Did you know there are actual health benefits of watching the sunrise or sunset? Sunrises and sunsets are often the stuff of vacations — something you wake up early to catch at the top of a hike, amid the sonic bliss of birdsong, or the backdrop for a golden hour boat trip. But if you’ve ever found yourself gazing at a cotton candy sky while, say, stuck in gridlock traffic, you also know that the sun does not discriminate. It doesn’t care whether you are sipping a piña colada on a beach or slamming coffee at work. No matter how uninspiring your surroundings may be, a rising or setting sun can paint them dazzling.
And that’s no small deal. For the people who live in urban areas, it can often feel like getting a dose of nature’s restorative benefits requires travel. But a spectacular sunrise or sunset can be like a blip of wildness in the flatline of city or suburban living, perhaps even long enough to make you forget about the concrete or the cockroaches or the literal garbage for a second. It’s proof that “even if you are in an incredibly built-up area, nature takes place in the huge canvas of the sky above you,” says Alexander Smalley, an environmental psychologist who researches the impact of natural experiences on well-being.
That’s a poignant reminder as we barrel toward winter. You might be less enthused about getting outside; it’s colder and everything looks more barren. But that’s all the more reason to plan what little outdoor time you do take around the sunrise or sunset, when the show in the sky is every bit — if not more — stunning than in any other season. So, what are the health benefits of watching the sunrise or sunset?
This is the best time of year to see great sunrises and sunsets.
Any sunrise or sunset can be beautiful, and “best” is subjective. But perhaps the most eye-catching variety happens in a sky that has “high, thin, wispy” clouds, “which are able to get lit up in those bright orange and red colours like a projector screen,” Benjamin Reppert, a meteorology lecturer at Pennsylvania State University and cofounder of sunrise and sunset forecast site SunsetWx, says. At the same time, the lower part of the atmosphere needs to be clear in order for us to see it, he adds. And thanks to atmospheric conditions, these two factors are most likely to co-occur during the late fall and early winter.
That’s because weather systems are moving through more frequently during this time of year, Reppert explains. Those high wispy clouds that reflect sunlight tend to be present with clearer conditions below when a storm is just about to roll in or trailing away.
By now, some of the smoke particles from summer’s wildfires have also made their way high up in the atmosphere, Reppert says, “where they act in the same way as those wispy clouds by scattering red and orange wavelengths of light very efficiently.” That makes for even more colourful drama as dawn breaks or golden hour arrives. (When these pollutants are lower, like in summer, they have the opposite effect, bouncing light back toward the sun and muting the shades we see.) Fall and winter also bring a drop in humidity in many areas, and with less water vapour in the air, “the red and orange hues can come through instead of getting scattered away by all the moisture,” Reppert says.
There are real psychological upsides to taking in a beautiful sunrise or sunset.
You’ve probably heard about the mental and physical benefits of spending time in nature versus being boxed in by concrete. The soothing stimuli of the former—from lapping ocean waves to swaths of greenery — can reduce stress, boost happiness, and even enhance creativity by putting you in a state of “soft fascination” (a.k.a. a just-right amount of mental stimulation). It’s no wonder research shows that people tend to respond more favourably to natural settings than urban ones, and they find them more aesthetically pleasing. That said, these studies have largely compared the two during neutral or blue-sky conditions. What Dr. Smalley set out to investigate a couple years ago is how fleeting aspects of weather (like rainbows or thunderstorms) that occur in both kinds of environments might influence peoples’ experiences within them.
