Just imagine it for a moment: on a beach chair with a cocktail in your hand, sunglasses on, and if it feels too hot, dive into the sea for a while... Just thinking about it makes my mood improve.
But doing nothing during your vacation is not necessarily what makes you feel reborn; the sunshine aspect is! You are outside more and you help reset your biological clock so you can get back to work full time after summer.
This is because sunlight tells our body through our eyes when it is day and when it is night. Because you are in natural light all day, you become more active during the day and sleep deeper at night. This way, your battery recharges properly!
Especially for summer, some light facts and reasons to really go outside more often anyway 😉
Summer vacation facts
- From about 3,000 lux on your eyes, we tend to put on sunglasses. On average, those bring the light level down 3 times. Not a big deal, because it's still enough to drive your biological clock.
- In full sunlight, we receive 100,000 lux or more. That's a lot of light! Normally, in a building, we receive only 500 lux (far too little, of course).
- Beneficial for your resistance: sunlight provides more vitamin D, through UV radiation on your skin.
- Just notice when we say to each other "you are well-tinted today. This is usually in the evening when the sun goes down. There is then a lot of red in the sunlight, making the discoloration more obvious.
- There is such a thing as summer blues, such as waking up very early. The tip is to make sure your bedroom is dark with good curtains. Or use a bath towel in front of the window for extra darkness in the morning.
So nice to come back from vacation recharged. Wouldn't it be a shame to lose that vacation feeling after just a week or two, because your biological weather gets disrupted? That lack of light inside buildings, whether at home or in the office, requires more powerful light inside during the day. That will keep your biological clock in shape.
Have fun consciously soaking up your summer dose of sunlight!
