Lumie Bodyclock- Review

One of my Christmas presents this year was a Lumie Bodyclock, and having been using it for a few weeks I thought I'd give you my thoughts. 
The Lumie Bodyclock is part of a range of "wake-up lights", also called dawn simulators which are designed to help you wake up gradually in the morning. The 30-minute sunrise increases natural light, which acts as a signal to your body to stop producing sleep hormones (melatonin) and increase production of cortisol to help you get up and go! They've been designed to help you keep your sleep patterns on track so that you wake up in a better mood, with more energy and are therefore more productive throughout the day.

The clock I have is the Starter 30, which has the following features:

  • 30 minute sunrise to wake you naturally
  • 30 minute sunset to help you wind down for bed
  • Dimmable light for use as a bedside light
  • Sun ray effect
  • Snooze feature
  • Optional alarm beep (just in case the light doesn't wake you!) 
  • Power failure back-up

I'm generally OK at getting up in the mornings, I've never been the kind of person who could sleep until the afternoon, unless I've had a really late night of course! But during the winter I will admit that it gets harder and harder to drag myself out of bed whilst it's still dark and cold outside. Once I'm up I can usually get going, but it's that initial "sleep inertia" when I first wake up that's the problem. Lumie says that this inability to feel alert and perform when we awake is often a biological problem where the systems in our brain that control sleep have got out of sync (source).

I have to say that while it's still not easy to get up in the morning (I think everyone would rather snuggle in their warm beds for a bit longer when the alarm goes off!), using my Lumie Bodyclock has definitely made things more tolerable. It's no longer an abrupt cut off to my sleep, but a more gentle introduction to the day, and quite often I've been awake before my alarm has actually gone off (I set the 30 min sunrise to end at the time my alarm would normally go off, which I still use, just in case). 
The sunset has been great at putting me to sleep too- you don't really notice it getting darker, so it's quite soothing. I used to listen to wave sounds to help me doze off, and some of the other lights feature "sleep sounds" if these help you too! But I've generally found the light itself to be pretty successful. 
Overall I'd definitely rate the Lumie Bodyclock as making your sleep routine and early mornings more comfortable. 
Sleep well!
Beki zzzzzzzzzz....
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