My husband and I both suffer from the “Winter Blues.” Yes, it’s a real thing. It is also known as seasonal affective disorder or seasonal depression. The main reason is the lack of sunlight that we get in the Winter months. The gloomy weather really puts a damper on our lives. We use light therapy to help during these months, so I was excited to try out the Philips Wake-Up Light
. The aspect of waking up with a colored sunrise was a big selling point for me. I’m over the loud alarm startling me awake every morning. 
The way that the Philips Wake-up Light works is by simulating a natural sunrise of a set amount of time. You can even chance the duration of the sunrise. I have mine set for 20 minutes. The light starts the sunrise before the alarm goes off. So if you have your alarm set for 6:00 am then the light will start the sunrise 20 minutes before that. There are five different sound options like Bird Song, Birds in the forest, Zen Garden, Gentle piano and Seaside Sounds. It also has an FM radio built in. I’m generally awake before the sounds even start playing, though. The light wakes me up far better. It is also an excellent way to get my light therapy in every day. I love hitting the snooze button but only the sound stops playing, they light stays on. 
The display has a great auto dimming feature as well. If the bedroom is filled with light, the brightness increases to keep the display readable. When the bedroom is dark, the brightness dims, so it doesn’t light up your bedroom when you are trying to sleep. There is also a sunset simulation to send you off to sleep. Sunset simulation is a light therapy used before you go to sleep. Sunset simulation prepares your body to fall asleep by gradually decreasing light and sound to your set duration.
So far I am beyond in love with this Wake-up Light. I wake up feeling so much better, and I’m getting the light therapy I need to feel less gloomy each day. I’m ditching my old alarm clock for this Philips Wake-Up Light from now on. Even on the weekends during the Winter months when the sun never seems to come out in the morning. My husband and I both agree that it works really well for those that need light therapy and it’s a much better option to wake up with light then being startled awake by a loud alarm. 
I always feel a little depressed in the winter and part of the problem is the darkness and grey skies. I’d love to try waking up to this.
that is so cool – I need to keep my curtains closed to make it really dark to help me sleep – then I have trouble waking up in the morning when any sun is blocked out – this might help that too
I was just telling my husband this morning how much gloom I feel when the weather is like this. It is so hard to be happy. T his sounds like a great clock!