
And to keep these millions of clocks in sync, we have one central body clock that is located in the brain in an area which we call the hypothalamus.
And like the conductor of an orchestra, It communicates the time of day to each of these molecular clocks.
And this way it is able to regulate bodily processes in sync with the time of day.
For example, it causes your body temperature to increase in the morning and to decrease in the evening.
It choreographs the release of certain hormones at appropriate times.
And in the evening, when it's time to go to bed, It will also make you tired and sleepy.
But given this precise synchronization between internal or biological time and external time or environmental time, it seems clear that the body clock cannot be blind or isolated or shut off from the environment, but rather it needs to receive information about the time of day from the environment for it
to synchronize with sun time.
And this is achieved by close connections between the internal biological clock in the brain and our eyes.
And now you may know that in the human retina there are different types of receptors, photoreceptors, so receptors that send light.
And classically, we distinguish two types, the rods and the cones.
But this is not the whole story.
Because only finally recently, only in the early 2000s, another type of cell has been discovered.
And we call them retinal ganglion cells.
These cells do not contribute to a visual impression.
But they're exclusively designed to sense short wavelength proportions in daylight.
Sometimes we also call this blue light.
So they're designed to extract important information about the time of day from the environment and pass this on to the internal biological clock in the brain.
And I guess you've all experienced how well this biological timing system, this connection between our biological clock and the external world or our eyes works when we, for example, travel across time zones.
Now, how much light do we actually need?
How much light is enough for the positive effects on, for instance, sleep to occur?
And I have to admit, this is not so easy to answer.
But I think what we have to keep in mind is that the biological timing system has evolved under the open sky and not in offices or museums.
So it is also optimally tuned to the conditions we find outside.
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 spent 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 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.
and beyond the effects on sleep we know that patients in brighter rooms experience less pain and less stress and also the effects of daylight on mood are well established so i thought it might be time for me to put into practice what i often preach and i have to confess that usually i'm much better
at giving advice than following it myself but here's what i did so first when it became free our Austin nurses to move my bed to the window place.
Because that does not only give you power of the fresh air supply, which is highly recommended in the hospital, but it also maximizes daylight exposure even though you're inside.
Second, as soon as I could leave my bed again, I went to the park for short walks.
And last, every meal I had, I tried to take on the little balcony.
Did it work? Well, that's a bit difficult to say, because it of course was a single case study.
But from patients suffering from insomnia, so one of the most common sleep disorders, we know that light therapy is beneficial.
And therefore, I would like to encourage all of you, and perhaps especially those who might belong to the 25 % suffering from sleep problems, to start your own single case study.
Thank you. That was Christine Bloom at TEDxBasel in 2022.
If you're curious about TED's curation, find out more at ted .com slash curationguidelines.
And that's it for today.
TED Talks Daily is part of the TED Audio Collective.
This episode was produced and edited by our team, Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Brian Greene, Autumn Thompson, and Alejandra Salazar.
It was mixed by Christopher Faisi Bogan.
Additional support from Emma Taubner and Daniela Bollarezzo.
I'm Elise Hugh. I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feet.
Thanks for listening.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are now boarding Group A.
please have your boarding passes ready to scan if your phone is cracked old or was chewed up by your chihuahua travel companion please refrain from holding up the line and instead simply go to verizon and trade in any phone in any condition from one of their top brands for the new samsung galaxy s25
plus with galaxy ai on unlimited ultimate and watch or tap also on them service plan required for watch or tap trade in and additional terms apply see verizon .com for details.
The new Boost Mobile Network is offering unlimited talk, text, and data for just $25 a month for life.
That sounds like a threat.
Then how do you think we should say it?
Unlimited talk, text, and data for just $25 a month for the rest of your life?
I don't know. Until your ultimate demise.
What if we just say forever?
Okay. $25 a month forever.
Get unlimited talk, text, and data for just $25 a month with Boost Mobile forever.
After 30 gigabytes, customers may experience slower speeds.
Customers will pay $25 a month as long as they remain active on the Boost Unlimited plan.
If you wear glasses, you know how hard it is to find the perfect pair.
But step into a Warby Parker store and you'll see it doesn't have to be.
Not only will you find a great selection of frames, you'll also meet helpful advisors and friendly optometrists.
Yep, many Warby Parker locations also offer eye exams.
So the next time you need glasses, sunglasses, contact lenses, or a new prescription, you know where to look.
To find a Warby Parker store near you or to book and eye exam, head over to warbyparker .com slash retail.
