February in Norway: The Month That Tests Everything You've Got

You know that feeling when you wake up on a February morning in Norway and it takes you a solid ten seconds to remember what month it is? Not because you've lost track of time, but because January felt like it lasted about three years and somehow February decided to show up anyway?

Yeah, that's where we are right now.

Ten weeks. That's how long we've been in the deep darkness. Ten weeks since the sun decided it had better things to do than show up at a reasonable hour. And sure, technically the days are getting longer now, but let's be honest - going from 5 hours of weak daylight to 6 hours and 23 minutes of weak daylight doesn't exactly feel like a victory lap. It is amazing and gives you more opportunity to get outside, but it's still cold and your motivation is at an all time low for the year.

Here's what nobody tells you about February in Norway: it's not the darkness that gets you. You survived December. You made it through January (congratulations, by the way). But February? February is when the accumulated weight of those ten dark, cold weeks finally catches up with your biology.

Think of it like this - imagine you're carrying a backpack. In November, someone puts a small stone in it. Not a big deal. December adds another stone. January keeps adding stones. By February, you're not dealing with one heavy thing, you're dealing with the compound effect of months of missing what your body actually needs.

And what does your body need? Light. Electrons from the Earth. Movement in actual daylight (not the 45 minutes between 10am and 3pm when you're stuck inside). Heat from the sun, not just from a radiator.

The February Physiology Problem (What's Actually Happening Inside You)

Let me tell you what's going on in your cells right now, because understanding this makes the solutions make sense.

Your mitochondria are struggling. These are the little powerplants in every cell that make ATP (that's energy, in case you aren't too sure what that means). They need light signals to function optimally, particularly red and near-infrared wavelengths. They've been operating on a deficit since November. By February, your cellular energy production is measurably lower than it was in September.

Your melatonin production is confused. Melatonin isn't just for sleep (though that's important). It's one of your body's most powerful antioxidants, it protects your mitochondria, and it regulates a cascade of other hormones. But melatonin production requires darkness at night AND bright light during the day to function properly. You're getting neither. Your artificial lights at night suppress it, and your dim winter days don't provide the daytime signal it needs.

Your circadian rhythm has drifted. Every cell in your body has an internal clock. These clocks need to be synchronized by light signals, particularly from the sun. After ten weeks of minimal sunlight and constant artificial light, your cellular clocks are out of sync with each other and with the actual time. This shows up as poor sleep, low energy, mood issues, and metabolic problems.

Your redox potential is off. This is your cellular voltage, the electrical charge that powers everything from nutrient absorption to waste removal to DNA repair. It depends on electron flow, which comes partly from sunlight and partly from contact with the Earth. You're getting neither. Your cells are running on low battery that has lost its coherence, and charge.

Your structured water zones are collapsing. Inside your cells, water doesn't just sit there like water in a glass. It forms structured zones (EZ water) that are essential for cellular function. These zones are built and maintained by infrared light and electrical charge. Norwegian winter - with its indoor heating, artificial light, and zero Earth contact destroys both. Your cellular water is becoming unstructured bulk water, which means your cells can't function properly.

Are you starting to see why you feel different in February than you did in October? This isn't "seasonal blues" or "just needing more vitamin D." This is fundamental cellular dysfunction from environmental deprivation.

Why February is Actually Harder Than December

December has novelty. You're dealing with the darkness, sure, but there's also snow (usually), Christmas, the whole cultural distraction of the season. Your body is still running on reserves from summer and autumn.

January is tough, but you're still fighting. You're in survival mode, but you haven't given up yet.

February is when your reserves run out. The accumulated deficit catches up. And here's the cruel part - we're so close to spring now (March is just around the corner, longer days are coming), but your body doesn't know that. Your cells only know what they're experiencing right now, which is month number three of severe light deficiency and complete disconnection from the Earth.

Back when I used to be a personal trainer, February was when I'd see people in the gym who'd been consistent since September suddenly start missing sessions. Not because they lost motivation (though that's what they'd tell themselves), but because their bodies were genuinely struggling. Less energy. Worse recovery. More joint pain. Poor sleep affecting everything.

