The smart touch display makes it very easy to use this alarm and the aux connection means you can easily connect your phone or tablet so you can use it as a speaker. The light from the alarm means you can also use it as a table lamp and reading light, with fully adjustable light settings. The wake-up light is displayed prominently on the top half of the device and gets gradually brighter over 15-90 mins, after which time a sound of your choice will play to help wake you up. The brightness settings of the light can be easily adjusted, as can the duration.

The lamp is composed of a polycarbonate base and a perforated steel shade. Light emits from the lamp’s base to create a warm, gentle glow. A preset sunset option gradually dims the lamp at bedtime, allowing calming colors to gradually recede. For the sunrise option, a soft colorful glow travels up the base of the lamp to mimic a gradual sunrise. You can also set the lamp to “breathe” light, dimming and brightening in a rhythmic pattern meant to relax you, or you can manually adjust the light to your preferred brightness.To accompany the light alarm, wake-up lights may include a traditional auditory alarm with natural sounds or FM radio.

The Philips Somneo Sleep and Wake up Light with Relax Breath Alarm has some unique features that help to wake up more comfortably in the morning and get to sleep easier at night.

The Philips SmartSleep Wake-Up Light offers a personalized experience that includes more than 20 brightness levels for the sunset and sunrise simulations. If you’re a heavy sleeper who has a hard time waking up in the morning, you can program the light for one of the brighter settings to ensure you won’t sleep in too late. You can also opt for a softer setting if you typically get up on time. For an extra nudge, the light is equipped with five soothing wake-up sounds. Instead of relying solely on sound, wake-up lights simulate the sunrise by slowly brightening over a period of time. By doing so, they’re able to wake you up more gradually than a traditional alarm. The duration of the sunrise simulation varies across models, as does the range of colors. In addition to sunrise settings, some wake-up lights include sunset simulation. By dimming gradually and changing colors, this function helps users wind down before falling asleep. Wind down features may also include soothing, natural sounds or meditations. The Hatch Restore is one of the most popular wake-up lights on the market today. With the Restore 2, Hatch builds on the flagship design with more enhanced colorization for the sunset and sunrise programs, additional audio options, crisper sound, and a subscription option for accessing additional content. Despite these changes, the Restore 2 retains the user-friendly design and everyday practicality that earned its predecessor such a dedicated following. In addition to some of the more common features, wake-up lights may come with sleep stories or guided meditations, which can be used alone or in conjunction with other wind down features. Dedicated reading light and night light modes are also included in some models.

Pretty much all good alarms will have a snooze timer. This is where you hit the snooze button and you’ll be given a certain amount of time before the alarm goes off again, usually around 9 minutes. verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ Along with wake-up and wind down color changes, some wake-up lights allow for multicolored lighting. This could allow a light to fit a room’s color palette closely, or appeal to those who want a customizable option. One part of this alarm that is a little disappointing is the sound options. There is no FM/DAB radio and the only sound option is an alarm beep. This isn’t too much of an issue if you care most about the light functions, however. This alarm also has a DAB radio as well as functioning as a Bluetooth speaker, so you can use it to play music from any mobile device. The speakers are very high quality and the sound is surprisingly powerful for such a compact device.

The verdict: Sunrise alarm clocks

The Loftie Lamp is a stylish wake-up light that will heighten the decor in any bedroom. The simple, modern design has a minimalist aesthetic and emits a gentle glow conducive to restful sleep. Another feature to look for when buying a sunrise alarm is nature sounds. Nature sounds are typically things like forest sounds, rainfall, birds chirping etc. Waking up to sounds like this is better than a piercing alarm tone. The light is completely dimmable and there is a low-blue white light that’s ideal for when you’re going to sleep. The display automatically adjusts to the light level of your room and will turn itself off when the room is completely dark. You can choose from 7 different colours for the bedside light as well as 20 brightness levels. There’s a built-in FM radio too, so you can set this to play when the alarm goes off, or choose from one of the 7 natural sounds if you prefer.

Firstly, it has dual alarms, meaning you can set different times for different days of the week. This is incredibly handy, especially if like many people, you tend to wake up later at weekends than during the week. The Casper Glow Light is designed to help you fall asleep and wake up more comfortably. To turn on the device, simply flip it over and push the top button. The light will gradually dim until it completely goes dark, but you can “pause” the dimming effect by hitting the button again if you’d like some bedside illumination while you sleep. Using a companion app, you can also program the light to wake you up in the morning with a gentle effect intended to mimic the sunrise. As with traditional alarms, most wake-up lights provide a built-in alarm that can be set for a specific time, regardless of the sunrise time in your area. Many models also come with a sunset mode to help you prepare for sleep. At SleepFoundation.org, we conduct extensive first-person experience tests on all but a select few products. This hands-on approach allows us to provide accurate, data-driven recommendations for mattresses, pillows, sheets, and other sleep essentials.Additionally, wake-up lights often include sound options. In keeping with the natural theme, these sounds tend to include birds chirping, waterfalls, or other ambient noises. How to Choose a Wake-Up Light The feature that immediately jumps out at you with this alarm is the light. It’s designed to imitate a sunrise and will, therefore, increase very gradually over 30 mins before reaching maximum brightness. This helps you to wake up naturally and helps you to feel restored when you do. You can adjust the brightness level to your preference and once the 30 mins are up, a song or radio station of your choosing will play. A sunrise alarm can be an excellent way to make sure you start the day off in the right way. A good sunrise alarm will have both sunrise and sunset modes, so you can get to sleep easier as well as waking up more gently in the mornings. With many models, you also benefit from being able to wake up to nature sounds or your favourite radio station. It has a sunrise and sunset simulator, with adjustable settings from 10-60 minutes. The light gradually changes over your preferred timescale, from a dull red into a bright yellow light to help wake you up in the best way possible.