Best wake up light: alarm clocks to wake the natural way

published 31 May 2023

End up often feeling rubbish when you wake up? You may want to try a wake up light. They are most often used in the winter months, when many of us have to get up when it's still dark outside.

A wake-up light emulates the sunrise, which your body can take as a cue to get ready for the day. Yep, even while you are asleep.

As such, a wake-up light can also be an asset for shift workers who rarely get to line-up their schedule with the day-night cycle. We love these things, and find they can significant reduce that grogginess that makes it so much harder to get out of bed.

Lumie is one of the biggest names in this area. We’ll take a look at what you actually get with its different wake-up light models and some of the alternatives, including one that isn’t a traditional wake-up light at all.

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Best wake up lights

A LIFX smart bulb can be used to light your whole room, and it costs less than most wake-up alarm clocks. It's a new way to think about wake up lights.You screw it in like a normal light bulb. There’s no hub, you simply control it using the LIFX app on your phone. The wake-up feature is impressive, gradually gaining brightness unless your bedroom is flooded. These light bulbs have output of over 1200 lumens, and you can control the arc of the light lift in the app.There’s no alarm clock side here, though, so you’ll have to use your phone or another gadget.

Hatch makes a wake-up light designed specifically for younger folks. It's not drastically different from some of the no-brand wake-up lights you'll find online, but does do a few things most of the big-name Lumie models can't. This is a multi-colour night and wake up light, and you can set colours for certain times of the day. Is 7am a green hour? Up to you. The unit can play 11 soothing soundscapes to help kids nod off. And the multi-colour LED light means more dynamic looking wake-up colour gradients are on tap too.