I didn't understand it then. I thought it was just "winter fatigue" and told them to push through. Now I know it was mitochondrial dysfunction, disrupted circadian rhythms, and cellular voltage collapse. You can't just "push through" biology.

What Actually Helps (Not What You Think)

Right, so you're probably expecting me to say "buy a red light panel" and call it a day. And yeah, red light therapy is incredibly valuable right now (we'll get to that), but it's not the only piece.

The real solution is understanding what your body is missing and providing those inputs as best you can in a Norwegian February. That means light, electrons, cold, and time.

Light: Red and Near-Infrared

Your cells need the wavelengths they're missing. Red light (particularly 660nm) and near-infrared (810nm, 830nm, 850nm) penetrate into your tissues and do several things:

They provide photons that your mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase can absorb, improving electron transport and ATP production. Translation: your cells can make energy again.

They help rebuild structured water zones in your cells by providing the photonic energy needed for charge separation. Translation: your cellular voltage improves.

They trigger controlled oxidative signaling that activates repair pathways, heat shock proteins, and antioxidant production. Translation: your cells can fix themselves again.

They increase nitric oxide production, improving blood flow and oxygen delivery. Translation: everything works better when nutrients can actually reach your tissues.

This isn't "maybe it helps, maybe it doesn't." The mechanism is well understood and the research is solid. I've written about this before if you want the full scientific breakdown, but the short version is: red and near-infrared light address multiple aspects of what's going wrong in your cells right now.

Incandescent Bulbs: The Overlooked Tool

Here's something most people miss: old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs produce a full spectrum of light that includes significant red and near-infrared wavelengths. Modern LED bulbs produce almost none of these wavelengths.

Think about the sun - does it stay in the same place and give exactly the same colour and intensity all day? Nope, but your office light does. The sun moves, changes color temperature, provides different wavelengths at different times. This variation is a signal to your body about what time it is and what state you should be in.

In February, when you're getting minimal sunlight, having incandescent bulbs in the evening can provide some of the wavelengths your body is craving. They're particularly useful for maintaining evening wind-down without the harsh blue light that LED bulbs pump out.

Are they as good as actual red light therapy? No. But they're better than nothing, and they create a more biologically appropriate light environment than LED bulbs ever will. They are an absolute for every home.

You can find proper incandescent and circadian-friendly lighting options that work for evening use when you want light but don't want to destroy your melatonin production. I can't sell incandescent bulbs due to some "interesting" regulations but you can buy them in Norway. I sell LED longer wavelength bulbs and lighting that remove the oxidative stress causing shorter wavelengths to help with that and your sleep patter. I recommend some of those and some incandescents.

Grounding: Electrons You're Not Getting

This is the part where people think I've lost it, but stay with me.

Your body is designed to be in electrical contact with the Earth. The Earth has a negative charge. Your body has a positive charge (from inflammation, metabolic processes, environmental factors). When you're grounded - barefoot on grass, hands in soil, lying on the ground - electrons flow from the Earth into your body. These electrons act as antioxidants, neutralizing free radicals and reducing inflammation.

In summer, this happens naturally. You're outside, you're touching things, you're making contact. In February? You're wearing thick socks, insulated boots, and walking on rubber soles. You're indoors on synthetic flooring. You haven't touched the Earth in months.

The research on grounding shows improvements in sleep quality, pain reduction, cortisol normalization, reduced inflammation, and better recovery. These are exactly the things people struggle with in February.

But obviously I'm not suggesting you go barefoot in the snow (I mean, you can if you want - I do it sometimes because I'm a bit mad, but that's not for everyone). This is where grounding products become practical.

Grounding sheets let you sleep connected to the Earth through your home's grounding system. Grounding mats let you stay connected while working. It's not as good as actual barefoot-on-grass contact, but it provides the electron transfer your body needs.

I use grounding sheets year-round, but they're especially valuable in winter when natural grounding is impossible. One customer told me her joint pain - which had been getting progressively worse through January - improved noticeably within two weeks of using grounding sheets. Is that just placebo? Maybe partly. But there are measurable changes in inflammation markers when people ground regularly, so it's not just belief.

