Recently, I received a call from an unknown number.

The country code was +000.

I looked it up, and couldn’t find a thing.

When I called back, they asked me to hold the line, and it sounded like a busy workshop in the background.

They told me that they were a large NGO (non-governmental organization) which served children and families all around the world, and that they were interested in enlisting the services of Ra Optics, as they recently noticed a significant decline in worker sleep quality, mental health, and productivity as they got into to their busiest season of the year.

They insisted that we meet in person; they provided me with a pick-up point at a rooftop bar, late in the evening. I thought maybe it was the CIA or something, but I wasn’t worried.

When I arrived, a giant flying sleigh came to pick me up. They gave me some tea to drink, and I fell asleep. The next thing I knew, I woke up in a cold, snowy place; a complex of factories and facilities, like Amazon, but decorated in all sorts of magical colors.

Then it hit me: I had reached the North Pole.

They brought me to their CEO’s office, where I met the man himself: Mr. Santa Claus.

Mr. Claus was brimming with Christmas cheer—but something felt slightly off.

I sensed a subtle stress in his countenance.

He opened up a folder, and laid out some documents on the table.

He showed me that his elves have been performing nearly 30% worse than previous years.

Normally, a single elf is able to process 10,000 gifts in a single day, 500 gifts per hour; just over 8 gifts per minute. Since they are elves, they only need 4 hours of sleep, unlike humans’ 8—and they work around the clock for their 20 waking hours leading up to the holiday season.

In order to produce 1 gift each for the world’s 2.2 billion children, Mr. Claus has a team of nearly 3,670 elves, who work for 2 months leading up to Christmas.

With a 30% reduction in productivity, they  would only be able to produce 1.54 billion gifts, leaving more than a half a billion children without gifts.

I immediately understood the gravity of the matter and began asking questions.

In one moment, everything became clear.

I looked up in contemplation and noticed a new LED light fixture, and realized they covered the entire workshop complex; I asked when they had been installed.

He told me “Just before this new season. We were sold on the benefits of energy efficiency and saving the environment, and we thought the increased light output might even increase the elves’ productivity.”

It was the new blue-enriched LED lights which were disrupting the elves’ circadian rhythms, disrupting their sleep quality, and therefore their cognition, focus, and ultimate productivity.

I explained to Mr. Claus that this blue-enriched LED lighting has become a “big problem” in the real world, where billions of people are now subjected to this low-quality, cheap, so-called “energy efficient” lighting.

I told him about the big lie: that “energy efficient” lighting is not energy efficient at all. Just as junk food is cheap, and therefore takes less money and energy to produce, this cheap lighting is also bad for our health, since a high-quality spectrum requires significantly more energy, and therefore a higher cost to produce.

I explained that blue-enriched light offers a short-term boost in energy and productivity by unnaturally stimulating the production of stress hormones—but it is unsustainable, and ultimately leads to burnout. Worse, when used at night, it completely disrupts the body’s circadian rhythm, natural production of melatonin, sleep quality, cellular repair, and overall health and well-being—along with a huge negative impact on brain function, physical performance, and productivity the following day.

Since the elves have particularly sensitive circadian rhythms, the effects were beyond exacerbated in their case; some even saw a 50% decrease in total output, while a few exceptionally hard-working elves were able to pick up some slack—but suffered tremendously along the way.

The North Pole had once been a place of joy and cheer; now, it was a place of stress, anxiety, fatigue, and even depression—the results of chronic sleep disruption and hormonal overstimulation caused by artificial light.

The energy “saved” by these lights can’t even compare to the loss in health, focus, productivity—which ultimately has a very high price down the road—including the energy and money required for healthcare.

Not to mention, Santa has access to a nearly unlimited reserve of low-cost, clean geothermal energy from far-north sources in Northern Norway and Finland.

So, we began to devise a solution.

Since FedEx does not deliver to the North Pole, Santa would send a special freight sleigh directly to Ra Optics’ dedicated optical facility in San Diego, California, under the cover of nightfall.

Santa needed to hire additional elves to make back the lost time, so 4,000 Ra Optics Circadian Sets (Daylight + Sunset; 8,000 units total) would be prepared immediately, ready for pick-up on the high roof.

In addition, I was able to guarantee Santa that the Ra Optics Daylight Lenses would increase his elves’ productivity so significantly, that they would actually exceed their normal production speed.

The elves were to wear the Daylight Lenses whenever they were working under these new LED lights, and to switch to Sunset Lenses 1 hour before bed (since their biological response is much faster than ours; humans require 3 hours before bed), in order to prepare their melatonin levels for sleep.

Since this meeting, now around 3 weeks ago, the results have been exceptional. The elves’ productivity has increased massively, and they are on track to produce an extra 300 million gifts before Christmas—so the kindest kids will receive extras.

In addition, Santa has decided to declare Ra Optics as the “Preferred Stocking-Stuffer of the North Pole”—quite possibly the highest honor we could receive.

Finally, for a long term solution, Ra Optics agreed to pre-allocate a portion of our first production of our future healthy lighting products—the best in the world—to offer Santa a solution which is still more energy efficient than, but equal in lighting quality to their original incandescent lamps, and FAR superior to their current, horrendous LED’s. We agreed that we would have these to him by October 25th, 2025, in preparation for the next holiday season. 

As always, I am so glad that Ra Optics is able to make a positive contribution to the world.

And to all, a Merry, Merry Christmas. You're welcome.

P.S. — To protect you and your loved one’s sleep, energy, productivity, and health this holiday season, Ra Optics just launched its Holiday Sale.

• Buy 1 frame, save 15%.
• Buy 2+ frames, save 20%.

Plus, all US orders come with FREE 2-Day Express shipping - just order before Tuesday, Dec. 17th for guaranteed Christmas delivery.

For international orders, we recommend placing orders by Friday, Dec. 13th for the best chance of Christmas arrival.