Good Morning Sunshine: Benefits of Waking Your Kids Up with the Sun

Good Morning Sunshine: Benefits of Waking Your Kids Up with the Sun

It is little wonder that children love sleeping in—and waking up later during the school holidays. Imagine how early they must rise to prepare for school: taking a bath, eating their breakfast, and being on time for the school bus pick-ups every day. All these sleep-deprived munchkins probably want to ‘catch up’ on sleep over the holidays.

Rather than waste time and energy to wake them up, why not let the morning sunshine do the work for you? Simply open the blinds or curtains in their rooms to let the sunlight in. Then, watch as your kids wake up naturally to a happy morning!

When they rise with the sun, your kids will experience first-hand the benefits below.

Positive Mood

Raising your kids’ bedroom blinds in the morning lets natural sunlight enter. When the morning sun fills their room, their bodies will naturally feel the urge to wake up.

According to National Geographic, less than two decades ago, a neuroscientist discovered a third class of light-sensitive eye cells, now known as “intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells” (ipRGCs).

These cells play a pivotal role not only in improving vision, but in waking up the brain as well. They are responsible for absorbing light, and setting your children’s circadian rhythm (a.k.a. sleep-wake cycle).

This means as soon as sunrise occurs, your kids receive the biological kick to rise and shine. There will be a lower likelihood of you yelling at them, or nudging their little bodies out of slumber.

Since your kids are not forced to wake up, they are more likely to welcome the day with a positive mood.

Higher Energy Levels

If you do not like raising curtains every morning, consider getting a curtain motor that automatically opens them on your behalf at a preset time in the morning. There are wallet-friendly ones on the market, such as the Mornin’ Plus by Somfy!

The natural light from the sun not only results in an uplifted mood, but higher energy levels as well. It gives your kids more drive to conquer the day.

According to Time.com, it was found in a study conducted on shift workers that exposure to sunlight can have domino effects on multiple biological processes (e.g. how our bodies obtain energy from food) that contribute to good health. Night shift workers, for example, tend to be of a heavier weight than normal people.

In other words, staying away from sunlight can disrupt your drive to keep your body active. This is why you should let your sleeping kids bathe in the morning sun. When you do so, you help them set an ‘active’ tone for their bodies, which can give them the energy boost needed to fully enjoy fun school holiday activities: cycling, playing at the park, kite-flying, and more.

Better Sleep

More sunshine also means better sleep for your kids. This is because sunlight positively influences one’s capacity for sleep.

Exposing your kids’ eyes to sunlight causes a release of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that regulates the wake-and-sleep cycle. It is a chemical precursor to melatonin, the main hormone involved in sleep. When serotonin is brought up to a certain level, sleep begins to happen. This is when your kids’ eyelids will naturally start to feel heavy.

The claim above may seem counterintuitive, considering that we sleep at night in the darkness; but the scientific research backing it up has been anything but light.

Our Recommendations

Instead of opening window coverings by yourself, why not leave the manual work to the curtains-and-blinds motor experts at Somfy Singapore?

A pocket-friendly example would be the Mornin’ Plus: it lets you motorise your existing curtains in 5 minutes via a Somfy app!

If you want a solution that allows you to install motorised shades without having to hack your walls—because extra dust is unwelcome—then you’d enjoy the Wirefree range.

Transform your manual blinds and curtains into automated window coverings today. Harness sunlight to wake your kids up—automatically and healthily. Eliminate fuss on your part, and help your children obtain a positive mood, higher energy levels, and better sleep!

Note: Any reference to scientific studies above is not meant to be professional scientific advice. For more information about those studies, please refer to the source material itself.