Some of us need to get up at the crack of dawn each morning to get to work on time, whereas others like to wake up early so that they can get through their tasks for the day as quickly as possible.
However, if like me, you don’t always get the best night’s sleep, then the last thing you want when you’re feeling exhausted is to be jerked awake by the sound of your iPhone alarm blaring in your ear.
Most of the time, when I’m woken up by a typical alarm clock, my first reaction is to hit the snooze button, just to make the device shut up. When I do finally get up, I’m not exactly bright-eyed and bushy tailed, or ready to start the day.
The Lumie Sunrise alarm clock aims to overcome that issue by giving you a nicer way to wake up.
Rather than jerking you out of your slumber with loud sounds, the Lumie uses a combination of soft melodies and carefully-simulated lighting to make you feel as though you’re waking up to a beautiful sunrise.
Sound good to you? Read through my Lumie Sunrise alarm review to learn more.
What is the Lumie Sunrise alarm clock?
The Sunrise alarm clock comes from Lumie, a company committed to making some of the best known sleeping accessories on the market today. The brand has plenty of unique tools available to help people cope with things like SAD and insomnia.
As pioneers in light therapy, Lumie is the go-to choice for many British consumers, and the company has also worked closely with the scientific community over the years to supply health clinics and the NHS too.
Lumie’s devices are medically certified and deployed in locations across the UK.
The Lumie Sunrise clock is one of the many tools from Lumie intended to wake you up using natural light. The idea is that waking up with exposure to natural light will help you to feel brighter and more energetic each morning.
This tool can also be particularly good for SAD sufferers during the winter month.
Lumie’s clock features:
- Sunset and sunrise features to wake you up and help you drift off.
- Alarm sounds like a kitten purring, tree frogs, or blackbirds chirping.
- Dimmable display to avoid distractions during the night.
- Snooze function (just in case).
- 10 light levels from warm to cool.
- Coloured mood lighting in pink, blue, red, green, light blue and orange.
Lumie Sunrise alarm review: How it works
The Lumie Sunrise alarm is a light-based clock that simulates a sunrise to help you wake up as naturally as possible. The sunrise begins about 30 minutes before your actual alarm time, making your room gradually brighter as you snooze.
This encourages your body to wake up slowly.
As well as giving you a fantastic way to wake up each morning, the Sunrise alarm also has a sunset mode too. This was one of my favourite features for the clock, as I often have a hard time settling down for sleep at the end of a hectic day.
When you’re ready to drift off to sleep, all you need to do is touch the sunset button, and the light will dim gradually over a period of thirty minutes to help you relax.
You can also switch the display off during this time so it’s not distracting you when you’re trying to unwind.
I ended up using the fading light for reading a few times, as it helped to force me to put my book down at the end of the evening, rather than spending all night glued to the page.
The Sunrise alarm has three brightness settings to choose from for the display, including off, low or high, and all you need to do is tap the button the right number of times to get the level of light you’re looking for.
Lumie Sunrise alarm review: Sound
The Lumie Sunrise alarm doesn’t rely exclusively on sound to wake you up, but you can still have an audio alert if you need a bit of extra help to get you out of bed.
The nice thing about this particular sunrise alarm is that it comes with a range of options to choose from regarding how you want to be woken up. For instance, you can go for the standard beep of an alarm or check out the five nature sounds built-into the system.
The nature sounds that Lumie offers include birdsong, tree frogs, osprey, purring kitten, and more.
What’s more, while the Lumie Sunrise alarm will usually help you to feel ready to get up and go from the moment you wake up, there is a snooze feature available if you need to use it.
Hit the snooze button, and you’ll get five minutes of relaxation before the sound you chose repeats.
Lumie Sunrise alarm clock review: Verdict
In my opinion, the Lumie Sunrise alarm clock is a much nicer way to wake yourself up on a morning than relying on a standard alarm.
I’m a big fan of sunrise alarm clocks, and this one is a highly affordable option, so you should find that it doesn’t make a massive dent in your budget.
When using the Lumie, I found that I woke up feeling more refreshed, energetic, and ready to take on the day.
What’s more, the sunset and relaxation features were excellent for encouraging sleep too.
