It's impossible to overstate how important getting good sleep is for mental, cognitive, and performance health. If you get direct morning sunlight 30-60 minutes after you wake up, helps you fall asleep and stay asleep at night, while optimizing cortisol and adenosine production. You can increase alertness by waking up in the morning, increasing you... See more
Make sure your peak in cortisol is when you wake up by getting sunlight. Stressors and unpleasant events trigger the release of adrenaline and cortisol through the day, but they need to be brief. If you struggle with alertness, it can be beneficial to deliberately increase the release through stressors like HIIT, cold exposure.
It's important to get enough sleep, get good quality sleep, and let your body experience all the phases of sleep (such as slow-wave, and REM) in order to optimize metabolic circuits. It's good for your health to sleep and wake at roughly the same time, expose yourself to bright light in the morning, and dim light at night.