04/07/2026
What watching the sunset really does for your health
On the eve of my wedding, my parents, husband-to-be and I watched a beautifully memorable sunset from the deck of a house in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Cape Cod is famous for its "golden hour" light. On a narrowing peninsula almost entirely surrounded by water, moisture scatters the light of the Sun when it nears the horizon, creating a series of especially vivid oranges, golds and pinks that appear to melt into the sea.
That day, a storm was also approaching from the west, making the unfurling colours look almost psychedelic. While the men snapped photos of the scene, my mother and I stood and watched, shivering in the crisp September air. As we went back inside, I wrapped my mother in a hug. All our nagging pre-wedding worries seemed to have set with the Sun.
When we get stuck in negative thought loops, awe-inspiring events like sunsets can demand our attention, breaking the loop and bringing us back to the present
While the release that comes with the end of a long day no doubt helped, watching the sunset likely also played a role. In fact, there's growing evidence that sunsets – and sunrises, for that matter – can have a meaningful impact on our brain and mental health: diminishing anxiety and depression while boosting memory, creativity, sleep and even altruism.
The sunset awe effect
One of the main benefits stems from the awe a sunset inspires, which research shows can have a startling impact on many aspects of our health.
Awe is the feeling we get when we witness something immense and profound that we can't quite comprehend. It could be a piece of art, a human achievement like watching someone give birth, or a natural wonder. Experiencing it changes our perception, often eliciting a physical response, like tears or chills. But it's also doing a lot more behind the scenes.
"One of the most reliable properties of awe is the feeling of being small, that one's personal issues, problems and life are insignificant in the grand scheme of things," says Michelle Shiota, a professor of social psychology at Arizona State University in the US and a long-time researcher of awe. "This is great for mental health because we realise that maybe some of the things causing us so much distress are not really that important after all."
It's not known for sure why awe has this effect on cytokines. "It might be through the sense of connection people feel, since social support and connection may help reduce pro-inflammatory cytokines," says Steller. "It may be due to its capacity to reduce stress."
Awe may even make you a kinder person, since feeling small amid something so magnificent has been shown to inspire altruistic behaviour. One study observed undergraduate students' behaviour after they looked at either a group of giant eucalyptus trees or a building. When a purposefully clumsy researcher dropped a bunch of pens during the experiment, the students who looked at the trees and reportedly felt awe helped him pick up many more of the pens than those who looked at the building.
Similarly, if you're awe-struck by the beauty of a sunset, you may find yourself more inclined to be helpful or have more compassion for those around you. I discovered this the night before my wedding: after our sunset experience, I found myself volunteering to do a lot more than I had the day before. That, in turn, helped me feel calmer when I walked down the aisle.
A better night's sleep
The way the sun cycle regulates our circadian rhythm may have also played a role in my more relaxed state that evening.
Exposure to sunlight's natural progression, from sunrise to sunset, has a direct impact on our mental and physical health. It has been shown to help regulate our circadian rhythm – the natural sleep-wake cycle that repeats every 24 hours – ultimately improving sleep quality. When the circadian rhythm is aligned with our natural environment, our brain's pineal gland knows when and how much melatonin to produce to prepare the body for rest.
