Nordic people know how to beat the winter blues. Here's how to find light in the darkest months

The Nordic countries are no strangers to the long, dark winter.

Despite little to no daylight — plus months of frigid temperatures — people who live in northern Europe and above the Arctic Circle have learned how to cope mentally and physically with the annual onset of the winter blues, which can begin as early as October and last into April for some.

The winter solstice will occur Dec. 21, marking the shortest day and longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. While sunlight increases daily after that, winter won't be over for a while yet.

The Associated Press spoke to experts in Norway, Sweden and Finland about the winter blues. Here's how they suggest looking for light, literally and figuratively, during the darkest months of the year:

Dr. Timo Partonen, a research professor at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, said the dark winter affects our circadian rhythm.

With limited daylight, our internal body clocks cannot reset or synchronize properly and it throws off our sleep. We may sleep longer in the winter, he said, but we don't wake up refreshed and can remain tired the rest of the day.

Partonen recommended trying a dawn simulator, sometimes known as a sunrise alarm clock, to gradually light up your bedroom and ease you awake.

In addition to being more tired, we're more likely to withdraw from others socially in the wintertime. We're more irritable, Partonen said, and more prone to fights with friends.

It's important to maintain our relationships, he said, because symptoms rarely improve in isolation.

And since keeping up with exercise is also key to combating the winter blues, consider inviting a friend along for a workout.

It could also help keep off the wintertime weight gain — typically 2 to 5 kilograms (4 to 11 pounds) a year, Partonen said — that's fed by cravings for carbohydrates, especially in the evenings.

Millions of people worldwide are estimated to suffer from seasonal depression. Also known as seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, patients typically have episodes of depression that begin in the fall and ease in the spring or summer. A milder form, subsyndromal SAD, is recognized by medical experts, and there’s also a summer variety of seasonal depression, though less is known about it.

Scientists are learning how specialized cells in our eyes turn the blue wavelength part of the light spectrum into neural signals affecting mood and alertness. Sunlight is loaded with the blue light, so when the cells absorb it, our brains’ alertness centers are activated and we feel more awake and possibly even happier.

Researcher Kathryn Roecklein at the University of Pittsburgh tested people with and without SAD to see how their eyes reacted to blue light. As a group, people with SAD were less sensitive to blue light than others, especially during winter months. That suggests a cause for wintertime depression.

In severe cases, people need clinical support and antidepressant medications. Christian Benedict, a pharmacology professor at Uppsala University in Sweden, suggests light therapy for people with SAD as well as those who have a milder case of the winter blues.

“It’s not like it’s a fate, an annual or a seasonal fate, and you cannot do anything about it,” Benedict said. “There are possibilities to affect it.”

A routine of morning light therapy, using devices that emit light about 20 times brighter than regular indoor light, can be beneficial for both people with and without SAD.

The light therapy helps to kickstart your circadian rhythm and increases serotonin in your brain, Benedict said.

Research supports using a light that’s about 10,000 lux, a measure of brightness, for 30 minutes every morning. Special lights run from $70 to $400, though some products marketed for SAD are not bright enough to be useful. Your insurance company might cover at least part of the cost if you’ve been diagnosed with SAD.

Partonen recommended using both a dawn simulator and a light therapy device each day before noon.

Yale has tested products and offers a list of recommendations, and the nonprofit Center for Environmental Therapeutics has a consumer guide to selecting a light.

And don't forget to, well, look on the bright side. It's crucial to embrace winter instead of dreading it, according to Ida Solhaug, an associate professor in psychology at the University of Tromsø, also known as the Arctic University of Norway — the world's northernmost university.

Prioritize a positive outlook as a survival strategy and learn to appreciate the change in seasons. It's a typical Norwegian way of thinking, she said, that can make all the difference when there's very little daylight for months.

“It's part of the culture,” she said.

And don't forget to take advantage of both outdoor and indoor hobbies, she said. Inside, channel hygge — the Danish obsession with getting cozy — and snuggle up on the couch with blankets and a movie.

But don't hibernate all winter. After the film finishes, head outside with a thermos for fika, the traditional Swedish coffee break. Even during cloudy days, a quick walk in the fresh air will help, she said. And if you're brave enough, do a cold plunge like many people in the Nordics.

Solhaug tries to jump into the frigid waters off the coast of Tromsø, an island 350 kilometers (217 miles) north of the Arctic Circle, at least once a week, adding that it makes her feel revitalized during the long winter.

“Challenge yourself to look for light in the darkness,” she said.

After all, as many Nordic people say, there’s no such thing as bad weather — only bad clothing.

Finland's President Alexander Stubb, too, had some tips for how to tackle Nordic winters. When asked in an interview with The Associated Press last month how to survive the cold season, he had some very specific advice.

“Take an ice bath and then followed up by a sauna and do one more ice bath, one more sauna, then a shower and go out there. You’ll manage,” Stubb said.

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Dazio reported from Berlin.

People pass a shop window in Helsinki, Finland, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

People walking along the square are reflected in a puddle in Helsinki, Finland, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

People enjoy in a public pool in Helsinki, Finland, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

People enjoy the sunny weather with the Helsinki Cathedral of the background in Helsinki, Finland, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

People enjoy the sunny weather with the Helsinki Cathedral of the background in Helsinki, Finland, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli police prevented Catholic leaders from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to celebrate a private Mass on the Christian holiday of Palm Sunday for the first time in centuries, setting off a wave of criticism from the United States and others.

