It's 6:40 on a Tuesday in November and your alarm is going off in pitch darkness. Not dim. Not grey. Black.
Your body has no idea it's morning. Every instinct you have is telling you it's the middle of the night, because as far as your brain is concerned, it is.
That's the bit nobody warns you about when you live somewhere the sun doesn't come up until eight. It isn't that British winters are cold. It's that you spend five months waking up before the world does, and it makes every morning feel like a fight you've already lost.
What this does about it
Up to an hour before your alarm — you choose how long — the light starts. Very faint at first, deep amber, barely there. Then it grows. By the time the alarm sounds, your room is filled with soft warm light, and your body has had half an hour of quiet notice that morning is coming.
You don't wake up to a noise. You wake up to light, the way you would in June.
Then a gentle sound fades in, instead of that flat electronic beep that spikes your heart rate before your eyes are open.
The rest of it
It works at the other end of the day too. Set the sleep timer and the light fades down while you wind down — far kinder to your eyes at eleven at night than a ceiling bulb or a phone screen.
The rest of the time it sits on your bedside table as a lamp. Warm white when you want atmosphere, ten brightness levels for reading, and a display you can dim right down so it isn't glowing at you at 3am.
Who tends to buy one
People who dread dark mornings. Shift workers. Anyone who has ever hit snooze four times and still felt awful. Parents buying one for a teenager who cannot get out of bed in winter. And a lot of people buying it as a Christmas present for someone who complains about January.
Honestly, before you order
Give it a week. The first morning it'll feel like a novelty. By the fourth or fifth, you'll notice you're awake before the sound starts — that's the point at which people tend to stop thinking of it as a gadget.
The brands you'll see in Boots and John Lewis do the same job for £60 to £150. Ours is £49.99 because we ship it direct rather than through a high-street chain.
The details
- Sunrise simulation — set it to build over 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 or 60 minutes
- Seven wake sounds with adjustable volume, or light only
- Sleep timer — light fades out over 15 to 120 minutes at bedtime
- Ten light brightness levels, warm white plus eight colours
- Four display brightness settings, including fully off
- Nine-minute snooze, 12 or 24 hour clock
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USB powered — cable included, works with any phone charger or laptop. No adapter to buy, nothing to wire in
- 13cm across — fits any bedside table
- Free UK delivery — 7-12 days
- 30-day returns, no questions asked
A wake-up light is a comfort product, not a medical device. If you're dealing with a persistent sleep problem, please speak to your GP.
