Many of us are sunflowers: We need lots of sunshine to thrive, grow tall and blossom.
A few of us are more like the trillium you find on the forest floor, a shade-loving, spring-blooming perennial woodland wildflower.
Most of are probably more like shamrocks, which are happiest in bright, but not direct sunlight.
One chance to cheat
I once took a workshop from an experienced gardener from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, which has a pitifully short growing season of 85 frost-free days on average.
“You can cheat Mother Nature on only one thing,” she lectured.
To make up for the short season, she created extraordinarily rich, deep planting beds and made sure she met the plants’ water and light requirements. She started plants early in cold frames and a green house. She mulched.
The result were stunning gardens that few people would expect could be grown in a region better known for the 200-inches of average snowfall it gets every season.
We cheat Mother Nature daily
It’s called modern life. We live and work indoors and travel in closed containers.
Trips to a park are planned events. Extended time outside is called an annual vacation.
Medical research is starting to show that nearly all of us are light deprived, based on serious deficiencies of Vitamin D worldwide. Our bodies manufacture Vitamin D from sun exposure and we simply don’t get enough sun.
So who are we cheating?
Feeling blue when the sun is shining
In southeast Michigan we’re into the dog days of summer, hot sunny days that seem endless. But our glittering daily jewel of sunshine is being squeezed on both ends as we move toward fall – sunrise comes later and sunset comes earlier.
Throw in some summer thunderstorm and cloudy days, and you may be feeling punk already. It happened to me when I vacationed regularly at a friend’s cabin in the woods during August.
Little direct sunshine came into the cabin between the trees and during several days of heavy overcast and rain, my energy dropped like a stone tossed into the river outside. I barely had the energy to read, one of my favorite things.
But it’s sunny!
I can hear you protest: “But it’s summer! It’s sunny outside! How can I not be getting enough sunlight?”
Just because you can see the sunlight outside, through the window and your house or apartment is pleasantly lit, doesn’t mean you are getting enough bright light in your eyes when you need it.
Here’s a chart I published late last year that compares different light sources using lux, a measurement of light.
- Streetlight – 10-20 lux
- Typical living room light – 100 lux
- Office flourescent light – 300-500 lux
- Halogen lamp – 750 lux
- Daylight, 1 hour before sunset – 1,000 lux
- Daylight, cloudy sky – 5,000 lux
- Daylight, clear sky – 10,000 lux
- Bright sunshine – 20,000 – 100,000 lux
As you can see, the typical living room comes in at about 100 lux, a fraction of the 10,000 and more lux you’d receive outside on a clear day. I use 10,000 lux because that’s the standard amount of light you receive from a light box used in light therapy.
What can you do to feel better now?
Think:
What are you, a sunflower, a shamrock or a trillium? How do you feel when you’re outside more, or stuck inside more?
Do you think you’re getting enough light on a daily basis? Mentally walk through a typical day and visualize the light you receive.
Like the challenged U.P. gardener, what other parts of your health- and personal-care could you tweak? More fruits and vegetables instead of carb-heavy snacks? More full-body movement instead of computer work and texting?
Are you a sunflower in the shade?
Chances are good that if you’re energy hides when the sun slips behind the clouds, you need more light in your life.
Here are things you can do now to help yourself:
Take the test
Head over to the Center for Environmental Therapeutics and take their self-assessment tests. These online assessment tools will clarify whether you’re a morning or evening person and give you some clear guidelines for adjusting your morning wake-up time and bedtime to adjust your body clock. You’ll also get a clear idea if you might benefit from light therapy. Be sure to take the first two tests, which are confidential.
Download the Light Therapy Guide
If you’re considering buying a light box to try light therapy, be sure to download the Light Therapy Lamp Guide first. It will make your shopping easier by giving you key information you need to know.
Bring some light in
Brainstorm ways to light up your interior environments, at work and home. Increase the wattage of a few bulbs, replace burned out bulbs and buy a couple new lamps.
Get a jumpstart with the Secrets email course
If you already know that what you’re feeling in August is a taste of what you experience in winter, sign up for my Secrets of Beating the Winter Blues free email course. The 10 lessons help you determine if light therapy might work for you, how to adapt it to your life and how to make other life hacks – eating, exercise and social life – to beat the winter blues.
So, what are you? Sunflower, trillium or shamrock?
Let us know in the comments along with one or two things you’re going to do to get more light.