Jerusalem's major holy sites, including the church, are closed because of the ongoing Iran war, as the city has come under frequent fire from Iranian missiles.

The Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem called the police decision “a manifestly unreasonable and grossly disproportionate measure.” It prevented two of the church’s top religious leaders, including the Latin Patriarch, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, and the Custos of the Holy Land, from celebrating Palm Sunday at the place where Christians believe Jesus was crucified.

Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem and launches the Holy Week commemorations for Christians which culminates in Easter.

Israeli police said they had notified church authorities on Saturday that no Mass could take place on Palm Sunday because of safety considerations, the lack of access for emergency vehicles in narrow alleys of the Old City and lack of adequate shelter.

However, the Latin Patriarchate said the Church of the Holy Sepulchre had been hosting Masses that aren't open to the public since the Iran war began on Feb. 28, and it was unclear why Sunday’s Mass and access by the two priests was any different.

“It’s a very, very sacred day for Christians and in our opinion there was no justification for such a decision or such an action,” said Farid Jubran, the spokesperson for the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

Jubran said that the church had requested permission from police for a few religious leaders to enter the church for a private celebration on Sunday — not one that was open to the public. The Patriarchate said that the decision impeded freedom of worship and the status quo in Jerusalem.

The traditional Palm Sunday procession normally sees tens of thousands of Christians from around the world walk from the Mount of Olives down the narrow, hilly streets toward the Old City, waving palm fronds and singing.

The Patriarchate canceled the traditional processional last week because of safety concerns, and has held Masses limited to fewer than 50 worshippers in compliance with the Israeli military’s guidelines for civilians.

Pizzaballa instead celebrated Mass in the nearby St. Savior’s Monastery, a soaring marble church which is located next to an underground music school that the Israeli military has deemed a safe shelter space. Later on Sunday, Pizzaballa held a prayer for peace at the Dominus Flevit Shrine on the Mount of Olives, but kept his homily concentrated on Jesus and didn't mention the morning’s incident.

Pope Leo XIV, at the end of Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square, prayed for all Christians in the Middle East who he said were living through an “atrocious” conflict. He said that “in many cases, they cannot live fully the rites of these holy days,” though he didn’t elaborate.

The Vatican spokesman didn’t immediately respond when asked to comment on the Jerusalem incident.

The closure sparked a wave of criticism that Israeli authorities had gone too far in restricting worship, including from Israel’s top ally, the United States.

U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee, a devout evangelical Christian, said that the incident was “an unfortunate overreach."

He said in a statement that the proposed prayer with Pizzaballa and the others was well below the 50-person limit for gatherings. “For the Patriarch to be barred from entry to the Church on Palm Sunday for a private ceremony is difficult to understand or justify,” he wrote.

French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the incident, which he said had added to the “concerning increase in violations of the status of the Holy Sites in Jerusalem.” In a post on X, Macron wrote: “The free exercise of worship in Jerusalem must be guaranteed for all religions.”

Italian authorities across the political spectrum condemned the move to restrict Pizzaballa, an Italian cardinal considered a leading papal contender in the 2025 conclave, to access the church.

The Italian government formally protested the incident to Israeli authorities and summoned Israel's ambassador to Rome for clarification.

Premier Giorgia Meloni said that the police action “constitutes an offense not only against believers but against every community that recognizes religious freedom.”

Meloni’s conservative government tried to keep a balanced position with Israel during the war in Gaza, supporting Israel’s right to defense but condemning the toll on Palestinians. The Italian leader has also said that Italy won't participate in the Iran war, while affirming that the Islamic Republic can't be allowed to possess nuclear weapons.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there was no “malicious intent” and that the cardinal was prevented from accessing the church because of safety concerns, but that Israel would try to partially open the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the coming days.

“Given the holiness of the week leading up to Easter for the world’s Christians, Israel’s security arms are putting together a plan to enable church leaders to worship at the holy site in the coming days,” Netanyahu wrote on X.

In an interview with Italian Catholic broadcaster TG2000, Pizzaballa said there was difference of opinions with Israeli authorities over accessing the church, but that the dispute remained polite.

"We want to use this situation to try to clarify better what will be done in the coming days, respecting the security of all naturally but also in respect of the right to prayer,” he said.

The Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray, is also mostly closed because of safety issues, but authorities are letting up to 50 people at a time pray in an enclosed area adjacent to the plaza.

Smaller churches, synagogues, and mosques are open in Jerusalem’s Old City if they are located within a certain distance of a bomb shelter deemed acceptable by Israel’s military and, if gatherings are kept under 50 people.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, holds a prayer service to mark Palm Sunday in Jerusalem, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (Ammar Awad/Pool Photo via AP)

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, holds a prayer service to mark Palm Sunday in Jerusalem, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (Ammar Awad/Pool Photo via AP)

People visit the Mount of Olives, overlooking Jerusalem's Old City Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

People visit the Mount of Olives, overlooking Jerusalem's Old City Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Christians walk with palm branches during Palm Sunday in Jerusalem's Old City, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Catholic faithfuls attend a Palm Sunday mass at the Monastery of Saint Saviour in Jerusalem's Old City Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Faithful attend a prayer service in the Church of All Nations, held by Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, to mark Palm Sunday in Jerusalem, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (Ammar Awad/Pool Photo via AP)