Did you know that watching the sunrise or sunset has real health benefits? 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 against the backdrop of a golden hour boat trip. But if you’ve ever found yourself staring at a cotton candy sky while, say, stuck in gridlocked traffic, you also know that the sun doesn’t discriminate. He doesn’t care if you’re sipping a piña colada on the beach or slamming your coffee at work. No matter how uninspiring your surroundings are, a rising or setting sun can paint them dazzlingly.

And this is no small problem. For people living 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 splash of wildness in the flat line of urban or suburban life, maybe even long enough to make you forget for a second concrete or bugs or literal garbage. It’s proof that “even if you’re in an incredibly built-up area, nature is happening in the vast canvas of the sky above you,” he says Alexander Smalleyan environmental psychologist who researches the impact of natural experiences on well-being.

This is a poignant reminder as we head towards winter. You may be less enthusiastic about going outside; it’s colder and everything seems more sterile. But that’s all the more reason to plan some time outdoors do take around sunrise or sunset, when the spectacle in the sky is just as—if not more—amazing than at any other season. So what are the health benefits of watching the sunrise or sunset?

This is the best time of the 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 occurs in a sky that has “tall, thin, wispy” clouds, “that are able to light up in those bright orange and red colors like a projector screen.” Benjamin Repertlecturer in meteorology at Pennsylvania State University and co-founder of the sunrise and sunset forecast website SunsetWxsay. At the same time, the lower atmosphere must be clear for us to see, he adds. And due to atmospheric conditions, these two factors are most likely to occur in late fall and early winter.

That’s because weather systems move more frequently this time of year, Reppert explains. Those high clouds that reflect sunlight tend to be present in clearer conditions below when a storm is about to form or pass.

By now, some of the smoke particles from summer fires have made their way up into the atmosphere, Reppert says, “where they act in the same way as those wispy clouds, scattering red and orange wavelengths of light very efficiently.” This makes for an even more colorful drama as the dawn breaks or the golden hour arrives. (When these pollutants are lower, as in summer, they have the opposite effect, returning light back toward the sun and reducing the hues we see.) Fall and winter also bring a drop in humidity in many areas and with less water vapor in the air, “red and orange hues may appear instead of dissipating away from all the moisture,” says Repert.

There are real psychological advantages to watching a beautiful sunrise or sunset.

You’ve probably heard about the mental and physical benefits of spending time in nature versus being stuck in concrete. The soothing stimuli of the former – from ocean waves to green areas – can reduce stressincreases happiness and even boosts creativity by putting you in a state of “gentle fascination” (aka a fair amount of mental stimulation). No wonder research Events that people tend to respond more favorably to natural environments than to urban ones and find them more aesthetically pleasing. That said, these studies largely compared the two under neutral or blue-sky conditions. What Dr. Smalley set out to investigate a few years ago is how transient aspects of weather (such as rainbows or thunderstorms) that appear in both types of environments could influence people’s experiences in them.