4 Health Benefits Of Embracing The Norwegian Concept Of 'Koselig' This Winter

It’s pronounced “koosh-lee”.

Parents editor at HuffPost UK

Norwegians know quite a lot about winter.

Tromsø, a northern coastal city which sits 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle, spends much of late November to mid-January in the dark – a phenomenon known as the “polar night”.

Yet despite the lack of sunlight, the people of the city are pretty happy. As Kari Leibowitz, a psychologist and contributor for CNBC noted when she visited, they tend to have a “positive winter mindset”.

Part of this is because they celebrate winter “as a season of cosiness and beauty”. Leibowitz highlighted Tromsø’s inhabitants also focus not on winter’s limitations, but its opportunities.

In short: they’re all about making it ‘koselig’ (pronounced koosh-lee).

“It is a word that is most often translated as cosy, but it’s a very emotive word, so it evokes a lot of feelings of cosiness or being comfortable in spaces and with people,” according to Maren Johnson, an associate professor in Nordic Studies.

This might mean inviting your mates over for cosy candlelit dinner parties, autumnal sleepovers where you binge-watch your favourite seasonal films or series........

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