Chasing the Sun reminds readers of the importance of the sunlight in shaping some of the body’s processes, regulating mood, and the surprisingly deleterious effects that not enough sun, or not adhering to the body’s natural rhythms, can have.

I picked up this book because I’ve been having trouble sleeping and thought maybe this would have some helpful tips. It did, but I felt like most of this information I had heard before in some form or another. I suppose it is nice to have a reminder to get ample sunlight during my daily routine. I have experienced bouts of seasonal affective disorder in the past and know first hand how it can affect your mood.

It is rather depressing how far removed modern society has made itself from nature. Linda Geddes points out this gap and how the ancients, and some members of our era, made better use of this natural resource.

I enjoyed the history lessons about the Romans and their solariums. They used “heliotherapy” to treat a variety of illnesses. I also enjoyed the studies about the potential effectiveness of “chronotherapy” for patients suffering from certain mental disorders as well as learning about efforts to increase their sunlight by towns that receive little light during the day. For example, there’s a town in Norway that put mirrors on top of the nearby mountains in order to direct more sunlight their way.

As we know more about the importance of sunlight, I’m certain we’ll see more efforts to incorporate this information into our daily routines. And it affects things we may not even consider from school start times to a good night’s sleep.

Recommended for readers who want to learn more about how the sun affects our lives and some of the newer scientific research about the same.

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