by on 11 Mar 2015
In 2001, Maarten van der Weijden, a Dutch long distance and marathon swimmer, was confronted with cancer and his career was likely to be over.
Fighting against cancer he made his comeback in 2003. In 2006, he intensified his training regime and started using morning bright light therapy. Then in 2008, he won an Olympic gold medal at the Beijing Olympics.
To him, light therapy made all the difference.
“Light therapy was crucial in winning the golden medal”, said Maarten van der Weijden.
“Within a month my performance in the morning increased spectacularly”, he said.
Maarten van der Weijden used light therapy to shift his circadian rhythm and to achieve a ‘speedier wakefulness’.
“The first thing I do is put my glasses on and light up”.
The below image shows the original article on page 3 of the well respected newspaper de Volkskrant in The Netherlands. A short online version about Maarten van der Weijden and his experience using light therapy is also available (please note it is in Dutch so you may need to click on the translate button).
