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Esme Fae's avatar

The morning sunlight thing really works. I discovered this sort of accidentally, during a period in my life when my only possible window for going to the gym was at 5:30 AM. Being someone who needs a rather lengthy coffee-drinking period of time before I can function, this meant I had to get up at 4:30 AM. This seemed like an impossible feat for someone who had been a night-owl her entire life.

Now, I also tend to suffer from seasonal-affective disorder (SAD), and in an effort to combat my winter blues I had asked for a "Happy Light" for Christmas.

I was rather shocked to discover that after a few weeks waking at 4:30 and sitting by my Happy Light while I drank my coffee, I seemed to have re-set my circadian rhythm. I found myself waking up a minute or two before my alarm, and my brain seemed to be ... turning on and functioning of its own accord? It was bizarre.

Twelve years later and I'm still an early riser. Now I feel "off" and out-of-sorts on the rare occasions I sleep late ("late" now being 7 AM).

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The ADHD Weasel's avatar

This is amazing. Thank you for sharing it in such a vivid way!

It’s so cool how something as simple (and hard) as morning light can actually reprogram the brain over time. Also love the combo of the Happy Light and slow coffee ritual. Such a gentle, ADHD-friendly way to ease into early mornings...

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Pamela Wang, PhD's avatar

I found that morning sunlight along with making my room warm up as I’m supposed to wake up, works amazingly well.

I use Google Home and an universal remote to adjust my AC for this.

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Bill Williamson's avatar

I loved this! Unfortunately, I'm on a fixed income and I need to figure out which subscription or subscriptions I should drop in order to afford subscribing to this “newsletter." I have ADHD and this incredibly informative and helpful. Thank you for presenting this.

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The ADHD Weasel's avatar

Hey Bill! Thank you so much for the message

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Bill Williamson's avatar

You're welcome.

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Wendy Scott's avatar

Aha! This could be why my daughter used to burst in to my bedroom at 11.30 pm, turn on the lights and ask me to edit her homework that was due in at midnight. On a weeknight.

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