How to get more health benefits from your daily walk

Would you like to boost your mood, improve your sleep and cut your risk of heart disease and diabetes? All by doing Just One Thing? Then try Dr Michael Mosley’s new podcast where he reveals the simple things you can start doing tomorrow, that could make a surprisingly big difference to your physical and mental health – starting with simply getting out and about when you wake up.

After months of lockdown, many of us have realised the importance of getting out of the house. But do you know why it feels so good? Exposure to sunlight causes changes in your brain, increasing your level of serotonin, the brain chemical that boosts your mood. And that’s not the only benefit…

In the UK we spend about 22 hours a day indoors, but our bodies are designed to be exposed to natural light. From the moment you open your eyes in the morning, sensors at the back of your eyes detect light and send a signal to the tiny area within your brain’s hypothalamus that controls your body clock – your body’s natural sleep/wake cycle. Sunlight stops the brain making melatonin, a hormone that makes you feel tired – so it literally wakes you up during the day.

The light outside is 50-100 times brighter than inside, and Michael reveals the surprisingly simple ways you can use this knowledge to control your own body clock. By exposing yourself to bright light early in the day, you can bring forward your body clock, so you are more ready to go to sleep at night. The sooner you get out and about, the sooner you will start to feel sleepy at night. Two hours after dawn is the optimum time if you want to improve your sleep patterns at night.

But as Michael discovers, it’s not just when you walk, but how you walk that matters…