Waking up to the light

I used to think waking up could be done in one of either two ways.

1. on a weekend, whenever you feel like it
2. during the week, harshly with a loud, obnoxious alarm bell; or a drum band; or a bucket of water

With the Wake-up Light there seems to be a third option: subtly, silently and ever so peacefully, no matter what day of the week.

It's works quite different from your normal alarm clock, in that it slowly lights up about half and hour before the time you set the alarm to. This slowly increasing light supposedly triggers your body to prepare itself for waking up.

Then at the time you provide, instead of a loud beep, you get the sound of crickets, or a wavefront moving on to the beach. Even the token alarm beep is decidedly friendly.

It definitely takes some time getting used to it. I woke up far earlier than usual the first couple of times I used it, although this effect seems to diminish the more time I spend with it. I'm not sure I'm waking up with more energy than with my old clock, that's a bit too early to tell.

But for damn sure... if I can go clubbing on a Monday night, sleep for three hours, and go to workthe next morning at (about) the same time as usual, without even a bat of an eyelid, then I highly recommend a wake-up light.