Rise and Shine – Philips Wake-Up light

I am not a morning person. I used to be but then life, and work and other people happened and it’s always hard to drag myself away from my cosy duvet. Now if I am not woken up in the early hours of the morning by noises outside, then I hit the snooze button far too many times before realising that time is not my friend and once again we are going to have to rush to get ready in time. And then over coffee one morning, and yes, I need a strong-cup to get me functioning in the morning, my friend told me about this clever little gadget. She had recently purchased the Phillips Wake-up Light. She thought it would be the answer to all my morning wake up troubles.

Now call me a sceptic. I wasn’t convinced that this little combination alarm clock and light was going to miraculously achieve what all other clocks had failed. However, I was prepared to give anything a try at this point. So, I placed my order on the Philips online shop, easy site to use by the way, and waited patiently for the miracle in a box to land on my doormat.

Phillips

Philips have been experts in lighting for over 100 years so they must be doing something right. I have to be honest I wasn’t expecting much, maybe just a pretty alarm clock. However, Philips really do know what they were doing. I was in for a shock, a great one but a shock nevertheless. A little bigger than most standard alarm clocks, the Philips Wake-up light is 180mm x 180mm x 115mm. It is circular in shape with the clock face set in the middle, surrounded by the light part. The instructions are quite straightforward to understand and the buttons, whilst small are not too fiddly.

How does it work?

You set your alarm the same as you would normally and choose a brightness. You may need to experiment over a few days to find out which setting works best for you. Then you just drift off to sleep and let the Wake-up light work its magic. For the 30 minutes before your alarm clock is due to go off the light gradually increases going from pale to bright yellow, a bit like sunrise. Then, the alarm clock goes off. There is a snooze option as well, just in case you need it. However, you might just be surprised not to need it.

And now for the science

The Phillips Wake -up Light has been scientifically proven to work. It does this by simulating the natural sunlight in such a way that it helps to rouse you from your sleep in a more natural way before finally pushing you that last little bit of the way with the actual alarm. And it definitely works; the light can be adjusted so that each person can find the setting that works best for them.

Now if I can just make sure I find a gadget that’ll make the bed for me after I get up, life would be pretty much perfect.