Heeeeeey...

[spacebug]

So, after a year, it's finally dawned on me (haha) that one of the reasons I sometimes have such trouble getting up in the morning initially, even when I know I've had enough sleep, is the fact that there is soooo little natural light in our apartment.

So I'm starting think I might benefit from something like this. Except I don't really want to force S4 to be up before he wants to be, either. Anyone used one? Are they cool? Are they stupid? $100+ for a simulated sunrise seems a little frivolous to me, even though I have to admit I'd also really enjoy the ancillary benefit of not searching for my socks in near total darkness as well. (The outlet situation up in the loft is... "interesting"...) I don't think that I'd count myself in the ranks of those with S.A.D., but I do know that sunlight or lack thereof can effect my mood.

Or maybe I should just try to get myself to go to sleep at a reasonable hour more often. *shrug*

Comments

[dangerdhotrod.livejournal.com]

i bet that would be cool. check out ebay for cheaper ones though.

and this one looks cooler

[gunn.livejournal.com]

Dude. That's awesome. It reminds me of the crystal ball that the traveling fortune teller uses in the beginning of Wizard of Oz.

[sarendipatree.livejournal.com]

This has been a source of some discussion between the lady and myself. She needs pitch-dark to be able to sleep properly. Like not even a bar of light coming in from a street-lamp.

I need natural light in order to be able to wake up properly. At one point, we discussed getting an automatic drape-opener, but they're awfully expensive.

Dunno about that light alarm clock. Seems like it'd need one of those spendy full-spectrum bulbs to be very effective as a tool against seasonal-affective, and then it seems like the dome might filter important light-frequencies. But yaneverknow.

[spikenheimer.livejournal.com]

seeing as how over the last year i've managed to migrate my awake hours to something more appropriate to say... hawaii, i might be someone who the natural light waking thing doesnt work well with.

or maybe what i'm getting at is a sleepy body will probably sleep past anything - light or noise if it feels it wants more sleep time.

regardless, that does seem really super cool. i wonder if you could do macgyver something similar using he energy saving bulbs - the ones that are flourescent that take a while to get bright? (or at least the ones i got at ikea are like that...)

[denaballerina.livejournal.com]

we have daylight bulbs upstairs in our house, and if we stay up there in the evening working on stuff, we don't get tired and have no concept of time. its really unsettling. a couple of minutes after going back downstairs, the sleepy hits us because we've stayed up way past our bedtime.
so.
i know daylight balanced bulbs help with the S.A.D. thing, because we both have it and going upstairs helps. i think the clock would work, but i would recommend putting in a daylight balanced buld. florecent just doesn't cut it.

A cheaper method...

[(Anonymous)]

Dead Letter B here...


Rather than a natural 'sunrise', the light itself, as you get up and wander around the morning, can be good enough to make you feel _much_ better.


How to do that? Go buy four 100 watt 'quartz' lightbulbs from a grow shop - they take a white filament (rather than yellow) and diffract them through a quartz bulb. They last ten times as long, and they _feel_ a lot different.


This all for about $24 (6$ apiece)


When the alarm goes off, hit a lightswitch that turns all four on. Bask in the nice warm glow. Five, ten minutes later, get up, keep em on as you do all your housey stuff.


The prediction I make is that you will find yourself wanting to switch _all_ your regular lightbulbs over - everything seems warmer and clearer in this kind of light.

Love!

:-b

[hexagonalcarbon.livejournal.com]

I've been considering the same thing, Treefrog. If they really work to prevent hours of miserable grogginess, they're worth thousands of dollars. Being sleep deprived is the worst.