A sunrise alarm should bring the room up slowly enough that the light is what wakes you, not a beep you already hate.
We measured bedside lamps that claim a dawn, in a dark room, and watched whether the color moved from warm to day or simply jumped.
A slow morning
The useful machines start dim and warm and take a real half hour. A lamp that is bright at minute two is just a light on a timer. The color shift matters less than the fact that you are not startled.
- A dawn long enough to matter, around twenty to thirty minutes.
- A light you can aim away from your eyes and still fill the room.
- A backup sound, set quieter than you think.
- A clock face you can ignore. The glow is the point.
If the light reaches full brightness before you have stirred, it is not a sunrise.
Through a dark month
Put it where it lights the wall, not only your eyelids. Go to bed at a hour that gives the dawn something to meet. A lamp cannot fix a 2 a.m. night.
Choose the one you leave on the dawn setting. A clock you switch to a blare is an ordinary alarm.
