Anybody use an SAD alarm clock?

Do they work?

I’m tempted to get a base model Lumie but at 60 quid it’s a fair bit for something that might not make me feel less of a miserable twunt in the morning.

My flatmate used to use one and I think it worked for him. Of course, depending on the curtaining in your room, it may only be useful in winter, but if it helps, it’s all good.
Failing that, how about a coffee percolator on a timer? Set it to start 5 minutes before you get up…

I have a Lumie, but it’s not that bright so now use a monster light box and a timer plug

EDIT Lightbox is this one: http://www.cybercheckout.co.uk/products/sad-light-10-000-high-lux-lamp.html?commCamId=88&commConId=2

How does that work for the gradual wake you up or is it full on blazing midday sun?

Did you sell your lumie?

Full on, no gradual wake up. Bit bright for the first few minutes but really works. Lumie was pretty ineffective.

If you really want it, I’ll go and dig it out the spare room and sell it. It’s the original digital model with the curved glass cover. But I’d say just buy a light box and a 1.99 timer plug from Tesco.

I use a lumie the £99 one. I get up at 5 everyday and since I had the lumie I find my enthusiasm on waking is instant, I used to think I was going to die I felt so bad when woken by alarm clock noise. The gradual waking rocks, also White noise to get to sleep rocks.

In my opinion they work well

If your lumie was not bright enough buy a brighter bulb?

If you have time to dig it out I would be interested. If I feel a benefit, I will have a look into the light box and hand over the alarm clock to my brother who is also afflicted with being a miserable twunt in the morning.

The Lumie was just too dim for my liking, the alarm woke me up and I never notice the gradual light thing. I find the 10k Lumen light box way better.

YGM

See this thread:

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/psa-half-price-swish-philips-wake-up-radio-alarm-light-thing

Basically, yeah they are great in principle, trouble is a lot of them seem to be badly designed and badly made.

I’ve got one of the Philips ones, I was pretty impressed with it. Not using it at the moment as I don’t have to get up for work 🙂

The Philips one I have isn’t really for SAD – it’s just for wake-up

It’s actually the second Philips one I’ve had. The original one had all the quality of a paper hat. The volume control broke and the sound quality was awful. It had a really “cheap” feel about it and the newer one is a lot better in all areas (particularly the sound) – though still has some design flaws, and they even do an Ipod version now.

I do think they work, I always feel better waking up when I’m using it and more rested. The only downside is that the light starts about 20 mins before the alarm so on occasion you can get an even earlier start.

You can often find them at 50% off – I got this one from Boots.

another thread here:
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/sad-alarm-clocks

Is the theory behind these lights that they have sunlight-type frequencies and so this wakes you up “better”?

Does a 20m dose of sunlight-type light really cheer you up?

I don’t think the ‘D’ is depression in the sense most people think of it, more the feeling of lethargy/inability to get moving/going – my wife uses a lightbox and finds it helps in getting up in the morning and she at least feels better for it (though it could perfectly easily be a placebo though that said, I find I feel wide awake when sat next to it for a while).

My 10k lumen light box really wakes you up – removed all the ‘drowsyness’ in a few minutes.

You can get lights for SAD – which I have no experience of. These are just alarm clocks that wake you up a bit more gently – into “simulated daylight” rather than the pitch darkness.

Is the theory behind these lights that they have sunlight-type frequencies and so this wakes you up “better”?

Does a 20m dose of sunlight-type light really cheer you up?

I got one for my Mrs ADH last Christmas. As she works in the bowels of a Hospital, she often dosn’t get any sunlight for 4 months of the year.

It helps, the bugger is getting up early enough to sit in front of it for 30mins while you’re having brekkie. These alarm clocks help.

Cheers for the offer of the light, email replied to.

This morning I listened to all of farming today, it was nigh on impossible to get up.

Thankfully it’s half term next week so I can relax for a couple of days

I don’t think the ‘D’ is depression in the sense most people think of it,

… possibly because it’s “Disorder.”