If You Had to Correct Your Health, You Start with Light

Let’s be honest—being healthy in Norway is not easy. There is too much light in the summer and not enough in the winter. It is beautiful in the summer - there is no denying that, but from a purely circadian and light biology point of view, it's hardly optimal.

Winter hits hard. The darkness drags on. Sleep gets worse - you know the deal, I think if you ask any of your friends, they will say they sleep more in the winter. You probably also eat more sugar. Cravings take over. Motivation? Gone.

If this sounds familiar—you’re not alone. Most Norwegians feel it too. And here's the thing: it’s not your fault. It’s your light.

It might sound strange, even backwards to some, but it all starts with light. Before food. Before fitness. Before supplements.

Why Light Comes First

Light isn’t just about seeing. It tells your body what time it is. What hormones to make. When to sleep. When to burn fat. When to feel full. Think of light as a code, a code that comes into your body and tries to match with current coding in the body.

When you get the wrong light—or not enough of the right kind—everything else falls out of sync.

You’ve probably felt this already:

• Strong sugar cravings in winter?
• Waking up tired, even after 8 hours?
• Struggling to lose weight no matter how clean you eat?
• Feeling flat, unmotivated, or just "off"?

This isn’t just low willpower, don't worry! It’s a circadian mismatch. You might not even know what that means - to put it simply, your body clock is not aligned to the light and dark cycles. That means you hormones peak at the wrong time, or not at all and others are elevated when they should be depressed. Can you imagine how hard that can make things for you, your life, your goals?

With the advent of modern lighting along with the shortening days, you have to be super careful about not subjecting yourself to terrible artifificial lighting which will wreak havoc on your system.

How Broken Light Breaks Your Health

When your light exposure is wrong, these core systems get disrupted:

• Leptin: the fullness hormone—stops working. You keep eating.
• Ghrelin: the hunger hormone—spikes. You crave junk.
• Cortisol: rises when it should fall. Your body stays stressed.
• Blood sugar: gets harder to control. Fat gain follows, even on "healthy" food. I need to find a fantastically interesting study on mice where they controlled for movement, they controlled for diet intake, the only thing they switched was light. Those with abnormal circadian rhythms gained weight - a significant amount. Yes, it was in mice, but still - I think it at least raises the question.

If you’ve tried every diet and still feel stuck—this might be the reason why. You are circadian mis-aligned and therefore your key hormones like Leptin, Cortisol etc are all out of shape.

So food can be effected - anything else?

Sleep, Hormones and Performance

You can’t fix hormones or build muscle if you don’t sleep well. And you can’t sleep well without fixing your light. Simple, it really is that simple.

Melatonin—the "sleep hormone"—is alive at night when it’s dark. But it’s also made during the day with the help of morning light (and strangely during exercise, but that is for a different blog post).

Melatonin isn’t just for sleep. It also repairs your mitochondria while you sleep. That means better recovery, better energy, and better results from training. In contrast, poor sleep leads to worse recovery, poorer mitochondrial function and reduced performance in the gym

Low melatonin = low testosterone. And serotonin? Dopamine? You need bright natural light to make those. Without it, you feel flat. Foggy. Unmotivated.

The Light-First Strategy for Norwegians

This is what I tell every customer who asks where to start:

• Get natural light in the morning. Even on cloudy days. Especially in winter. 10–20 minutes outside or by a window (open if possible). Eat outside for as long as possible.
• Use red light therapy before 9 a.m. to mimic sunrise and activate your mitochondria.
• Dim indoor lights after sunset. Use warm, red-toned lighting to support melatonin.
• Use red light therapy again before bed if you’ve had screen exposure or bright indoor lighting in the evening.
• Add grounding to your routine. It’s simple. It helps inflammation. And it connects your body back to the Earth’s rhythms.

This is the foundation, daylight and darkness, perhaps use red light to help progress. Once this is in place—then food, exercise, and supplements start to work better.

You’re Not Broken. You’re Just Misaligned.

If you’ve been doing everything "right" but still feel off—this is could be your missing link.

Discipline is great, but if you thrashing an engine without putting in enough oil, it will soon faulter.. Start with light. It works with your biology, not against it.

I try to help and make it easy as possible for you. Our red light therapy panels are tested, safe, and effective. I also offer lights to help you restore circadian rhythm, sleep better, feel stronger, and think more clearly.

You live in Norway. That means light isn’t a luxury—it’s a survival tool.

Ready to reset your rhythm and finally feel good again? Explore our light therapy tools.