Cold Exposure: The Thing Nobody Wants to Hear

Look, I know. It's cold outside. The last thing you want is to deliberately get colder. But hear me out.

Your body has adapted over millions of years to deal with cold. It has specific mechanisms - brown fat activation, mitochondrial uncoupling, hormetic stress responses - that are triggered by cold exposure. These mechanisms improve metabolic function, increase energy production, and build resilience.

In February, most of us are avoiding cold completely. We go from heated homes to heated cars to heated offices. We're never actually cold. And while that's comfortable, it means those adaptive mechanisms never activate.

Even small doses of cold - a cold shower, a few minutes outside without a jacket, a cold plunge if you're brave - can trigger these responses. You don't need to be Wim Hof. You just need to not insulate yourself from every bit of cold for months on end.

I'm not saying this is easy. I'm saying it's useful. And in February, when everything else is working against your biology, using cold strategically can help wake up systems that have gone dormant.

Time: The Hardest Part

Here's the truth nobody wants to face: you can't fix ten weeks of accumulated deficit in three days. You can't out-supplement, out-technology, or out-willpower fundamental biology.

If you start using red light therapy, grounding, and making other changes now, you will feel better. But it takes time. Your mitochondria need weeks to fully restore function. Your circadian rhythms need consistent signals to re-synchronize. Your cellular water structure needs time to rebuild.

This is where people give up. They try something for five days, don't feel miraculous transformation, and conclude it doesn't work. But biology doesn't operate on Instagram timelines. It operates on cellular repair cycles and circadian rhythms and metabolic adaptation.

Even after five years of using these tools, I still have to remind myself of this. Trust me, this will be an ongoing battle. But awareness is the first step.

My February Protocol (What I Actually Do)

Right, so what does this look like in practice? Here's what I do in February to push through to spring:

Morning (first thing after waking):

• 15 minutes of red light therapy on my face, torso, and any problem areas
• Standing in front of the panel means I don't need a coffee
• Goal: signal "daytime" to my cells, boost mitochondrial function before the day starts
• Prepares my body for the gym if I am going. If I don't go then I will go out and get cold intentionally.

Daytime (when possible):

• Get outside for at least 20 minutes, even if it's cloudy. If it is away from my training, go out to get intentionally cold.
• The goal isn't sunshine (there isn't much), it's to get ANY natural light on my retinas
• This helps maintain what's left of my circadian rhythm
• If I'm working from home, I have a grounding mat under my desk where my bare feet rest
• Incandescent by my computer

Evening (2-3 hours before bed):

• Another 10-15 minutes of red light therapy, usually while reading or watching something
• Switch to incandescent bulbs or amber lighting in the living areas
• Switch off incandescents to Orange/red LEDs only
• Blue light blocking glasses if I'm using screens (though I try to avoid screens after 9pm)

Night:

• Sleep on grounding sheets
• Complete darkness (blackout curtains, no LED lights, no phone)
• Cool room temperature (around 16-18°C)

Throughout the week:

• At least two/three cold showers or outdoor cold exposure sessions
• Movement - doesn't have to be intense, just regular
• Eating enough protein and fat (your cells need raw materials to repair)

Is this perfect? No. Do I do it every single day without fail? Also no. But consistency matters more than perfection.

What This Actually Looks Like (Real Talk)

I want to be honest with you about what to expect if you start doing this stuff. Because the wellness industry loves to promise miraculous transformations, and I'm not going to do that.

Week 1: You probably won't feel much different. Maybe sleep is slightly better if you're using grounding sheets. Maybe you have slightly more energy on days you do red light therapy. But it's subtle.

Week 2-3: This is when things start to shift. Sleep quality improves noticeably. You wake up less groggy. Energy levels are more stable through the day. Joint pain starts to ease (if you had any). Your skin looks less grey.

