“Our bodies aren’t evolved to get up super early and waking up earlier due to the light might have a negative impact on your sleep,” she says. This could have a negative impact, says McCall. Sunrise alarms generally start 30 minutes to an hour before your set wake-up time, which - if you are sensitive to light - might wake you up earlier than you were intending, truncating your sleep. “The changeover to daylight saving time also increases the likelihood of cardiac events, and these types of light-based alarms could reduce the impact of that by gradually waking you up,” she says. McCall also notes that there is some evidence that gradual wakeups, like that of a slow building sunrise, could be better for cardiac function versus sudden wakeups that could be stressful on our hearts - nothing like being catapulted from your sleep by an angry alarm sound. Gradually waking up is less stressful on our hearts. In that scenario, a wake-up light might give your body the light cues it needs to create an easier transition from sleep mode to go mode. Or, if you live in a city or somewhere with constant light exposure, maybe you use blackout curtains to help you sleep. “An alarm that reproduces what is a natural phenomenon could help in places like the Pacific Northwest where it’s harder to be synced with the outside world.” “Here in the Pacific Northwest, we don’t get as much of a cue from sunlight to wake up in the winter,” says McCall. Although it does and can run on its own, light cues keep us in sync with the outside world. Our internal clock runs in 24-hour cycles and lives in a small part of our brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus. What are the pros and cons of a wake-up light?īefore you switch out your phone alarm for a sunrise clock, McCall sheds some light on the considerations. They also often come with other features like nature sounds (cue birds chirping or water rushing) and some even have a sunset feature to help you fall asleep. Most wake-up lights gradually increase the brightness in your room and are a soft yellow, orange or red hue. “Now with electricity, light sources are much more prevalent and can confuse our internal clock.”

“We evolved in a world where the strongest light was the sun,” says McCall. Catherine McCall, assistant professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the UW School of Medicine. And biologically, it makes sense, says Dr.

Sunrise, or wake-up, lights mimic the sun - that big, burning light in the sky that triggers our internal clock and tells us it’s time to get up. So what’s the best way to ditch snooze, wake up on time and hop out of bed without an ounce of regret? The buzz around town (and many targeted ads) says it could be a sunrise light. Whether you’ve been startled by your phone’s alarm clock from a deep, dreamless sleep or after tossing and turning all night, it can be hard to get out of bed on that first (or let’s be real that second, third, er, fifth) alarm.

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