Key takeaways
- London sunrise has already slipped from 05:24 on 1 August to 06:00 today, and it keeps sliding until it reaches roughly 08:05 in late December.
- The clocks go back on 25 October 2026, which moves an hour of daylight out of the morning overnight.
- These are not SAD lamps. Most put out a few hundred lux at your face; the NHS puts the standard for a light therapy box at 10,000 lux.
- Good ones start at about £25. Paying more buys a brighter lamp and a nicer app. The sunrise itself is much the same at £25 as at £150.
Getting up in the dark is about to become a British problem again. Sunrise in London has moved from 05:24 on 1 August to 06:00 this morning, and the drift accelerates through September. Then the clocks go back on 25 October and the morning loses another hour in one go. A sunrise alarm clock, sometimes sold as a wake-up light, tries to soften that by fading a lamp up over 20 to 40 minutes before the alarm sounds, so the room has already come up to light by the time you surface. Here are six worth looking at, from a £24 budget unit to a £150 smart light.
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How we picked these
We looked at what is actually selling on Amazon UK right now, then filtered on the things that decide whether one of these ends up used or shoved in a drawer. Four criteria did most of the work.
- Sunrise length you can change. A fixed 30 minute fade suits nobody in particular. The better units let you set anywhere from about 10 to 60 minutes.
- How dim it goes at night. Plenty of these sit at the bedside and glow all night at a brightness that will keep a light sleeper awake. Being able to turn the clock display right down, or off, matters more than the maximum brightness does.
- A backup that is loud enough. Light alone will not shift a heavy sleeper. Every pick here has a sound alarm, and we noted where the top volume is on the quiet side.
- Honest expectations about brightness. The NHS puts the standard for a light therapy box at 10,000 lux. Wake-up lights are nowhere near that, so we have judged these on how pleasant the wake-up is and left seasonal affective disorder to the SAD lamps.
At a glance
| Model | Best for | Sounds | Around |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lumie Sunrise Alarm | Most people | 4 built in | £40 |
| Philips Wake Up Light HF3519/01 | A bright, coloured sunrise | 5 natural | £130 |
| Hatch Restore 3 | A full wind-down routine | App library | £150 |
| ARTINABS Sunrise Alarm Clock | Spending as little as possible | 7 natural, plus FM radio | £25 |
| ecozy Sunrise Alarm Clock | Never resetting the time | Nature sounds | £48 |
| JALL Sunrise Alarm Clock | Heavy sleepers | 25 sounds, Bluetooth speaker | £30 |
The six we would buy
Lumie Sunrise Alarm
Best for most peopleLumie is the Cambridge company that started this category, and the Sunrise Alarm is its cheapest model. You get a 30 minute fade up in the morning, a matching sunset fade to help you wind down, and a dimmable lamp that works as an ordinary bedside light. Four alarm sounds too. It does the core job without asking you to install anything.
The catch: the fade length is fixed at 30 minutes, so if you want a 15 minute sunrise you will need to look at the pricier Bodyclock range instead.
Sunrise and sunset fade · 4 sounds · around £40
Check price on Amazon →Philips Wake Up Light HF3519/01
Best sunrise simulationThis is the one that looks most like an actual sunrise. The lamp shifts through red and orange into a warm yellow-white. Most of the others just ramp one colour up. It is also the brightest light here by a clear margin, and there is a soft midnight light for getting up in the night.
The catch: it is a large dome and takes up a good chunk of a small bedside table. At around £130 it is also more than triple the price of the Lumie for a wake-up that is not three times better.
Coloured sunrise · midnight light · around £130
Check price on Amazon →Hatch Restore 3
Best for a wind-down routineThe Restore 3 treats the sunrise as one part of a bigger routine. You build an evening wind-down in the app, then a light-led wake-up in the morning, and it doubles as a reading light and a sound machine overnight. If getting to sleep bothers you as much as getting up, this is the one that covers both ends.
The catch: the best of the sound and sleep content sits behind a paid subscription, so the £150 is not the whole cost. It also needs the phone app to set up, which is a faff if you wanted a device that stays off your phone.
App controlled · sound machine and reading light · around £150
Check price on Amazon →ARTINABS Sunrise Alarm Clock
Best budget pickFor about £25 you get the whole feature list: sunrise and sunset simulation, dual alarms so two people can be woken at different times, seven nature sounds, an FM radio and eleven colour options for using it as a night lamp. It is a sensible way to find out whether waking to light suits you before spending three figures.
The catch: the plastic and the button feel are what you would expect at this price, and the maximum brightness is well below the Philips. If you sleep in a room with heavy blackout curtains you may find it does not do enough on its own.
Dual alarms · FM radio · around £25
Check price on Amazon →ecozy Sunrise Alarm Clock
Best for keeping the right timeThe ecozy syncs its clock over Bluetooth from your phone, which sounds like a small thing until the clocks go back in October and every other bedside clock in the house needs doing by hand. Sunrise and sunset fades, plus a display that dims low enough to sleep next to.
The catch: at close to £48 it sits awkwardly between the £25 budget units and the £40 Lumie, and the time sync is the main thing you are paying the difference for.
Bluetooth time sync · dimmable display · around £48
Check price on Amazon →JALL Sunrise Alarm Clock
Best for heavy sleepersJALL has built this one around the assumption that light will not be enough for you. There are 25 white noise and nature tracks, an eight hour sleep timer, a Bluetooth speaker so you can play your own audio, and a sound alarm that gets genuinely loud. Seventeen dimmable colours cover the night light job as well.
The catch: cramming this much into one small unit leaves the controls fiddly, and you will want the manual to hand for the first week.
25 sounds · Bluetooth speaker · around £30
Check price on Amazon →Questions people ask
Is a sunrise alarm clock the same as a SAD lamp?
No. The NHS puts the standard brightness for a light therapy box at 10,000 lux, and says it should be UV free and carry a UKCA or CE mark. A wake-up light typically delivers a few hundred lux at the distance your face sits from the bedside table. It can make getting up feel less brutal, but it is not treatment for seasonal affective disorder. The NHS also notes that light therapy is not usually available on the NHS because there is not enough evidence to say whether it works, and suggests speaking to a GP before trying it, particularly if you have an eye condition or take medicines that increase light sensitivity.
How long should the sunrise be set to?
Thirty minutes is the usual default and a reasonable starting point. If you are waking before the light finishes, shorten it. If you sleep straight through and only hear the sound alarm, lengthen it and raise the final brightness.
Will it work through blackout curtains?
Yes, and that is rather the point. The lamp is the light source, so a dark room actually helps because there is no competing daylight washing out the fade.
Do I still need a normal alarm?
Every model here has a sound alarm built in, so no. Whether you can rely on light alone depends on how deeply you sleep. Keep the sound on as a backstop for the first couple of weeks and see whether the light gets you up on its own.
Sources
- NHS, Seasonal affective disorder (SAD), for light therapy guidance and the 10,000 lux figure.
- GOV.UK, When do the clocks change?, for the 25 October 2026 date.
- timeanddate.com, sunrise and sunset times in London, for the August and December sunrise times.
Prices were correct when we checked on 24 August 2026 and change often. We earn a commission on some links, at no extra cost to you.