Week 4-6: The compound effect kicks in. Your mitochondria are functioning better. Your circadian rhythm is more stable. Your cellular voltage is improving. This shows up as better recovery from exercise, more stable mood, clearer thinking, and generally feeling more like a functional human.

After that: It becomes maintenance. You keep doing it because you notice when you don't. You can feel the difference between grounded sleep and ungrounded sleep. You notice when you skip red light therapy for a few days.

But, I digress. Let me get back to it.

The Tools You Actually Need

Look, I sell these things, so obviously I'm biased. But I'm also someone who uses them daily and has spent years figuring out what actually works versus what's just marketed well.

For red light therapy, you want something with actual power output and proper wavelengths. Most of the cheap panels on Amazon deliver about 10mW/cm² at any useful distance, which means you'd need to use them for 45 minutes to get any effect. Proper panels deliver 50-100+ mW/cm², which means 8-15 minutes is enough.

The wavelengths that matter are around 660nm (red) for surface and cellular effects, 810nm (near-infrared) for deeper penetration and brain benefits, 850nm (near-infrared) for muscle and joint benefits and maybe even some in the 1060nm range is looking useful. Some of my panels also include 630nm and 830nm for additional benefits.

I've got various panel options depending on what you need - full body coverage, targeted areas, portable options. What matters is that it's actually delivering therapeutic light, not just glowing red.

For grounding, you want products that connect to your home's ground system or to an outdoor grounding rod. Fitted sheets are my most popular option because you're sleeping anyway - might as well be grounded. Grounding mats work great for desk work. Grounding pillowcases are useful if you want to start small.

For lighting, the goal is to reduce blue light in the evening while maintaining some red and infrared spectrum. Amber/red lamps do this. Modern LED bulbs white lights do not. I have battery powered lights and bulbs as well as reading and desk lamps.

Do you need all of this? No. Start with one thing. Get consistent with it. Add more as it makes sense. The goal isn't to buy everything, it's to address what your body is missing.

Why This Matters More in Norway Than Anywhere Else

I've lived in places where winter meant a bit less sun and slightly colder temperatures. That's not what Norwegian winter is.

Norwegian winter is ten weeks of meaningful darkness followed by another ten weeks of "technically daylight but barely." It's complete disconnection from the Earth due to cold and snow. It's living in heated, artificially lit boxes for months.

This isn't just uncomfortable. It's a fundamental mismatch between your biology and your environment. Your cells evolved to get daily sun exposure, regular Earth contact, temperature variation, and natural light cycles. Norwegian winter removes ALL of that.

Red light therapy and grounding aren't luxuries here. They're tools to bridge the gap between what your biology needs and what Norwegian February provides (which is approximately nothing useful).

The February Choice

You've made it through the darkest ten weeks. That's genuinely impressive. Your body has been operating on reserves and sheer willpower.

Now you've got about 6-8 weeks before we get to April, when things actually start to improve naturally. You can white-knuckle your way through those weeks, relying on coffee and stubbornness (I've done this, it's not great). Or you can actually give your body some of what it's missing.

Red light to restore mitochondrial function and cellular voltage. Grounding to provide electrons and reduce inflammation. Proper evening lighting to support melatonin production. Cold exposure to activate adaptive mechanisms. Time outdoors, even minimal, to maintain circadian signals.

None of this is magic. It's just basic biology meeting environmental reality.

Will it make February feel like July? No. Will it make February more survivable and help you actually function rather than just existing? Yeah, it will.

I use these tools every February. My family uses them. My customers use them. Not because we're all placebo-prone or easily impressed, but because the difference between using them and not using them is noticeable and measurable.

You've survived ten dark weeks. Don't give up now. Give your cells what they need to push through to spring.

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Questions about any of this? Want to know which products make sense for your specific situation? Just reach out. I actually respond to messages and I actually care whether this stuff works for you.

We're all in this together, trying to maintain our biology in a place that tests it for months every year. Might as well use the tools that actually help.

Stay grounded (literally),

Dominic

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Related:

• Grounding in Norwegian Winter: Full Guide
• Red Light Therapy Collection
• Grounding Sheets and Mats
• Circadian-Friendly Lighting