With the first ray of the sun: Is there any sense in the light alarm clock
Anna Aristova
In the usual coordinate system, people are divided into two types.: those who are more or less easy to wake up in the morning, and those who raise themselves out of bed are disastrously difficult. Many of us shudder at the thought of having to get out from under a warm blanket when it is night and cold outside. Agree, early awakening in the summer in good weather is much easier.
Manufacturers of gadgets decided to come to the aid of residents of the northern countries and released a light alarm clock imitating dawn. The principle of the device is simple: about half an hour before the ascent, it begins to flood the room with soft natural light, creating the illusion of awakening with the first rays of the sun. At the set time, the sounds of nature (trill of birds, the sound of the ocean) or a favorite radio station begin to play (unless, of course, you still listen to the radio). Some gadgets can imitate the sunset - especially for those who find it difficult to fall asleep. These alarms have their advantages over conventional smartphones: manufacturers claim that waking from the sunlight gradually takes us out of the deep sleep phase and reduces the level of stress when waking up, which has a positive effect on our well-being and helps to be more cheerful all day. We decided to try the effect on ourselves - and asked Anna Aristova, the editor of the News section, to wake up with a Philips device for a week.
It doesn't matter if I slept for two hours or thirteen, the morning awakening is equally difficult for me, so I set ten alarm clocks, knowing that the first nine will inevitably befall one fate - snooze
Science agrees with these statements: according to a study by British scientists, the effect of light on a person thirty minutes before waking up helps him not only to wake up faster, but also to minimize the "sleepy inertia" - inhibition and reduction of cognitive functions after waking up. As another bonus of light alarm clocks, researchers at the University of Groningen call mitigating the winter blues - this is why electronic dawn is sometimes used in the treatment of seasonal affective disorder (SAD). And although scientists do not exclude the placebo effect, research results show that the effect of an artificial dawn on a person makes waking up easier - and this is already a big plus for those who consider morning awakening a feat.
Reviews on alarm clocks on the Internet are mostly positive, and only with rare exceptions are those who have not noticed any special effect from using the device. For example, Yana Zubtsova from the Beauty Insider blog was pleased with the device - according to the journalist, although she did not become a morning person, she stopped cursing the whole world in the morning. Her colleague Yulia Grebenkina, in turn, noted that her relationship with the device did not work out: the main disadvantage of the light alarm is that it needs to be constantly reconfigured at the right time - a serious drawback for the owners of the floating schedule. In the foreign press, the reviews are mostly laudatory: The Business Insider reporter Madison Malone Korcher and the Guardian journalist Rose George were both pleased with the device - they both said that they owed the awakening from the dawn to goodness in the mornings and good health.
After studying the eulogy and reviews, it's time to try out the alarm on yourself. I can not say that I have difficulty sleeping: I can fall asleep anywhere and under any conditions. Problems begin in the morning, tearing the head off the pillow is a real torture. It doesn't matter if I slept for two hours or thirteen, the morning awakening is equally difficult for me, so I set ten alarm clocks, knowing that the first nine will inevitably befall one fate - snooze. Of course, it annoys everyone who ever lived with me, but only so I can be sure that I will wake up. I only managed to get out of bed after the first signal only in summer, when I deliberately removed the curtains in my room and woke up with the first rays of the sun - this was the easiest awakening in my life.
The lamp gently brought me out of sleep, and did not fall in with a loud alarm; on the other hand, the slowly increasing melody of the alarm can be set on the smartphone
It would seem, what could be more pleasant than sunshine in gloomy winter? When the beautiful light alarm clock finally came into my hands, I was so excited that on the very first morning I got up two minutes before the signal — which was also not bad. Then there were problems with the setting: to activate the device, it was necessary to press a special button on the end - only then the lamp will be able to perform its main function. I did not immediately understand this, so the next day the safety alarm on the phone saved me.
As an accompaniment to the light, you can choose a sound signal like a soft bird's trill, a raging ocean or a piano. Through trial and error, I realized that the easiest way to wake up is to me singing birds, but a loud cry of gulls in the morning is not a good idea. The volume, as well as brightness, are regulated - you can experiment with them for several days to find the optimal level. The gadget is recommended to be installed at a distance of 40-50 centimeters from the head, so I gave him the bedside table and one of the sockets.
A week of new life with the light alarm went the same way as with the usual one: I did not become a lark, and with the first sound signal I could not get up even once. In the dark or under the light of the temptation to press the snooze, after which for several minutes the melody subsided, was as strong as usual. And although for the actual awakening of one light I was not enough, I noticed that I began to recover more quickly. The lamp gently and gradually brought me out of sleep, and did not fall in with a loud alarm, which made the awakening more pleasant; on the other hand, the slowly increasing melody of the alarm can be set on the smartphone.
I stopped reminding myself of Bill Murray in “Groundhog Day”, but I didn’t become a Disney princess waking up with the singing of birds. It became clear that for such owls like me (who linger while watching "Stranger Things" until two o'clock in the morning), one device is not enough - you have to resort to more radical ways to accustom yourself to early ascents. For example, put in order an unstable mode and order yourself not to press the snooze. I am sure that after this I can appreciate all the advantages of the ringing sun to the full.
Cover:Ozon