Check out this interview with Calming My Storm, a nonprofit organization that works to support people with concussions and migraines with expert interviews, educational resources, and personal narratives.  Their organization aims to help find ways for them to achieve their goals, strive for their dreams, while recovering from their illness.

What is your role at Norb Wellness Lighting?

My name is Amber, and I’m the Business Development Manager for Norb Lighting.  Like many office workers, my typical day is spent largely indoors, in front of screens and on calls.  I use Norb products at my desk in the office and throughout my home to enhance my productivity and support healthy sleep habits.

I also suffer from migraines, and my known triggers are light and food additives like MSG. When my colleague mentioned research finding that pure green light may relieve migraine pain and reduce the frequency of migraines, I was very intrigued.  If certain kinds of light could induce migraines, it made sense to me that a different light could treat or prevent them.

I called dibs on a prototype bulb and have used it through several migraines.  I find that it reduces my pain and allows me to read or have a conversation comfortably —two things that I would never do before with a migraine.  I used to shut out the world and try to sleep through the migraine, with a horrible hangover feeling the next day.  NorbRELIEF enables me to be awake and present with work or family during a migraine.

What is Norb Lighting

Norb is a “Wellness Lighting” provider. Our lighting products are developed with the purpose of  creating a “healthy lighting environment” or the right “light diet”. Traditional lights “illuminate”, but often cause health or performance problems. For example, they may disrupt sleep patterns, cause fatigue, cause agitation and distraction, and even trigger migraines.

Norb Lights are unique because they more closely mimic light from nature, creating a healthy indoor environment and regulating your body’s circadian rhythm. We have a light that can help you “SLEEP”, help you “SMILE” when you do not receive enough sunlight, boost “FOCUS”, or even find “RELIEF” from migraines. It’s light changing!

How does green light help people with migraines?

People who suffer “light induced” migraines can be triggered by the interaction of light with the retinal ganglion cells in our eyes. Researchers have found that these cells do not respond the same way to pure green light, as they do to other colors of light. So, while white, blue and red light may excite these receptors and trigger or exacerbate migraines, pure green light may avoid triggering migraines, and it may soothe and reduce the impact of migraines after they have been triggered. It can also help relieve fibromyalgia, neuropathy and other pain.

What is the scientific basis/developmental history of Norb Lighting/green light therapy?

Norb Lighting did not originally discover the green light phenomenon; it was discovered by Rami Burstein and others of Harvard University. But, Norb Lighting did use this research to develop a practical, affordable option for a pure green light source, and coupled it with flicker free technology…. as light flicker can also agitate people with light induced migraines.

Who can green light therapy help?

The research at Harvard University showed that green light therapy can help people who suffer light induced migraines. Additional research at University of Arizona (by Dr. Mohab Ibrahim) not only confirmed this, but led to the discovery that green light therapy can also reduce pain for those that suffer fibromyalgia, neuropathy and other pain. The possibilities of green light therapy are very exciting!

How do you use Norb RELIEF?

For best results, turn off all other lights and block sunlight from the room. Use the NorbRELIEF bulb in an open luminary such as a desk lamp, floor lamp or ceiling fixture. We often suggest using a lamp with a shade for a softer lighting. The light works with LED dimmer switches, and the intensity should be set at the level comfortable for the migraine sufferer to perform desired activities. Do not look directly at the light bulb!

What is the cost of the product?

NorbRELIEF sells for $20 dollars. You can buy it here.

What would you tell someone who is hesitant to try the product, or believes it is a placebo?

First, I’d assure them that the benefits have been quantified through University Research and Product Testing. This doesn’t guarantee that it will work for everyone (because no two people or migraines are alike), but for $20 dollars, it is certainly worth a shot at finding relief! Migraines, Neuropathy and Fibromyalgia, are conditions that decrease quality of life. NorbRELIEF is intended to reduce pain and increase quality of life.

Anything else you would like to add?

Often nature gives us a clue as to what is healthy and what isn’t healthy. People have been sitting under trees to ease migraines and other pain for years. NorbRELIEF is a way of bringing this natural phenomenon indoors.

With our lighting products, we’re providing a more natural way of lighting. For example, our NorbSMILE product mimics full spectrum daytime sun (for energy and mood) and our NorbSLEEP is crafted to deliver the same spectrum as the setting sun. Our bodies are tied to the changing spectrum of daylight (it changes throughout the day). Our eyes have receptors that respond to these changes, and trigger the secretion or cessation of secretion of various hormones, and also regulate our circadian rhythms. Wellness lighting, including NorbRELIEF, seeks to mimic nature. It’s light changing, and life changing!

Follow exciting news and new products here on our website, or our Instagram, @norblighting.