Shorter days leaving you SAD? This bedside gadget lit me back up

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) affects up to 10% of the U.S.population every year, depending on the region.SAD includes people feeling low for close to four to five months of the year, generally when the days get shorter.

That’s why light therapy is one of the best ways to combat SAD.But there’s another surprising benefit to getting more daylight.Research tracked 87,577 dementia-free participants to see if light exposure could help reduce the risk of dementia.And the findings were interesting.

Those who received at least 42 minutes of bright daylight per day had around a 17% lower risk of developing dementia compared to those who received less bright light.Needless to say, light is intrinsically linked to health, and with the days getting shorter and most of us losing daylight before we even leave the office, we need to get a little creative with how we incorporate light into our daily routines.One product that can help is a sunrise lamp, and it’s something I personally use and love.While it doesn’t replace natural sunlight or traditional SAD light therapy, it can help mimic the feeling of waking up with the sun, even on the darkest winter mornings.This minimalist device works as both a reading lamp and a sunrise lamp, delivering ambient light in late evenings and a jolt of light on darker mornings.You can use the lamp for traditional sunrise lamp settings.

It gradually lights up, mimicking the actual sunrise, waking you gently without the jolt of someone pulling back the curtains.It also functions as a sunset lamp, gradually dimming as night falls.The brightness settings and color tone can be manually adjusted, depending on whether you’re ready to wind down or need a little light for your nighttime read.

There’s a companion app, which can be used to change the lamp’s colors and set up routines.Unlike traditional lamps, this one from Loftie has a beautiful translucent base so the entire piece functions as a light source.It’s on the pricier en...